Does the Jewish faith believe in purgatory? Do Orthodox Jews pray for the souls of their dead? If so, why?

Question

Thanks for all your responses. This helps tremendously

Answer 1

as they said, some jewish people belive in the concept of Gahenna, which is vaguely like the christian purgatory. and as a slight correction, it can last 12 months of time in the living world, but we only pray for 11 months because the principle is that the praying for them helps speed up their time there (how long it lasts, depends on how much they sinned and of what magnitudes, ect) and to pray for the WHOLE potential time, would be basically saying that you think they are SO bad that they would likely need that much help.

according to the belief in such, *EVERYONE* goes to Gahenna for at least a moment.

the visualization many have is a plain room, with a table and chair, and a book that lists all the sins from that life, and you sit and reveiw each sin, repenting and trying to learn from each wrongdoing and mistake.

Answer 2

Yes....Jews believe in purgatory...but their concept of it is not for an indefinite amount of time. Their purgatory lasts for 11 months....the oldest son of the deceased is required to recite Kaddish every day for those 11 months. Orthodox Jews do pray for the souls of their dead as seen in Scripture in Maccabees...one of the books dropped from Scripture by the Jews in 90 A.D. at the council of Jamnia for being too Christocentric as seen by the early Church.

Many Protestant groups also believe in the concept of Purgatory as well but do not use the term. They prefer "final purification". God does forgive all sin but he never takes away our free will to commit sin and since nothing impure can see God, that part of us needs to be cleansed from us. Those who do go to Purgatory ARE indeed saved....they ultimately go to Heaven....not Hell.

http://socrates58.blogspot.com/2005/11/fictional-dialogue-on-purgatory.html

Answer 3

Judaism doesn't have a creed or dogma that everyone must "believe." Very few Jews agree on "beliefs" but each denomination segregates themselves by their level of observance of the commandments.

However, praying for the dead is something nearly all Jews do because Judaism is about "community." We pray as one loving community, including all those who came before, now living, and those yet to come. You may have noticed the recent Holocaust commemoration -- Jews gathered together to pray/mourn as one loving community for members of our family lost in that catastrophe.

We pray for them because in some way that is our "eternity."
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Answer 4

in a sense.

Its our version of Hell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna


And Yes Orthodox Jews do pray for the dead because they can no longer pray for themselves.