Mesillat Yesharim, R' Moses Chaim Luzzato, trans. R' Mordechai Kaplan, commentary R' Ira Stone. (JPS, 2010), p23-4, 27.
Ramchal: In sum, the purpose for which man [sic] was created is realized not in this world, but in the world to come.
Stone: "...what we achieve in life determines the state we will be in when we die and pass into eternity. Thus, one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world potentially extends indefinitely and is, therefore, better than all the life of the world to come without such an hour. However, an eternity that is achieved in this state of repentance and good deeds ensures an eternal serenity better than all the life of this world--yet it flows directly from this world. Again we see the conceptual fluidity of the "this world..world to come" language. More importantly, taken in context, Ramchal is directing our attention both to the tight nexus between the two worlds and to the emphasis we must place on repentance and good deeds, acts that can only be accomplished in this world...The work of righteousness must be accomplished in this world, because the world to come affords no opportunity to undo what has been done in this world.
"Survivability, Vulnerability, Affect" in Frames of War: When is Life Grievable by Judith Butler (Verso, 2016), p48, 61.
...as bodies, we are exposed to others, and while this may be the condition of our desire, it also raises the possibility of subjugation and cruelty. This follows from the fact that bodies are bound up with others through material needs, through touch, through language, through a set of relations without which we cannot survive. To have one's survival bound up in such a way is a constant risk of sociality--its promise and its threat. The very fact of being bound up with others establishes the possibility of being subjugated and exploited--though in no way does it determine what political form that will take. But it also establishes the possibility of being relieved of suffering, of knowing justice and even love.
"Building toward the Next World," by R' Alissa Wise in On Anti-Semitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for Justice, ed. by Jewish Voice for Peace. (Haymarket, 2017), p207, 212.
The Jewish concept of olam ha'bah...is often understood as the next world, a messianic future at the end of days, a world of possibility and of justice. Olam ha'zeh...where we reside, has been left unfinished and imperfect, and is a place of need, fear, shame, distraction, and defeat. Our work while we are alive and able is to build bridges from olam ha'zeh to olam ha'bah....
I believe olam hab'ah is possible in olam ha'zeh--what divides them is an ethical border, not a temporal one. One moment on top of the other, that is how we will reach olam ha'bah. Each moment we choose Other over self is a moment when we cross the ethical border between the two worlds. When we are in olam ha'bah, it is only and always together. Let's go.