What does salvation mean in Judaism...?

Question

and how is it obtained?
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Christians -- believe me, I know how you obtain salvation. Hopefully you will refrain from answering and will read answers from Jews instead. Thank you!
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Answer 1

First, you need to eilminate the concept of Afterlife. We DO belive in Resurrection, when the Messiah comes, but not in an Afterlife per se along the Christain model of Heavenand Hell.

With this out of the way, you must then negate the concept of Original Sin and all its Christain ramifications.

We believe in Free Will. All is pre-ordained but we are truly patners in Creation. I will not go existential and will do my best to leave it at that.

We do believe in Sin although it is nothing like the Christain model. We also believe in repentance and confession, but again, on a different level.

Sin is a simple concept for us in that we believe any conscious transgression against HIS Law is anathema to our faith.

Repentance for us takes the form of prayers, direct communication with G-D asking HIM to forgive us.

Confession only takes place formally speaking once a year, on Yom Kippur (Day of Repentance). One can also do so at any other time as well.

IF we do not belive in Heaven and Hell, how can we belive in the Messianic Advent?

We believe that when Moshiach (Messiah) comes, ALL people living and dead will be brought to judgement. Those deemed to have done their best to live in obesiance to G-D's Law will be rewarded with everlasting life in the Messianic Kingdom here on Earth.

We alone out of the 3 main monothestic faiths (Christianity and Islam besides us) do NOT believe that people need to hold to our creed or worship as we do. We belive that G-D sees in all hearts and all that obey the 7 Noahide Commandments will share in the reward of Eternal Life.

Only Jews must observe all 613 Commandments/Mitzvot.

Those deemed to have failed in the eternal struggle between good and evil will simply lay in the ground.


So, in essence, we do believe in salvation but not in the Islamic or Christain sense.

Answer 2

As a religion, Judaism is far more focused on the practicalities of understanding how one may live a sacred life in this world according to God's will, rather than hope of spiritual salvation in a future one.

Some modern scholars, however, maintain that the Biblical conception of God is that his covenant is with the Jewish people, not individual Jews. In the context of this covenant, the death of individual Jews is inconsequential and various older Biblical passages suggest that individual death is final. It is the continued existence of the Jewish nation that is emphasized and the way that a human life should be led. With the rise of Hellenistic (Greco-Roman) thinking, and later the rise of Christianity, Jews became more concerned with the problem of individual death and an afterlife. The Pharisees, and then the Rabbis, made it an essential element of their faith that upon the arrival of the messiah the dead shall be resurrected. This is still a central belief in Orthodox Judaism and to a lesser extent in other branches of Judaism. Some thinkers have opined that a crucial difference between Jewish and Christian beliefs is that Jews believe it is the body that is resurrected, and that the "soul" or "spirit" has no life or meaning independent of a living body. Some Jewish theologians however have written on the existence of an eternal soul.

Answer 3

After Resurrection Day, Judgement is meted out, and God decides whether you are rewarded with salvation - an eternity in God's company, or punished - denied the presence of God for eternity.

Non-Jews obtain salvation by following the Noahide laws, described in Genesis. Jews obtain salvation by following the Mosaic Law as described in Leviticus.

Jews were never expected to fulfill the law 100% to achieve salvation. Jews are forgiven for their sins annually at Yom Kippur, and never prophesied that the mystical Fulfillment of the Law Through the Execution of God's Son would replace a system that was already working.

Further, as non-Jews were covered under the Noahide covenant, there was no need to "save" them, either.

Answer 4

I often notice that Christians feel it is necessary to instruct others about Judaism and in the vast majority of the time they have it completely wrong, often to the point of the total opposite of what the Jewish belief based on the Torah of Moses reads.

The links below provide the best detailed explanation without making this answer entry nearly book length to try to clear up misunderstandings based on learning about Judaism from a replacement theology text ( the New Testament ) that is designed to demonize Judaism in order to justify the replacement. It is why the Christian adaptation of the Tanakh is renamed by them as an " Old Testament" or covenant, despite saying within its texts more than 14 times that it is an "eternal" covenant.

Judaism doesn't exclude any human from the capacity for "salvation". Judaism and Jewish law DOES exclude certain behaviors and beliefs from being a part of the Jewish religion. There is the difference.

Shalom
Please read the links below on the issue:
EDIT to add that third link I just found, it explains very nicely, too. And I want to add one of my favorite passages from the Tanakh to express a very Jewish way to look at this :

With what shall I come before the Eternal and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Eternal be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Eternal require of you? ONLY TO DO JUSTICE, TO LOVE MERCY, AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH THY GOD. [Micah 6:6-8]

edit to note that the Christian theology application and definition is not the only definition for salvation.. to liberate oneself or to master the yetzer hara (inclination to do evil) are forms of salvation well within the definition of the word in Webster's and the OED. AGREED that the Christian concept of salvation and sin are very different from that of Judaism. Shalom :)

Answer 5

it's my understanding that there is no salvation in judaism, because there is no need for salvation.

the whole idea of sin, especially original sin, and the need to be saved from our sins, or we'd go to hell, is not found in judaism.
our idea of sin is like an arrow missing its mark. we learn, resolve to do better, and then do better next time. it's not about grace or anything, it's about our actions.
we do believe in an afterlife, but the goal of life is not to get to heaven or prepare for the afterlife. the goal is making the most out of this life, for ourselves and others, and to leave the world a little better off.

it's my opinion that the christian idea of hell and salvation is one of the most detrimental things to happen to humanity. it leads to a defeatist attitude about this life, where people give up and only focus on the next. it causes people to deny their bodies and minds and the pleasures that g-d gave us. and it leads to threats and hatred of sinners by christians who don't quite get it right.

Answer 6

"Humankind, created by this one God, is inherently good. There is no original sin, no instinctive evil or fundamental impurity; human beings are made in God's image and are endowed with an intelligence that enables them to choose between good and evil. They need no mediator, such as Christians have in Christ, but approach God directly. All people--Jews and Gentiles alike--attain immortality as the reward of righteous living, although concern for life after death is an issue of minor significance for Jews."

Handbook of Denominations, p.159.

Answer 7

RE:
What does salvation mean in Judaism...?
and how is it obtained?
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Answer 8

Nothing , but closest connection is to use the word righteousness, because God will judge us by our actions, so we must strive to make ourselves perfect my obeying God's commandments.We become righteous when we follow the Torah of our prophet & teacher Moshe.

Answer 9

When the Messiah comes to usher to Twelve Tribes to Heaven.

Person Above me is obviously retarded or illiterate, or even worse, both. That's the Christian idea of salvation.

Answer 10

There is no salvation in Judiasm