What is the Jewish afterlife called?

Answer 1

The Jewish Bible mentions little of the afterlife. For the most part it is a personal belief. However, Jews believe that good will be rewarded in this lifetime and evil will receive what it deserves also in this lifetime.

• Jewish answer

One of the central beliefs of Judaism, as stated in the Talmud (Mishna, Sanhedrin 11:1) and codified by Maimonides (1135-1204), is that the soul continues to exist and is treated in accordance with the person's actions while he or she was alive. This applies to all people, whatever their religion.

The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) doesn't dwell at length on the afterlife; and nor does Judaism spend a lot of time speculating on its details. However, that is not meant to diminish its importance. Rather, the Torah implies that we are to use the bulk of our energies in keeping God's ways in this world, with our feet firmly planted on Earth, while nonetheless not losing awareness of our beliefs.

Our ancient sages stated the importance of being aware of the next world: "This world is a mere entrance-hall before the afterlife" (Mishna, Avot ch.4).

All outstanding accounts are settled after this life. Some cases illustrate this point, since this entire world wouldn't be enough to reward a Moses or punish a Hitler. And while we're alive, knowledge of the future world serves as one of the motivations to keeping God's will.

The Tanakh does not delve into detail of the rewards of the righteous because religions could compete with more and more poetic promises. Also because belief in the afterlife was shared by all ancient societies and needed little reiteration. Besides, it would be like describing the colors of a sunrise to someone who was blind from birth.
It is, however, referred to briefly in Torah verses such as Genesis 15:15, which states that "You (Abraham) will come to your fathers in peace and will be buried in good old age." Coming to his fathers does not mean simply to be buried with them, since Abraham was not buried with his ancestors. Such verses are stated many times.
The prophets are more explicit with such references (see Isaiah 26:19 and 66:24, Daniel 12:13, Zechariah 3:7, 1 Kings 8:30, 2 Kings ch.2, Ecclesiastes 12:7). The afterlife is spoken of at length in the Talmud. More than 20 pages of Talmud (Sanhedrin 90-110, Rosh Hashanah 16-18, and other passages) are given to this subject.

Answer 2

Judaism believes in an afterlife though it is not quite clear what shape or form it takes and it is not a central preoccupation of the faith. While Judaism believes that performing a good deed is good in and of itself, it also believes that good deeds have positive ramifications in this life and that one's "portion" in the afterlife is based on one's deeds in this world.

Specifically, Judaism believes in the immortality of the soul with a "portion" based on one's conduct in this world; and also in resurrection in "the world to come." It is important to note that within Judaism there are many discussions as to what exactly the foregoing means. That said, Judaism believes that a rewarding afterlife depends on one's actions rather than beliefs alone, and that it is open to all worthy people, not just Jews.

• Answer:

The soul continues to exist and is treated in accordance with the person's actions while he/she was alive. This is one of the central beliefs of Judaism, as codified by Rambam (Maimonides).

The afterlife is detailed at length in the Talmud. A full 20 pages of Talmud (Sanhedrin 90-110) are given to this subject. The afterlife is also referred to briefly in Torah (Bible) verses such as Genesis 15:15, which states that "You (Abraham) will come to your fathers in peace and will be buried in good (ripe; full) old age." This does not mean merely to be buried with one's forefathers, since Abraham was not buried with them. Such verses are stated many times.

The prophets are more explicit with such references (such as Isaiah 26:19, Daniel 12:13).

The Tanakh does not delve into detail of the rewards of the righteous, because other religions could compete with even more poetic promises. See the Kli Yakar commentary to Leviticus ch. 26 for a fuller discussion.

