When you die, you drift out of consciousness and simply don't regain it, as your brain shuts down. After your body stops working, it goes through rigor mortis, your skin loses pigment, and your body is consumed by bacteria as well as worms (if buried in the ground) and in some circumstances maggots. This includes your brain, which contains all the memories, thoughts, and experiences you had. In a sense, your "soul" is eaten by hungry fly larvae and microscopic life forms. It's not comforting, but it's the truth.
The dead do not feel or think anything, they are essentially sleeping. (Psalms 146:4, Ecclesiastes 9:5,10). God promises that 144,000 people will go to heaven to rule with his son Christ Jesus (Revelation 7:4). The rest of the people will be resurrected and live in an earthly paradise forever, after Armageddon (Matthew 5:5, Acts 24:15).
The
Hebrew Bible mentions little of the afterlife. For the most part it is a personal belief. However, Jews believe that good will be rewarded and evil will receive what it deserves.
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.
The Hebrew Bible doesn't dwell at length on the afterlife. However, that is not meant to diminish its importance. Rather, it means that we are to use the bulk of our energies in keeping God's ways in this world.
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.
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, 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 (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.