We continue with chapter 4 of Pirkei Avos, mishnah 22. This mishnah too was said by Rabbi Yaakov, and it is woven together with his words in the previous mishnah, where he taught that this world resembles an antechamber - a preparation room - before the banquet hall, which is the World to Come. Here he comes to weigh the two worlds against one another.
"Yafeh sha'ah achas b'teshuvah u'ma'asim tovim ba'olam hazeh mikol chayei ha'olam haba":
One hour in this world of repentance and good deeds - of self-improvement, of fulfilling that mission of "prepare yourself," of a person preparing himself and performing good deeds, through which he makes himself worthy and realizes the potential hidden within him - is finer and greater than the entire life of the World to Come.
"V'yafeh sha'ah achas shel koras ruach ba'olam haba mikol chayei ha'olam hazeh":
The literal meaning of 'koras ruach' is a cooling of the spirit (koras from the word for cold), but the intent is the tranquility, the enjoyment and the sense of satisfaction that a person receives in the World to Come. Even a single hour of that feeling is greater than all the pleasures of this world combined - that is, all eight billion human beings, multiplied by the hundred years of their lives, and all the enjoyment and good that can be packed into them. All of these together do not reach a single hour of the sublime joy and satisfaction of the World to Come.
Which, then, is loftier - this world or the World to Come?
The answer is that there is a reciprocal relationship here. This world exists in order to acquire, build and create the World to Come, and it offers no second chance: this life is the only opportunity, and every minute in it is an opportunity that cannot be recreated. Therefore, at the end of life a person will yearn and say: if only I had one more hour, to do one more thing - repentance, a good deed, self-improvement, one more mitzvah. Because there is no second chance, the value of this world is a value beyond price.
At the same time, in this world the soul is imprisoned within a body, and the body has only a limited capacity to grasp, to feel and to enjoy. There is no way to compare this to the experience of a soul that has succeeded in its mission and reached the World to Come, basking in the radiance of the Divine Presence, cleaving to and delighting in the brilliance of its connection and bond with the Holy One, Blessed is He.
We have no concept of the World to Come:
It is important to understand that we have no grasp whatsoever of what the World to Come will look like; the matter is beyond our comprehension. Chazal say in Maseches Shabbos (63): "All the prophets prophesied only about the days of Mashiach" - all the prophecies about the future deal with the time when the world is perfected, but that is still this world. About the World to Come, however, no one has any glimpse or shred of comprehension, not even a prophet.
As the verse in Yeshayahu (64) puts it: "Ayin lo ra'asah Elokim zulascha ya'aseh limchakeh lo" - no one has seen what the Holy One, Blessed is He, prepares for those who wait for Him. What awaits on the other side of the curtain is hidden from every eye. It is difficult, then, to understand what the World to Come will look like and what it is, but Chazal teach us here that that experience is incomparably better than anything that happens in this world.
In summary: The mishnah sets the greatness of the two hours opposite one another - the hour of repentance and good deeds in this world, and the hour of contentment in the World to Come - and teaches that each of them is loftier than the life of the opposing world. The message that emerges from this is that a person has been given only one opportunity, and he must make use of every second, since there is no way to bring it back. This world is the only opportunity, and every moment in it is more precious than gold - so that he may merit the most wondrous World to Come that stands before him.