Answer 3

Judaism doesn't traditionally use the term 'afterlife'. Rather, when we die, there is the next life. Judaism doesn't have dogma stating what will happen when we die, however, there are theories as to what might happen:

• That when we die, our souls go through a cleansing process that lasts no more than 12 months where our souls are confronted with every action of its life and each action must be accounted for.
• Once the soul is cleansed, it returns to HaShem (The Creator) to wait for the world to come OR the soul is reincarnated as a new person to have opportunity to work to become closer to HaShem
• Those souls that committed too many acts of evil in life aren't able to survive the cleansing process and cease to exist (almost no one commits enough evil for this to happen, think along the lines of Hitler)

Answer 4

Judaism believes in the existence of a 'next life.' However, there is not a lot of discussion of what happens when we die in Judaism as the focus is on our current lives.

There are some theories about what might happen when we die but they're just theories, not hard dogma:

* When we die, our souls are cleansed of any wrongdoings. This is done by our accounting of every action done in life. It's believed that this process takes no longer than 12 months but most people don't do enough bad in life to warrant it taking a full 12 months.

* Our souls return to God to wait for the world to come.

* Our souls may be reincarnated into different people so that we have additional chances to work to become closer to God.

* Those souls that choose to be truly evil in life, cannot survive the process of cleansing and cease to exist.

Answer:

One of the central beliefs of Judaism, as stated in the Talmud (Mishna, Sanhedrin 11:1) and codified by Rambam (Maimonides, 1135-1204), is that the soul continues to exist and is treated in accordance with the person's actions while he or she was alive.

Answer 5

Gan Eden (the garden of Eden) was a paradise-garden that was closed when Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge (Genesis ch.3). Jews believe that you go to Olam HaBah (the World to Come) which is also a form of paradise.

The era of the messiah is slightly similar, since at that time there will be no such thing as war, only peace. Everyone will believe in one G*d and everyone will want to be studying the Jewish Torah the whole time.

Answer:

Judaism doesn't dwell heavily upon what happens when we die; and there's little mention of this subject in the Tanach (Jewish Bible).

Concerning what happens after death, it has been said that:

* When we die, our souls are cleansed of any wrongdoings. We must give an accounting of every action done in life. It's believed that this process takes no longer than 12 months but most people don't do enough bad in life to warrant it taking a full 12 months.

* Our souls return to God to wait for the world to come.

* Our souls may be reincarnated into different people so that we have additional chances to work to become closer to God.

* Those souls that choose to be truly evil in life, cannot survive the process of cleansing and cease to exist.

Answer:

To describe the afterlife in detail is difficult since it's different from physical experience. In general, it is accurate to say that the righteous are rewarded and the wicked are punished.

Answer 6

Answers from our community
"Writing that would later be incorporated into the Hebrew Bible names sheol as the afterlife, a non-descriptive place where all are destined to go after death. The Book of Numbers identifies sheol as literally underground (Numbers 16:31-33), in the Biblical account of the destruction of the rebellious Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their 250 followers, although it is speculated that this passage should be read literally, signifying an earthquake or split in the earth.
The Talmud offers a number of thoughts relating to the afterlife. After death, the soul is brought for judgement. Those who have lead pristine lives enter immediately into the "World to Come." Most do not enter the World to Come immediately, but now experience a period of review of their earthly actions and they are made aware of what they have done wrong. Some view this period as being a "re-schooling", with the soul gaining wisdom as one's errors are reviewed. Others view this period to include punishment for past wrongs. At the end of this period, approximately one year, the soul then takes its place in the World to Come. Although punishments are made part of certain Jewish conceptions of the afterlife, the concept of "eternal damnation," so prevalent in other religions, is not a central tenet of the Jewish afterlife. According to the Talmud, eternal punishment is reserved for a much smaller group of malicious and evil leaders, either whose deeds go way beyond norms, or who lead large groups of people to evil. In the Talmud, completed by 500 CE, non-Jews who are purely evil such as Hitler cease to exist in any realm when they die.
The Book of Enoch describes sheol as divided into four compartments for four types of the dead: the faithful saints who await resurrection in Paradise, the merely virtuous who await their reward, the wicked who await punishment, and the wicked who have already been punished and will not be resurrected on Judgement Day. It should be noted that the Book of Enoch is considered apocryphal by most denominations of Christianity and all denominations of Judaism.
The book of 2 Maccabees gives a clear account of the dead awaiting a future resurrection and judgement, plus prayers and offerings for the dead to remove the burden of sin.
Maimonides describes the Olam Haba ("World to Come") in spiritual terms, relegating the prophesied physical resurrection to the status of a future miracle, unrelated to the afterlife or the Messianic era. According to Maimonides, an afterlife continues for the soul of every human being, a soul now separated from the body in which it was "housed" during its earthly existence.
The Zohar describes Gehenna not as a place of punishment for the wicked but as a place of spiritual purification for souls."
Answer
The term "afterlife" is not used by Jews, rather, we refer to the "world to come." In truth, Judaism spends little time discussing what might or might not happen when we die as the focus on this life. There is also almost no mention of what happens after death in the Tanach (Jewish Bible). There are some loose ideas of what may happen when we die though:

