Introduction
God’s purpose for creating the world was so that He should be able to bestow of His goodness on another…He therefore designed a creature who would be able to derive pleasure from God’s intrinsic goodness.
God’s wisdom, however, determined that for the reward to be perfect, the one to enjoy it would have to be its master. He must have earned it for himself, and not be a random recipient… God therefore arranged the Creation with concepts of both perfection and deficiency in such a way that the creature earning the reward would have equal access to both, and therefore a meaningful choice to earn perfection and avoid deficiency…
When this creature acquires perfection, he becomes worthy of coming close to his Creator, as a branch is attached to its root, since all perfection is associated with God. The more perfection he attains, the closer he identifies with God, and therefore the more he is able to benefit from God’s Ultimate goodness…
This creature is man...his inclinations are balanced between good and evil…he has free will to choose either and possess whichever he chooses…
God’s goodness determined that there should be a limit to the period in which man must strive for perfection, and at the end of this period, he will be allowed to enjoy the goodness he has earned for all eternity…God therefore created two worlds: this world and the World to Come. The nature of this world is designed optimally to test man and allow him to earn his perfection, while the World to Come is optimized for man to receive his reward…
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746)
Derech Hashem (The Way of God)
