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Chapter 6. Having clarified the two natures, I respond to the third question: the place where the rewarded and the punished will reside.
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Since they are persons with bodies and souls, they necessarily have a place in which they settle and an atmosphere that encompasses them — both of which the Creator (mighty and exalted) will create, and He will cause them to dwell in it.
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The necessities of creation compel this conclusion. Scripture likewise mentions it, but names it "heaven and earth" as an approximation to our understanding — since we observe nothing other than heaven and earth —
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as in His saying: כִּי כַאֲשֶׁר הַשָּׁמַיִם הַחֲדָשִׁים וְהָאָרֶץ הַחֲדָשָׁה אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה וְגוֹ ["For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make..."].
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And I say by way of clarification: what is the wisdom in requiring new heavens and a new earth? Could He not reward them in this known place?
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The answer: this earth was prepared mostly for nutritional needs — and therefore it has fields for crops, fields for orchards, rivers and springs for watering trees and plants,
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mountains and valleys for rain and floods, wilderness areas with pastures for wild animals, wastelands with paths for travelers. We need all these features in this world because of our need for food and livelihood.
But in the World to Come, where there is no eating and no earning, there is no need for fields, plants, rivers, mountains, valleys, or any of these features —
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and the like. The servants at that time will need only a center and an encompassing atmosphere — which He will create for them as He wills.
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The interpretation of His saying כִּי כַאֲשֶׁר הַשָּׁמַיִם הַחֲדָשִׁים ["for as the new heavens..."] is not the same as the interpretation of His saying כִּי הִנְנִי בוֹרֵא שָׁמַיִם חֲדָשִׁים וְאֶרֶץ חֲדָשָׁה ["For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth"],
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because that second verse is at the time of salvation for His people — as though He were renewing the world for them in a figurative sense; especially since He follows it with כִּי הִנְנִי בוֹרֵא אֶת יְרוּשָׁלַם ["For I am about to create Jerusalem"],
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without meaning that He literally creates the Temple anew — rather, He renews their joy, to complete the phrase: כִּי אִם שִׂישׂוּ וְגִילוּ עֲדֵי עַד אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי בוֹרֵא כִּי הִנְנִי בוֹרֵא אֶת יְרוּשָׁלַם גִּילָה וְעַמָּהּ מָשׂוֹשׂ ["but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy and its people as a delight"],
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as though He created them as a creation of joy.
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Whereas His saying כִּי כַאֲשֶׁר הַשָּׁמַיִם הַחֲדָשִׁים, since it concerns the World to Come, refers to a truly new place and atmosphere that He will create for the servants, replacing this center and this atmosphere,
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as was explained there: לְפָנִים הָאָרֶץ יָסַדְתָּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָ שָׁמָיִם הֵמָּה יֹאבֵדוּ בְּנֵי עֲבָדֶיךָ יִשְׁכֹּנוּ ["In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands — they will perish, but the children of Your servants will dwell"],
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and His saying "they will dwell" after the perishing of heaven and earth requires the creation of a second place in which they dwell.
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Furthermore, it is established for us that this atmosphere between the two extremes [heaven and earth] draws from our bodies what requires to be replaced by food.
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Since people in the World to Come will not eat, the atmosphere there must necessarily differ from the nature of this atmosphere, so that they will not need food.
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And if the two extremes [heaven and earth] are unlike these present ones, it follows that the atmosphere between them will also differ and be unlike the nature of this air.
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As for how time will be — the answer to the fourth question — I say: it will be a time that is entirely light with no darkness; that is, there will be no alternating shifts of night and day,
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for night and day were wise arrangements for people dwelling on earth, occurring because of the sun's movement and rotation —
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their daytime for engaging in their livelihoods and travels, and their nighttime for rest, settlement, marital relations, private arrangements, and the like.
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But the World to Come, having none of these things, necessarily has no need of night and day —
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nor of the division into months and years, since those belong to this world for calculation, hire-periods, the growth of the earth, and the like.
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Unless it be some span of time without temporal markers, during which they have an act of worship as we shall explain.