Once upon a time Joseph ben Joshua became very ill. He had a burning fever. He thrashed about in his bed, his head was sweating, and finally fell into a coma. His mother wrapped him in sheets, the sick room became damp and hot, and everyone spoken whispers. Joseph’s sister was sitting along with him, when suddenly Joseph ben Joshua, set up stiff in his bed.
Joseph opened his eyes, but he did not seem to be able to see. His sister was frightened, and she brought her father, Reb Joshua into the room. “Joseph?” Asked his father, “Are you all right?” At first, Joseph did not answer.
”Joseph?”
”Yes, father?”
”Are you all right?”
"I think so.”
”Can you see me?
“No, I’m afraid that I cannot see.”
”Then what is it that you see?” asked Reb Joshua.
“The world is upside down, Father.”
”Upside down?”
”Yes,” said Joseph, “the furniture is on the ceiling, and in fact everything is the opposite of our normal life. Trees grow with the roots in the sky; cattle lie upon their backs. And as for people – why, kings are the servants, and servants are the kings.”
“Ah, my son, you have seen a corrected world: it is the world of the Great Hereafter,” said Reb Joshua. “But tell me, my son: What is the position of us students of the Torah there?”
And Joseph answered: “We scholars are the same there in the Great Hereafter as we are here now. I saw many learned men contentedly studying in the glorious golden prayer halls of heaven, and I heard one scholar say: Forever happy is he who comes here possessed of holy learning.”
Tales of the Shammes, Katz
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