What do Jews usually do when a person passes away and what are the beliefs of Jews after someone has passed away is there a heaven or hell does the person get judged?

Answer 1

Jewish death and mourning rituals are complex. Traditionally between the time a person dies and the burial, the body should never be left unattended. After death, the body is washed, dressed for burial, wrapped in a shroud, and (outside Israel) usually put in a coffin. Embalming is not allowed, and the coffin must be a plain wood box with no metal parts, so that it completely decays after burial. The body must be buried as quickly as possible, but not on the Sabbath, generally not on holy days, and time may be allowed for mourners to travel to the funeral. The net result is that burials are frequently around the third day after death. At the funeral, the mourners are all offered a chance to shovel some dirt into the grave so that each personally has an opportunity to fulfill the commandment to bury the dead. For one week after the funeral, close relatives sit shiva, remaining in a state of intense mourning. The community converges on the mourners bringing food and holding daily serevices at the mourner's house. For 11 months after the death, the mourners try to pray with a minyan so that they can say the Mourner's Kaddish, ideally at every daily service, but as frequently as possible. At the end of this period of mourning, the gravestone is set on the grave, with a brief ceremony. After that, the close relatives try to say the Mourner's Kaddish on the anniversary of the death and at the memorial service that is part of three pilgrimage festivals.

Beliefs? Judaism is not deeply centered on belief, so there is no requirement for a consistent view of what happens after death. Jews are commanded to act in this world, and asked not to worry too much about the world to come. As a result, we have lots of stories about the world to come, but they aren't consistent, and the conflicts between the stories aren't considered important. So, more or less, what happens after death? The souls of the departed are put on hold until judgement day, when the righteous join in the resurrection and live on in the world to come in a land of eternal Sabbath, with the unrighteous souls left out. Or, for up to a year after death, the souls of the departed are purified in Gehennah, taking a break from their torment every time they hear their students or descendants recite the Kaddish. The mourners are given the opportunity to say amen, and if they do, they are released from Gehennah and join God in the garden of eden. Only the most wicked souls spend more than 11 months in Gehennah, so for a mourner to spend a year mourning would imply belief that the deceased was really wicked.

Answer 2

When a Jew dies, the chevura kedusha (holy congregation, a volunteer society in the Jewish community) washes the body and dresses it for burial in a simple white garment before wraping the body in a burial shroud. Ideally, the body is buried as quickly as possible after death, but the burial may be delayed in order to allow important mourners to make it to the funeral. The body is not embalmed, and if a coffin is used, it is all wood with no metal parts so that it will decay. The close mourners of the departed are exempt from religious obligations between death and burial, and then they stay home, sitting shiva, for a week. During that period, the congregation comes to the mourners, bringing food and holding daily religious services at the mourner's house. The mourners try to attend services regularly for 11 months, in order to say the mourner's kaddish (a prayer in Aramaic) that can only be said with a minyan (10 adult Jews).

Beliefs? Jewish theology traditionally hopes for the coming of the Messiah, divine judgement and the resurrection of the righteous, but the details blur into folklore and the different discussions of this do not reconcile. Some say the dead are consigned to Ghenna to be purged of their sins, but that, while there, they hear the prayers of the righteous living, and if they say amen to the Kaddish, they are relieved from their pain. The period in Gehenna depends on the degree of sin, but only the most extreme sinners spend an entire year there. Hence saying kaddish only for 11 months. But, there are other stories that have the dead placed on hold until the coming of the Messiah, at which point the dead are bodily resurrected to face judgement. Reconciling these stories is not considered important because Judaism emphasizes this life and not speculation about the next.