Jewish Afterlife

[Jakob]

Hey there.

I am very much familiar with Islamic and Christian theology having studied it intensely on and off for three years.

Recently I decided to teach myself the Hebrew Alphabet and now I am interested in getting to know what Jews believe.

Are there any Jewish members in here?

I am thinking of questions like these:

What do you believe about the afterlife?
Is there anything that could be considered equate to Hell?
Are there different degrees of rewards?
Is it physical?
Will non-Jews be there and if yes, why then be Jewish?
Will I get to eat chocolate there (kidding).

Thanks a lot and sorry for the bad English.

 

[rosends]

Judaism 101: Olam Ha-Ba: The Afterlife

Jewish Afterlife Beliefs

death - Non-Jews (Gentiles) in Olam Haba (Jewish Afterlife)? - Mi Yodeya

 

[Levite]

Hey there.

I am very much familiar with Islamic and Christian theology having studied it intensely on and off for three years.

Recently I decided to teach myself the Hebrew Alphabet and now I am interested in getting to know what Jews believe.

Are there any Jewish members in here?

I am thinking of questions like these:

What do you believe about the afterlife?
Is there anything that could be considered equate to Hell?
Are there different degrees of rewards?
Is it physical?
Will non-Jews be there and if yes, why then be Jewish?
Will I get to eat chocolate there (kidding).

Thanks a lot and sorry for the bad English.

FWIW, I touched on the afterlife in Judaism in these four posts here, among others.

Your initial questions, I think are answered at least partially in those posts. For the most part, I do not believe any significant number of Jews today believe the afterlife to be physical. Yes, non-Jews can and do get to Olam ha-Ba (more or less our analogue to Heaven): anyone whose behavior is righteous goes there. As for why be Jewish, non-Jews should not be Jewish: we are not universalist, we don't believe everyone needs to be Jewish. Jews should be Jewish because our people committed themselves and all their descendants eternally to the covenant at Sinai: it's our way, it's who we are. Non-Jews should be whatever they are, as long as they behave righteously.

 

[Flankerl]

Are there any Jewish members in here?

Who knows!

What do you believe about the afterlife?

I interpret the "you" as in me personally.
Hm I don't know. It makes sense to me that a soul can't just enter whatever there is after one dies. So it probably has to be cleaned from all the bad stuff aka sins it had to endure over time. So in a sense I "believe" that a soul kinda relives everything that went wrong in the case of sins and what would have been if one hadn't sinned. I don't "believe" that this process takes a specific time as it makes no sense to me that a soul is restricted to time.
I guess a soul with more sins on it needs more "time" to be cleaned than a purer one, but this "time" would probably just be a personal experience for the soul in question as it doesn't make sense to me that souls are restricted by the time of our universe (well apart from black holes).

And when that is over I kinda "believe" it returns to its origin, God.

Is there anything that could be considered equate to Hell?

No not really.

Are there different degrees of rewards?

No not really.

Is it physical?

Makes no sense to me as our bodies are here on earth or after some time what is left of them.
I also don't get the appeal of a physical reward. It's not like you could do anything with it. I guess people tend to think too physical about a soul. Its a soul, makes no sense to restrict it into a physical form after it served its purpose. Also since you are now dead and the whole supernatural Sha-Bang is kinda proven to be real by you being a soul and kinda with God why can't you hang out with your loved ones or whomever you like on a non-physical plane?

I am already investing way too much time into this hypothetical situation.

Will non-Jews be there and if yes, why then be Jewish?

Yeah why shouldn't they?
Adhering to Judaism is not about a reward. If you want a reward play the Lottery.

 

[Tumah]

What do you believe about the afterlife?

There are three things that would fall under the category of "afterlife"
The upper Garden of Eden: this is a temporary state where souls enjoy the reward of their labors in This World.
The Messianic Age: which includes a point where the righteous are resurrected and all souls are judged one last time.
The World to Come which is an eternal state of reward that follows 1,000 years of the universe's reversion to its original primordial state.

Is there anything that could be considered equate to Hell?

Yes, typically called "Gehinom" although there are 6 other names for it coinciding with its 7 levels. A temporary state of punishment whereby the soul is purified of its sins.

Are there different degrees of rewards?

I don't think its a matter of degrees. Each person gets exactly what he deserves, to the nth decimal place.

Is it physical?

The upper Garden of Eden is not.
The Messianic Age is at least partly.
About the World to Come, the Talmud applies the verse of Isa. 64:3 "no eye has seen, besides You, G-d."

Will non-Jews be there and if yes, why then be Jewish?

Yes. The amount of reward a person gets is directly proportionate to the quantity and quality of the commandment that was fulfilled in one's lifetime. A non-Jew only has about 30 general opportunities to acquire reward, while Jews have hundreds if not thousands.

Will I get to eat chocolate there (kidding).

As far as I'm aware, heaven and hell are the same place where everyone eats chocolate. Only it depends on how hard one worked on oneself to getting to the ideal state of enjoyment of chocolate.

