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Please bear with me on this, I'm very serious about what I'm seeking an answer to and I see that this board treats people with Derech Eretz. So I hope that even if no answer is available, I wont be ridiculed for asking either.

"Hamechadesh bechol yom tamid ma'aseh breishit"

  1. Hashem created the world thru Dibur and sustains it constantly with Dibur. You cant ask how on such a thing.
  2. A person Has Veshalom passes away. His Neshama ascends to Hashem and all we have left is the physical body which we honor with Rechitza and sewn into a Tachrich/Shroud and Kevura/Burial.

Why would Hashem keep willing Ken Yihi Retzono, that the Neshamas former habitation, now an empty Guf/body to remain still for us to bury

Yes we are left with the body and even after the flesh of the body disintegrates and returns to the earth, the bones are still there and as we know from fossils, could be there underground indefinitely.

So on the one hand Hashem sustains creation, and that means even to the tiniest grain of sand every day, yet I would think that since Body and Soul are Gashmiut and Ruchniut working together as it were, that they would both be gone at time of death and not just the Neshamah.

"Ben Bag-Bag used to say: Turn it and turn it again, for everything is in it. Pore over it, and wax gray and old over it. Stir not from it for you can have no better rule than it Ethics of Our Fathers 5:26

Believe me I have turned this idea over and over again in my mind. I think it started when my beloved parents died, and I had to go each time and Identify them at the Chevra Kadisha before the coffin was closed and the Hesped and Levaya would commence. I would have done anything not to have to see them before the closing of the Aron as one must verify that the person being honored is the actual person in the Aron. Hashem takes the Neshama, yet we must view the corporeal half of our loved ones one last time. It does not make sense.

The Neshama and Guf are a unit, why does one remain when other goes? Surely he has ceased to will this person thru Dibur to remain on earth alive. For me it was Tzar Baalei Chaim of untold magnitude.

I know some things are nistar, but surely if a simple Jew like me asks this question, surely it must have bothered one of the greats among our Chachamim also. Does Chazal of yesterday or today tackle what I would call a very philosophical point imho.

Kol HaKavod, and thank you in advance for anything you can offer.

mbloch
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Ben Moshe
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    Welcome to Mi Yodeya, Ben! Thank you for sharing your question! – mevaqesh Nov 12 '17 at 03:29
  • I too hope that you and others be treated with derekh erets, and not ridicule. Tragically, sometimes such sentiments are expressed here. If you face it, try not to let it get to you. – mevaqesh Nov 12 '17 at 03:29
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    Note that causing the body to disappear would violate the laws of nature. Although there are many violations of physics that we might imagine would be appealing for one reason or another, God chooses to not violate them. – mevaqesh Nov 12 '17 at 03:40
  • Could one imagine that Hashem prefers to keep traces of the body so *te'hiyat hameitim" can happen in a less miraculous way? think of scientists aiming to recreate long-lost animals through traces of their DNA – mbloch Nov 12 '17 at 04:04
  • @mbloch if He's not that worried with performing burial in a natural way, it's hard to see why He'd be hesitant to do techiyat hametim in a miraculous manner – Double AA Nov 12 '17 at 04:24
  • Welcome to MY, and thank you for this very interesting question. Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (the Ramchal) in his Derech Hashem has a lengthy piece (in section 1, chapter 3) in which he discusses that, given how G-d wants His world to operate, man must have both a physical body which is purified through death and disintegration, and a spiritual soul, which will be reunited after the resurrection. However, this discussion doesn’t answer your question of why the body sticks around rather than disintegrating immediately upon death, which would still be plausible under the above points. – DonielF Nov 12 '17 at 04:24
  • @mevaqesh Would it violate the laws of nature if it was normal for bodies to disintegrate upon death? Once Hashem has decided how His world should run, He’ll change the laws of nature to accommodate that. It only breaks the laws of nature because we don’t live in a world in which bodies disintegrate upon death. – DonielF Nov 12 '17 at 04:25
  • @DonielF Your vague terminology disintegrate (which could be interpreted as breaking down), ignores the OP's question which was about ceasing to exist. That matter (or more accurately, matter-energy) doesn't simply cease to exist is a fundamental part of thermodynamics. Once one is speaking of completely changing the basic laws of physics which would necessitate a completely different universe, then one can't really know anything, or even posit the question in the first place, as the whole universe would be different. – mevaqesh Nov 12 '17 at 04:32
  • @mevaqesh First of all, there are ways this could work in our physical universe, such as converting matter to energy. But putting that aside, yes the universe would be a different place, but why can’t the question stand of why G-d didn’t create that universe, since it seemingly has an advantage over this one? – DonielF Nov 12 '17 at 04:37
  • @DonielF You keep distracting the issue. The OP wasn't asking about converting matter to energy. He was talking about things ceasing to exist. || I didn't say the question wouldn't stand, but the question is much weaker. Different laws of physics would likely necessitate such a completely different universe that would mess up everything God had in mind with the rest of the universe. – mevaqesh Nov 12 '17 at 04:47
  • @DonielF Hashem created the universe with certain laws of nature. One of these is that a physical body is used for food and broken down by the various processes of nature. If bodies disappeared in a burst of energy, they could not provide the nutrients for those that use the break down products. We live in the universe that exists. Perhaps the change that you are thinking of would lead to a contradiction. – sabbahillel Nov 12 '17 at 04:52
  • @mevaqesh G-d’s pretty smart. I’m sure if He wanted things this way He’d find a way to make it work. – DonielF Nov 12 '17 at 04:52
  • @DonielF Or maybe not. Maybe He decided that in order to change just this one thing he would have to make much more complex fundamental laws of physics, whereas He for whatever reason chose to make very simple laws of physics. Just repeating that God can do anything, is a semantic game. – mevaqesh Nov 12 '17 at 05:02
  • @donielf to convert 50kg of mass into energy would yield 4.5 exaJoules or the equivalent of roughly 1000 megaton nuclear bombs going off simultaneously – Double AA Nov 12 '17 at 05:52

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