Apologies to My Jewish Friends Here

[Mr Cheese]

I should have been more precise with my previous posts in this thread.

When I said that Judaism don't believe in the afterlife, I mean that people don't go to heaven or hell in the afterlife.

There are some references to the afterlife, where the souls go to sheol.

This sheol should not be confused with the Christian concept of hell. It was not a place of punishment for the sinners. Sheol was just a netherworld, where everyone went, regardless of good or bad, in the afterlife. No one goes to heaven or hell.

It is this "going to heaven" in the afterlife to dwell with god that is so alien to Judaism.

The possible exceptions to people going to heaven were Enoch and Elijah. They are the only references (in the Tanakh) to the ascensions to heaven, without dying.

Did they (Enoch and Elijah) become angels?

According to some texts, like the Haggada or other Jewish literary texts, they probably did. According to the Haggada, Enoch became the prince of angels, called Metatron.

now metatron is an interesting dude....

Elijah of course founded the mount carmel holy site, home of the essenes, carmelites and other groups...along with at least one acient account stating Pythagoras was initiated there....

Elijah became an angel? I dont think so?????

There are actually several Enochs...enoch the name means "ascended one" I beleive...

You havent even mentioned reincarnation, which depending on the historical periiod and which group of Jews you examine....is a fully accepted or denied "thing"

 

[Mr Cheese]

Someone else is convinced that because Torah law says that Jews who join a different religion are not to be considered Jews until they come back to Judaism is bigoted.

Someone ELSE has decided that saying that non-Jews are not the Chosen People means that I'm treating them lower than dirt.

.

I think it is the insistance of Orthodox Jews on bringing up this and related points...again and again to be abhorrent

But then its really the same as Muslims saying non muslims are pigs or non christians are not saved....

different religions, same basic idea of exclusivity....

Which is highlighted and made laughable as this is not an idea that runs throughout all of the said faiths, they just tend to be from those strands of fatih that grasp at their religion most strongly in a sense of literalism.

But that goes for any group...people tend to fall into the trap of thinking "outsiders" are "problematic"

The real problem of course is when it leads to war, genocide or worse....

The simple problem is, and I'll say it againg

People worship their religion, not God

 

[Mr Cheese]

In my opinion, the best explication of the Jewish views of the afterlife is found in The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought by Neil Gillman.

question, does this deal mostly wth "modern" or ancient Judaism or a mix or?

thank you