Judaism question?

Question

Is it true there is no afterlife in the jewish tradition?

I've heard this somewhere and am wondering if it's true: no paradise, no eternal life, no resurrection...?

Answer 1

From the Orthodox Jewish point of view (you know, the bunch of us that actually adhere to the entirety of the Torah):

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.

As for the resurrection of the dead in the days of the mashiach, that is a central tennent of Judaism. It is listed as one of the Rambam's (Maimonides) thirteen principles of faith and is just one of the things that Jesus failed to do (I think people would have noticed it if the dead had all been resurrected...)

Answer 2

There is most certainly an afterlife, all you have to do is read the Torah. I don't know where people come up with this garbage that Judaism has no afterlife. All practicing Jews believe in Heaven and reject hell.

Answer 3

Judaism, as a rule, is very oriented towards the here and now; heaven and hell don't feature much. We don't have any concept of hell that is comparable to Christianity, for example. We do have the garden of eden concept, but again, it's not highlighted much. Mostly we focus on living a decent, ethical life here on earth. What Judaism does say, is that people of ALL religions will find a place in heaven, if they behave righteously during this life.

Hope this helps a bit :)

Answer 4

That is definitely true for older Jewish beliefs, i.e. prior to 500 BCE. By around the first century CE some parts of Judaism had developed a belief in the afterlife.

Answer 5

"The Sadducee's, according to tradition, derived their name from the sons of Zardok, who was high priest in the days of David and Solomon. The sons of Zadok were a priestly hierarchy in the time of captivity.(2 Chron. 31:10, Ezek 40:46, 44:15, 48:11) and apparently the name persisted as the title of the priestly party in the days of Christ. Less numerous than the Pharisees, they possessed political power and were the governing group in the civil life of Judaism under the Herods.

...There was consequently no room in their thinking for the oral tradition that the Pharisees studied with delight. As rationalists and antisupernaturalists, they denied the existence of angels and spirits (Acts 23:8) and did not believe in personal immortality.

...Unlike the Pharisees, they did not survive the destruction of Jerusalem."-Tenny

This same group actually approached Jesus...

Answer 6

Though nobody who follows Judaism believes in Hell, there are some that believe in Heaven.

Answer 7

The party of the Pharisees did believe in an afterlife and in angels, the Sadducees did not. Which belief, if either, survived the last 2000 years-I do not know.

Answer 8

paperback_writer has given a good answer from a Jewish perspective.

Answer 9

In addition to allonyoav's answer, you can read more here:
http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm#Resurrection
.

Answer 10

Jesus... who cares about afterlife...that's what religions do to you so you accept your social role on this earth....rise up..live now...no one knows what awaits after death

Maybe we all end up in a giant Taco Bell