 

[metis]

I do not know if there's an afterlife since it is virtually impossible to verify. Nor do I worry about it, taking the position that whatever happens, happens. One of our greatest sages, Moses Maimonides, stated that to do good only for us to get into heaven is to do so only for selfish reasons. He went on to say that we should appreciate and pay respect to the life we've been given and do our best to help others.

 

[JacobEzra.]

I do not know if there's an afterlife since it is virtually impossible to verify. Nor do I worry about it, taking the position that whatever happens, happens. One of our greatest sages, Moses Maimonides, stated that to do good only for us to get into heaven is to do so only for selfish reasons. He went on to say that we should appreciate and pay respect to the life we've been given and do our best to help others.

Rambam said many things worthy of remembrance

 

[Bunyip]

I think the Jewish afterlife is called 'Florida', but am not certain.

 

[paarsurrey]

I interpret the "you" as in me personally.
Hm I don't know. It makes sense to me that a soul can't just enter whatever there is after one dies. So it probably has to be cleaned from all the bad stuff aka sins it had to endure over time. So in a sense I "believe" that a soul kinda relives everything that went wrong in the case of sins and what would have been if one hadn't sinned. I don't "believe" that this process takes a specific time as it makes no sense to me that a soul is restricted to time.
I guess a soul with more sins on it needs more "time" to be cleaned than a purer one, but this "time" would probably just be a personal experience for the soul in question as it doesn't make sense to me that souls are restricted by the time of our universe (well apart from black holes).

And when that is over I kinda "believe" it returns to its origin, God.

I mostly agree with it.

Regards

 

[paarsurrey]

Makes no sense to me as our bodies are here on earth or after some time what is left of them.
I also don't get the appeal of a physical reward. It's not like you could do anything with it. I guess people tend to think too physical about a soul. Its a soul, makes no sense to restrict it into a physical form after it served its purpose. Also since you are now dead and the whole supernatural Sha-Bang is kinda proven to be real by you being a soul and kinda with God why can't you hang out with your loved ones or whomever you like on a non-physical plane?

I mostly agree with you here.
Regards

 

[paarsurrey]

Jakob said: ↑
Will non-Jews be there and if yes, why then be Jewish?

Yeah why shouldn't they?

I agree with you here also.
Regards

 

[rosends]

the judaic messiah is patterned after the first messiah, moses.

from exodus 3:11 - and moses said unto god, "who am i, that i should go unto pharaoh, and that i should bring forth the children of israel out of egypt"??

Moses was humble. Every king was a messiah. Are you saying that every Judaic king was reluctant? Why do you pattern the future messiah after Moses and not David?

 

[rosends]

because it is moses that the matt damon character is patterned after.

But at the point when he was reluctant, he was not a messiah, so your claim shouldn't have been about a messianic figure but a Mosaic one.

 

[Flankerl]

Who the hell actually cares about Matt Damon?

 

[rosends]

a mosaic is a piece of art. like moses, matt damon's character is not a messiah until the end of the movie. nevertheless, he was a reluctant messiah, as was moses.

Mosaic:
[moh-zey-ik]
adjective
1.
of or relating to Moses or the writings, laws, and principles attributed to him:
Mosaic ethics.
Origin
1655-65; < New Latin Mosaicus, equivalent to LateLatin Mōs (ēs) Moses + -aicus, on the model ofHebraicus Hebraic

When Moses was anointed as a messianic figure, he was not reluctant.

 

[Godobeyer]

FWIW, I touched on the afterlife in Judaism in these four posts here, among others.

Your initial questions, I think are answered at least partially in those posts. For the most part, I do not believe any significant number of Jews today believe the afterlife to be physical. Yes, non-Jews can and do get to Olam ha-Ba (more or less our analogue to Heaven): anyone whose behavior is righteous goes there. As for why be Jewish, non-Jews should not be Jewish: we are not universalist, we don't believe everyone needs to be Jewish. Jews should be Jewish because our people committed themselves and all their descendants eternally to the covenant at Sinai: it's our way, it's who we are. Non-Jews should be whatever they are, as long as they behave righteously.

as I understand it's complicated issue with long explianations !!!

as resume ?
, so there are Jews believe that afterlife is exist ,and other believe there is no afterlife ?

if YES

for your opinion which once is more , who believe in afterlife or whom believe the opposite ?

 

[Flankerl]

Well this got crazy rather fast.

 

[Tarheeler]

I just love how non-Jews know more about our religion, our beliefs, our messiah, and which movies better depict our ideas on the afterlife than we do.

It's quite educational.

 

[RabbiO]

I just love how non-Jews know more about our religion, our beliefs, our messiah, and which movies better depict our ideas on the afterlife than we do.

It's quite educational.

Yeah, all that time in rabbinical school when all I needed to do was just ask my Baptist neighbor to explain it to me.

Pretty soon we'll be finding out that High Noon is actually about the difficulties in gathering a minyan for mincha.

 

[rosends]

Yeah, all that time in rabbinical school when all I needed to do was just ask my Baptist neighbor to explain it to me.

Pretty soon we'll be finding out that High Noon is actually about the difficulties in gathering a minyan for mincha.

12 PM is only if you hold by the High Ga'on.