• When we die, our souls are cleansed, to accomplish this, we must account for all our actions in life, both good and bad. It's believed that this process doesn't take more than 12 months but virtually no one does enough bad in life to warrant it taking the full 12 months.

• Some souls may return to HaShem to wait for the world to come.

• Some souls may be reincarnated as another person to have to opportunity to do more good in the world to become closer to HaShem.

• Some people are so evil in life that their souls cannot survive the cleansing process and cease to exist.

Answer
One of the central beliefs of Judaism, as codified by Rambam (Maimonides), is that the soul continues to exist and is treated in accordance with the person's actions while he/she was alive. All outstanding accounts are settled after this life. Some cases illustrate this point, since this entire world wouldn't be enough to reward a Moses or punish a Hitler.
The afterlife is detailed at length in the Talmud. A full 20 pages of Talmud (Sanhedrin 90-110) are given to this subject. The afterlife is also referred to briefly in Torah (Bible) verses such as Genesis 15:15, which states that "You (Abraham) will come to your fathers in peace and will be buried in good (ripe; full) old age." This does not mean merely to be buried with one's forefathers, since Abraham was not buried with them. Such verses are stated many times.
The prophets are more explicit with such references (such as Isaiah 26:19, Daniel 12:13).
The Tanakh does not delve into detail of the rewards of the righteous, because other religions could compete with even more poetic promises. Also because belief in the afterlife was shared by all ancient societies and needed little reiteration. See the Kli Yakar commentary to Leviticus ch.26 for a fuller discussion.
Answer
The afterlife is not stressed in Judaism; you are supposed to do good because it is rewarding in the present, and when you do bad, you are to try and make up for it here and now.
There are vague references to "the world to come" in Judaism, but this is never clearly defined, except to say that all righteous people, Jewish or not, will have a share in it.
One tradition among orthodox Jews (though not shared by all Jews) is:
If you are Jewish and have been 'faithful' to the Torah ,done mitzvot (good deeds and commandments) then you have a high likelihood of being in heaven . After death your soul has 11 months to repent for all wrongdoing, and if this is accomplished your soul will be sent to one of the various levels of heaven, If you have been evil, sinned and not repented (while alive or after death) then you are condemned to an eternity of "hell"- which has absolutely NOTHING to do with fire/Satan etc... it is a completely aphysical, negative state of being for your soul.
There are also many other views, such as reincarnation, resurrection of the dead, and many others. But no single view is shared by all Jews.

Answer 7

Judaism barely spends any time discussing what may or may not happen when we die, in fact, there's barely any mention of this subject in the Tanach (Jewish Bible) at all.

There are some loose theories of what might happen though:

* When we die, our souls are cleansed of any wrongdoings [Gehinom]. This is done by our accounting of every action done in life. It's believed that this process takes no longer than 12 months but most people don't do enough bad in life to warrant it taking a full 12 months.

* Our souls return to HaShem to wait for the World to Come [Olam Ha'Ba].

* Our souls may be reincarnated into different people so that we have additional chances to work to become closer to HaShem.

* Those souls that choose to be truly evil in life, cannot survive the process of cleansing and cease to exist.

