MG Reé

The difference between the entry of the soul into the embryo and its entry [into the body at the time of] the resurrection: However you need to know that even now, when the soul enters the body of the fetus - even though it has not yet acquired perfection through its deeds - surely from the angle of its internal preciousness and splendor, it would have been fitting that it give its great purification to the material [body] to the point that it would go away from being of the human specie. Nevertheless, His decree, may He be blessed, suppresses it and hides its power and reduces its splendor in such a way that this matter not come out from it. Rather it dwells there concealed in itself, according to that measure that is required according to the Highest Intention. And so it operates in the body according to that arrangement and measure that is required from His Wisdom, may He be blessed. And behold [likewise] according to its good deeds that it continuously does; it should have expressed itself and shined, as we have said, and then its purification would have reached the body. However according to the decree that we explained above, it is not possible for it [to do so] until it is in the world of souls. Nevertheless, when it returns to the body after the resurrection, it will not reduce itself nor hide, but rather enter [the body] with all of its splendor and all of its power. And then it will immediately purify the body [with] a great purification and it will not need a graduated growth, [as] is needed for children right now. Rather it will immediately make it shine at that time, and it will will immediately purify it [with] a great purification. However this will not prevent the body and the soul together from having elevations and more elevations [at that time]. Rather the point is that immediately with the entry of the soul into the body, that man will be precious and elevated and his body will immediately receive [its] first purification. [And] it will be more elevated than all that it was during all the days of its first life. And that purification will be according to all of the good deeds that he already did. And they put him on a level that is appropriate for him, and he will be among those that merit to enjoy perfection. And afterwards, they will both be lifted by elevations and more elevations, according to that which is fitting for one who is on that [particular] level.

Upon hearing this impressive argument, Rav Naḥman bar Rav Ḥisda said to Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak: Let the Master arise and come to live with us as our community leader. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to him: We already learned in a baraita that Rabbi Yosei says: It is not the place of a person that honors him; rather, the person honors his place, as we found with regard to Mount Sinai, that as long as the Divine Presence rested upon it, the Torah said: “Neither let the flocks nor the herds feed before that mount” (Exodus 34:3). Once the Divine Presence departed from the mountain, the Torah said: “When the shofar sounds long they shall come up to the mount” (Exodus 19:13). This indicates that the sanctity was not inherent to the place but was due to the Divine Presence resting there.

It is a positive commandment to destroy false deities, all their accessories, and everything that is made for their purposes, as [Deuteronomy 12:2] states: "You shall surely destroy all the places [where the gentiles... served their gods]" and, as [implied by Deuteronomy 7:5]: "Rather, what you should do to them is tear down their altars."
In Eretz Yisrael, the mitzvah requires us to hunt after idol worship until it is eradicated from our entire land. In the diaspora, however, we are not required to hunt after it. Rather, whenever we conquer a place, we must destroy all the false deities contained within.
[The source for this distinction is Deuteronomy 12:3, which] states: "And you shall destroy their name from this place," [implying that] you are obligated to hunt false deities in Eretz Yisrael, but you are not obligated to do so in the diaspora.

ואעשה כן גם אני, that I will serve the Lord in Heaven, my G’d, but by imitating the mode of worship practiced by the people whom G’d drove out on my account.

בנים אתם לה' אלוקיכם, לא תתגודדו, it is bad manners to display excessive grief over the loss of a relative as long as a more relevant relative (G’d) is still alive. This is why G’d reminds us in this context that we are His children, i.e. that whatever relative we may mourn we have a father who is alive and well so that we are not really orphaned.