Whoever resides in Eretz Yisrael, recites the Shema in the morning and evening, and speaks lashon hakodesh (the sacred Hebrew tongue) is considered a member of the World to Come.

This statement by Rabbi Meir (Sifri, Parshas Ha’azinu 32:43) does not relate to inheriting the World to Come because we have already been taught (Sanhedrin 90a) that “All of Israel have a share in the World to Come;” not only those who perform these particular acts. It refers to how one can live a “World to Come” existence in this world. The Jew who lives in the Holy Land blessed by God, pledges his allegiance to Him morning and evening, and speaks in the language with which God created His world and wrote His Torah, is experiencing something of the intimacy with God which the World to Come is all about. He is like a citizen of that infinite world who is on a temporary visit in this finite one.

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