What is the Jewish view on the World to Come?

[Harmonious]

Heneni asked me in a different thread:

Originally Posted by Heneni

Id love to know what you believe the 'world to come' is like. Where it is, and when it will come. Perhaps another thread?

I don't know that I've learned enough to give a definitive answer, but I can tell you what I've gleaned over the years.

It isn't a place. It is more of an existence of souls in a spiritual realm.

It comes after death.

What goes on there?

Well, from what I've learned, it is a place where God's intentions are understood. As they are frequently misunderstood here on Earth, this world is sometimes thought of as the World of Falsehood, but the World to Come, where everything is more clear, is called the World of Truth.

I have more thoughts, but I wanted to get this started. I'll share more as more thoughts come to me. Perhaps in other posts, I'll cover what I've heard happens when a person dies, and judgment, and things of that nature.

[Jayhawker Soule]

The "Jewish view of the world to come" is post-biblical and variegated.

[Harmonious]

Originally Posted by Jayhawker Soule

The "Jewish view of the world to come" is post-biblical and variegated.

I wouldn't say that it was "post" Biblical, but I would say that it was from OUTSIDE of the Bible.

But the idea wasn't to find the Biblical sources about what the Jews have to say about it, as much as it was to just discuss what religious Jews believe about it, regardless of where the ideas come from.

[Yid613]

As with all creatures He created the Leviathan male and female. The female he killed so they would not mate and their offspring destroy the word. He salted the female to feed to righteous in the World to Come - Bava Basra 74b

The Torah portion of Shemini speaks about the animals, birds and fish that a Jew is forbidden to eat. Among those enumerated is the chazir (pig), which surprisingly will become permissible in the Messianic era [Preceding the World to Come]. As noted by our Sages, the word itself alludes to its future transformation (the Hebrew root ches-zayin-reish means “to return”): “Why is it named chazir? Because the Holy One, Blessed be He, will return it to the Jewish people in the future.” Similarly, “In the future the chazir will be kosher.”

It will be like any other Jewish time, all about food.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by Harmonious

I wouldn't say that it was "post" Biblical, but I would say that it was from OUTSIDE of the Bible.

See Herbert Chanon Brichto "Kin, Cult, Land and Afterlife - A Biblical Complex", Hebrew Union College Annual 44.

[Harmonious]

Originally Posted by Jayhawker Soule

See Herbert Chanon Brichto "Kin, Cult, Land and Afterlife - A Biblical Complex", Hebrew Union College Annual 44.

I'll try to take a look.

But more to the point, I've looked at Jewish books on laws, customs, and other thoughts on mourning.

One of the thoughts is that a person who is under the age of 20 avoids judgment and goes straight to a happy place. What that actually means varies, depending on who you ask. But the concept is consistent in Jewish thought.

For anyone ages 20 years and older, there is a period of judgment. It can be swift, or it can take as long as 11 months. Only the truly wicked (but not on the level of genocidal) get a full 12 months of judgment before finding that happy place.

It takes a LOT of work to manage to find yourself in Gehinnom permanently. From what I've learned, you have to work hard to be that evil to earn yourself an eternity of torment. A few people have managed it over the millenia, but if you start with the premise that most people are good, and wish good will to fellow humans, then most people will never get there for that long.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by Harmonious

I'll try to take a look.

But more to the point, I've looked at Jewish books on laws, customs, and other thoughts on mourning.

All based on post biblical traditions.

[Harmonious]

Originally Posted by Jayhawker Soule

All based on post biblical traditions.

I'm not at all sure about that. The Oral Law was given when the Bible was. So the laws and traditions may not be IN the Bible, but they definitely aren't POST Biblical. They were there at the same time as the Bible.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by Harmonious

I'm not at all sure about that. The Oral Law was given when the Bible was.

That is the Orthodox view. It is also a baseless one ...