Just A Few Questions . . . .

[my_innersanctum]

I have just a few questions.  Two actually.  It will also help me to know if you're at the level of laity or clergy when you give your answer.  It will also help me to know what your religious preference is.

1.  What do Jews/Christians/You believe about the afterlife, heaven, hell, etc?
2.  How does the judgement day unfold with respect to Jew/

Comments

[sunflower_sky]

Judaism tends to focus on this life, not the next, so there are a variety of opinions about what happens after we die. The mourning and burial customs we keep fit with the following ideas:

--When the soul leaves the body, your average soul (as in, not an exceptionally spiritual person) will hover close to the body, mourning its own death and kind of "panicking" about having left its body. For this reason we are very careful and respectful with the body and bury it as soon as possible.
--After the body is buried, the soul feels more "relieved" and able to let go of its material existence, so it begins to find its way to the afterlife.
--There is a concept of hell, gehenom, but it is very different from the Christian hell in a number of ways. First, instead of a final destination, it is a process that happens on the way to the soul's final destination, a kind of "soul refinery" (not unlike this world...) where the soul undergoes a process of cleansing. Most believe that this process involves seeing one's potential next to what one has actually achieved, and the torturous regret that comes with that. According to Jewish custom, the maximum time period in gehenom is only one year, after which it ascends to its final destination. (This is why we continue to say the Mourner's Kaddish (a special prayer glorifying God's name) for a deceased person for a year following his/her death.)
--Reincarnation is an idea supported by certain authorities, particularly Kabbalistic ones. The idea being that this world is just another "refinery" on the soul's journey towards perfection, and sometimes it needs to go through this one a number of times before it can settle in its final place.
--So what is this final destination? No one really knows, but the sources talk about it being "Under the Wings of the Divine Presence" or "basking in the Eternal Light". It is commonly referred to as... the Garden of Eden, Gan Eden. My understanding of it is a Oneness with the Divine will, as Adam and Eve were back before their sin.

As for Judgement Day, I'm not sure what you mean, because that's a Christian concept. We do talk about the "End of Days", which is the coming of the Messiah. There are many opinions about how this will come about; it is described in the prophets (particularly Ezekiel and Isiah), but it's hard to know how much of it is allegory and how much of it is descriptive. Everyone agrees that the "dead will come back to life" (though of course there are many opinions on what that means exactly...), that the Messiah will be a king and prophet who will rebuild the Temple and rule over all the nations, that wars will end, and that God will reveal His truth to all peoples. It's difficult to get into specific details because as you may have noticed, there are many opinions on everything! (Hence the famous joke: three Jews, ten opinions...)

~D

[my_innersanctum]

thanks. this was very helpful.