While we are alive, it’s not our body that lives the experiences. It’s our soul that lives the experiences through our body. When the soul detaches from the body, it’s no longer limited by the body and can see and hear even better. It remembers everything that happened on earth and still feels connected to it’s family, children, grandchildren, etc. Our ancestors look down on us and they watch us, worry about us, and daven for us. They still feel connected to us and it means so much when we say kaddish and yiskar for them. Their souls come down to shul during those times because they are so excited. They even drag us to shul! The soul is very real and still very much alive after death.
So what does death mean? It means that your life moves away from your body.
What dies? Nothing really dies because the body was never alive. It was only “alive” because of the soul. It’s like a horse and chariot – without a horse, the chariot can’t go anywhere. As soon as you take out the battery, the phone can no longer do anything.
The body is nothing on it’s own without the soul. Before and after the soul is in it, it has no life/ability to do anything. It is our soul that has life and lives through all that we go through in the physical body in this world.