Black Friday for Neshamot

Imagine the following scene:

One day Hashem enters Olam Haba and announces that all neshamot, all souls of the deceased, can return to the world for a solitary day. It’s the biggest Black Friday sale ever! For twenty-four hours, all of the neshamot spanning thousands of years and hundreds of generations are given an incredible deal to revisit Olam Hazeh for just one day.

Now imagine what these souls might do. Do you think they will go online and see the latest trends on YouTube or Instagram? Perhaps these neshamot will go shopping in Macy’s or book tickets on Airbnb to Florida? Obviously these suggestions are utterly preposterous.

These holy souls will find a simple corner and engross themselves in Torah study and perform as many mitzvot as they possibly could because they comprehend the value each good deed or moment of learning has in the World to Come.

Let us each ponder how many twenty-four periods remain in our lives. It is certainly my blessing that each of us should have long, productive lives until a complete life of 120 years. Now, take a second to absorb how much can be accomplished in the years that lay ahead. Our Torah study can be bountiful, and our mitzvot can be vastly accumulated. Each of us has endless potential, we must simply realize this capacity and know what we must set out to accomplish. Once we recognize what is achievable, we would then turn to Hashem in thanks for choosing us as His Chosen People and granting us the chance to complete so many mitzvot and learn a sizable amount of Torah daily.

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Rabbi Yaakov Rahimi has created a storm in the Jewish world bringing back many unaffiliated young men and women to the pathways of Hashem. He has been involved in the Chazaq and Torah Anytime organizations, among others including NCSY, BJX, and Partners in Torah. He has since returned to his hometown of Lakewood, N.J. Rabbi Rahimi is a graduate of Deal Yeshiva, and learned in Beth Medrash Govoha becoming a very close talmid of Rabbis Yeruchem Olshin shlit”a, and Yitzchok Sorotzkin shlit”a. Rabbi Rahimi partook in the Sephardic halachic project Mishnah Berurah Tiferet. He can be reached at, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..