Q: Is there a physical death in Kabbalah?
A: There is no death. Just imagine that you begin to feel another life besides this one, a life in which you also participate. Previously, the additional life was hidden from you. Now, suddenly you begin to feel that you are living in another place, a different relationship. The latter becomes so important to you, so vivid and clear and strong, that eventually, this life loses its meaning and is pushed aside.
When a person crosses the barrier to the spiritual world, it becomes the center of one’s life. The person begins to reevaluate his or her life, and begins to relate to it on a completely different level. Situations such as physical life and death become akin to the changing of a shirt. That is how my rabbi (Rabbi Baruch Ashlag) always described it.
Q: Is there anything after death?
A: You must be asking what happens after death to a person who is not a Kabbalist, because if he were a Kabbalist, meaning of some spiritual degree, then while in this life he would know how to maintain contact with all levels of creation.
What degree does a person who never studied Kabbalah feel when passing away? One feels the lowest degree, much like people who experience clinical death feel. It is a tiny sensation of freedom from the corporeal body; nothing more. Kabbalists feel that freedom a billion times more vividly than ordinary people feel it after death, even while still alive!