Rashi explains that the twin brothers, Ya'akov and Eisav, were debating over which of them should inherit this world, after they would be born, and which of them should inherit the World-to-Come.

Unfortunately, there are many people who don't believe that there is an afterworld; a World-to-Come. The following parable is recorded in the book Gesher Hachaim (the Bridge of Life) by Rabbi Tukachinsky zt"l. Abie Rottenberg of Journeys sings the story beautifully. I have included the lyrics to the moving song, after the allegory.

Imagine twin brothers in their mother's womb. How natural it would seem to be hunched over with one's head between one's legs. How commonplace to float all day in fluid. How mundane not to use one's nose or mouth, but rather to have air and food sent down a tube that passes directly into the stomach by way of the navel. And how long the "lifetime" of the nine-month gestation period. How unimaginable the existence of a world extending beyond the walls of the womb.

Imagine that the two brothers possessed different world outlooks. One accepted by way of tradition that there was a future life beyond the womb. The other was a strict "empiricist," who accepted only that which he could see with his five senses. Accordingly, the latter brother acknowledged only the existence of "this world" alone; the world of the womb.

Now, let us imagine that we had the ability to listen in on their conversation.

The Conversation

"Brother," the believer says, "I believe that beyond this world is a magnificent realm which we will one day emerge into. In that spacious realm we will use our mouths for eating and our eyes for seeing unimaginable distances; we will hear with our ears; our legs will straighten out so that we will stand erect and traverse vast stretches of land replete with mountains, oceans, rivers-all beneath a limitless sky of starry hosts."

"Brother," the empiricist twin replies, "you certainly are poetic. However, I am amazed at your naivet?. Why indulge in such fantasies? Only a fool believes in things beyond the rational mind's grasp."

The first brother replies: "Why then do we have a mouth, eyes, and ears? They serve no purpose in this realm. They must have been designed for use in another world far beyond what we can visualize now."

"You make it sound as if some higher intelligence designed us. Who says? Maybe the eyes and ears just developed randomly. We don't know anything about a higher intelligence or a world beyond. All we know is what we experience now."

"If that is so, my brother, what do you believe is in store for us when we leave the womb?"

"Simple and obvious. Once we are torn away from the tube through which our food and drink are provided we will fall into a dark abyss of nothingness. We will die, never to return. We might as well have never existed at all."

Before the other brother can reply, the womb suddenly opens and the "na?ve" brother slips outside. The remaining brother is shattered. "Brother!" he cries in lament, "where are you? Do you know why you fell to your destruction? Your folly that these contractions were birth pangs caused your downfall. That is why you did not clutch at anything to stop yourself."

And then the lamenting brother hears the shrieks of his departed twin. To him that signals the end, the last gasp of his dying sibling.

Outside, though, at that very moment, are shouts of joy. "Congratulations! Mazel Tov!" A new baby has just been born.

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twin#1 -My dear brother
Look around and tell me what your eyes behold
Don't deny that you see
It's only you and me
Our existence,
It is empty,
It is cold
Our existence,
It is empty,
It is cold

twin #2 - But dear brother
You must have faith that we are not the only ones
For in the distance there's a place
Where we'll stand up tall and straight
I believe there is a world to come

#1 My dear brother
Dont be blind,
Dont be stubborn,
Dont be set.
Imagination it's all right
But it won't light up the night
What you see is exactly what you get
Oh what you see is exactly what you get

#2But dear brother
You will surely find when all is said and done
That the future it will show
There is so much we don't know
Oh I believe that there is a world to come
Yes I believe that there is a world to come.

Where have you gone?
Is this the moment i have known?
I can faintly hear the cry
My dear brother must have died
It's all over now forever I'm alone

#2-But dear brother
Please don't mourn me when my life has just begun
For what you hear are sounds of joy
"Congratulations it's a boy"
Soon you'll be here with me in this World-to-Come.

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