Answer 8

One of the central beliefs of Judaism is that the soul continues to exist and is treated in accordance with the person's actions while he or she was alive. This applies to all people.
All outstanding accounts are settled after this life. Some cases illustrate this point, since this entire world wouldn't be enough to reward a Moses or punish a Hitler. And while we're alive, knowledge of the future world serves as one of the motivations to keeping God's will.
Judaism does not delve into detail of the rewards of the righteous because religions could compete with more and more poetic promises. Also because belief in the afterlife was shared by all ancient societies and needed little reiteration. Besides, it would be like describing the colors of a sunrise to someone who was blind from birth.
It is, however, referred to briefly in verses such as Genesis 15:15. The prophets are more explicit (see Isaiah 26:19 and 66:24, Daniel 12:13, Zechariah 3:7, 1 Kings 8:30, 2 Kings ch.2, Ecclesiastes 12:7). The afterlife is also spoken of at length in the Talmud.

See also the Related Links.

Link: God exists

Link: The key beliefs of Judaism

Link: How do you know there are a heaven and hell?

Answer 9

One of the central beliefs of Judaism, as stated in the Talmud (Mishna, Sanhedrin 11:1) and codified by Rambam (Maimonides, 1135-1204), is that the soul continues to exist and is treated in accordance with the person's actions while he or she was alive.
The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) doesn't dwell at length on the afterlife; and nor does Judaism spend a lot of time speculating on its details. However, that is not meant to diminish from its importance. Rather, the Torah implies that we are to use the bulk of our energies in keeping God's ways and commands in this world, with our feet firmly planted on Earth, while nonetheless not losing awareness of our beliefs.
Our ancient sages stated the importance of being aware of the next world: "This world is a mere entrance-hall before the afterlife" (Mishna, Avot ch.4).

All outstanding accounts are settled after this life. Some cases illustrate this point, since this entire world wouldn't be enough to reward a Moses or punish a Hitler. And while we're alive, knowledge of the future world serves as one of the motivations to keeping God's will.

The Tanakh does not delve into detail of the rewards of the righteous because other religions could compete with even more poetic promises. Also because belief in the afterlife was shared by all ancient societies and needed little reiteration. Besides, it would be like describing the colors of a sunrise to someone who was blind from birth.
It is, however, referred to briefly in Torah verses such as Genesis 15:15, which states that "You (Abraham) will come to your fathers in peace and will be buried in good old age." Coming to his fathers does not mean simply to be buried with them, since Abraham was not buried with his ancestors. Such verses are stated many times.
The prophets are more explicit with such references (see Isaiah 26:19 and 66:24, Daniel 12:13, Zechariah 3:7, 1 Kings 8:30, 2 Kings ch.2, Ecclesiastes 12:7). The afterlife is spoken of at length in the Talmud. More than 20 pages of Talmud (Sanhedrin 90-110, Rosh Hashanah 16-18, and other passages) are given to this subject.

See also the Related Links.

Link: God exists

Link: The key beliefs of Judaism

Link: How do you know there are a heaven and hell?

Answer 10

Prior to the Babylonian Exile in the sixth century BCE, Jewish people believed in an afterlife state called 'sheol'. There was no punishment of sins or reward for good works or faith, just a spiritual state similar to semiconsciousness. That is why the early Old Testament stories had God punish wrongdoers in their earthly lives. Then, at precisely the time when the exiled Jews made contact with the Persians, some began to adopt the Zoroastrian concept of paradise and hell.

Up until the Christian era, there continued to be division among the Jews, with the Sadducees rejecting many of the new concepts being adopting by Judaism, while the Pharisees were much more progressive and supported the ideas of heaven and hell. Some believe that Pharisee (Heb: Perushim) is a corruption for Farsi, the ancient name for Persian.

Following the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the Sadducees lost their power base and faded from history. The Pharisees became the dominant faction and gradually evolved into the rabbinical Judaism we know today. Different traditions in modern Judaism now hold that there is judgement and reward or punishment in the afterlife.