Is There Life After Death In Judaism?

Question

I am a young catholic college student, even so, I like reading about other religions of the world just so I can have a better perspective of the world. I was recently reading a book that mentioned that there is no life after death in Judaism, but didn't elaborate any further. Is this true? Can anyone provide further insight? Thank you very much!

Answer 1

Not in the Christian sense.

What we believe in is euphemistically called "The World to Come". Not much is taught on it (at least not in open sources.) It is not a world as we know itg, nor are there beautiful gardens and winged angels playing harps with golden halos around their heads. At the same time- their is no fire and brimstone or eternal damnation and burning in the fires of hell...

The world to come is a spiritual realm- souls try to cluster around the pure essence of God, to close to the holy for the sake of being near it- because souls yearn to be as close to God as possible. but it is not as simple as that either. The world to come is not a simplistic realm of one level- in the Talmud, Masechta Chagigah, it is said that the outer courtyards to God's abode has seven levels - each of ascending holiness, each soul wanting to be as high as possible. It briefly states that beyond these levels you have the inner courtyard and abode itself- but stops there with the statement "Beyond here we do not enquire". Maybe it elaborates further in the Kaballah- I have no idea on that.

Hell is completely absent from Judaism. There is no devil in Judaism as it is not possible for an angel to rebel (only humans have free will- angels can only perform specific tasks). What is generally misinterpreted as hell is the concept of Sheol or Gehinnom. This refers to the burning the soul feels at the heavenly trial after death.


Essentially, we are brought to the heavenly court (God) and judged. Satan (literally the accusser) is the prosecutor and wants to introduce all oput sins into the equation. God is merciful, and drops some of the sins before the trial begins (Rambam, Hilchos Tteshuvah). After that, the soul basically watches two movies- one is- what your life was- the other, what your life could have been. The soul feels shame at the lost opportunities, at what it could have been vs what it is. It is this shame that feels like an eternity of burning. The burning is not a literal one- it is the burning of shame that it feels at realising how it has transgressed, when it could have been so much more! Think of how, for us with physical bodies, the shame of being shouted at by a parent/teacher/ boss can feel like burning- how much worse for a soul which is a pure being and has no physical imperfections or mental imperfections to give it excuses! But though it states that this "burning" feels like an eternity- it truth, it never lasts for more than 12 months. God is much too loving to give out eternal punishments, just as a loving parent would never punish a child for forever.

Answer 2

sure there is existence after loss of existence. Jews and non Jews all pass to heaven, there is not any hell yet a place comparable to purgatory the place you pass to view your existence and how you will possibly have lived a extra suitable one, then you certainly enter heaven. in trouble-free terms an uneducated individual might make a declare that there is not any afterlife in accordance to Judaism

Answer 3

its really more that Judaism does not deal much at all with the afterlife, and focuses on this life.

theres a whole variety of beliefs in Judaism that people have, ranging from simply sleeping unconcious waiting for the time of the messiah, when they will be ressurected, all the way to reincarnation.

some have a relatively non-specific concept of heaven, but theres no eternal hell.

edit:
and to correct Adam's Rib's lies,... the Messiah of Judaism DOES NOT "give his life for our sins". thats not neccesary. in Judaism God forgives and releases from Sin.

THE JEWISH MESSIAH DOES NOT GIVE HIS LIFE FOR SINS!!!!! thats an ABSURD idea and ABSOLUTELY contrary to Judaism.

god, the lies people come up with... >_<

Answer 4

yes we believe so. but no one is sure what exactly it is. most believe that hell is a cleansing period and the length of your stay is determined by how bad you were, the max being a year. but really bad people like Hitler just die. and good people "will be rewarded". but like RW said above me, many Jews believe completely different things. but our main focus is our life now, not the after life as apposed to Christianity.

http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm

Answer 5

there is some evidence that the earliest jews did not have any formal belief in an afterlife. there is also some evidence to contradict this.

as for today, and for the past couple thousand years at least, most jews have a belief in some sort of an afterlife. what that afterlife is exactly tends to vary from one group of judaism to another.

Answer 6

Of course there is. The purpose of creation is to enable us to achieve the greatest possible pleasure - connection to G-d in the World to Come - by earning it through our deeds in this world. This is the foundation of our whole religion.

Answer 7

I believe if you look in the Bible in Acts, where Paul was in front of the Sanhedrin. There were Pharisees, and Sadducee's. One believed in life after death ands angels, and the others didn't. These would have been Jews. Jesus also spoke to them about this when talking about marriage, and the death of a spouse, and which husband she would belong to.

Answer 8

Well, I'll put it to you this way; there is no hell in the Jewish religion.

Answer 9

Not only do we believe in an afterlife; we also believe in reincarnation.