Jewish eschatology: Encyclopedia II - Jewish eschatology - The afterlife and olam haba the world to come

Jewish eschatology - The afterlife and olam haba the world to come

Although Judaism concentrates on the importance of the Earthly world, all of classical Judaism posits an afterlife. Jewish tradition affirms that the human soul is immortal and thus survives the physical death of the body. The Hereafter is sometimes described with terms such as Olam Haba (the world to come), Gan Eden (the Heavenly Garden of Eden, or Paradise) and Gehenna (Purgatory).

However, many secular or liberal Jews state that there is no afterlife or that Judaism concentrates on the here and now.

While all classic rabbinic sources discuss afterlife, there is dispute among the classic Medieval scholars regarding the nature of existence in the "End of Days" after the messianic period. While Maimonides describes an entirely spiritual existence for souls, which he calls "disembodied intellects," Nahmanides discusses an intensely spiritual existence on Earth, where spirituality and physicality are merged. Both agree that life after death is as Maimonidies describes the "End of Days." This existence entails an extremely heightened understanding of and connection to the Divine Presence. This view is shared by all classic rabbinic scholars.

There is much rabbinic material on what happens to the soul of the deceased after death, what it experiences, and where it goes. At various points in the afterlife journey, the soul may encounter: Hibbut ha-kever, the pains of the grave; Dumah, the angel of silence; the angel of death; the Kaf ha-Kela, the catapult of the soul; Gehenna (purgatory); and Gan Eden (heaven or paradise). All classic rabbinic scholars agree that these concepts are beyond typical human understanding. Therefore, these ideas are expressed throughout rabbinic literature through many varied parables and analogies.

Gehenna is fairly well defined in rabbinic literature. It is sometimes translated as "hell", but one should note that the Christian view of hell differs from the Jewish view. For Christians, hell is an abode of eternal torment or separation from God, where serious sinners and/or non-Christians go (details vary among Christian denominations). In Judaism, gehenna - while certainly a terribly unpleasant place - is not hell. The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not tortured in gehenna forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be twelve months, with extremely rare exception. This is the reason that even the closest relatives of Jews will not mourn, or sit Shiv'ah, for the dead for longer than an eleven month period. Some consider Gehenna a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Gan Eden (heaven).

Jewish eschatology - Biblical verses

Although the belief in an afterlife is common to both Judaism and Christianity, in recent times some biblical scholars have argued that this belief is a later development not found in the earlier books of the Tanakh. Others argue the more traditional view, that the belief in an afterlife is found throughout the Tanakh. The following lists verses brought by both sides in support of their arguments.

The Tanakh speaks of several noteworthy people being "gathered to their people." See, for example, Genesis 25:8 (Abraham), 25:17 (Ishmael), 35:29 (Isaac), 49:33 (Jacob), Deuteronomy 32:50 (Moses and Aaron), 2 Kings 22:20 (King Josiah). This gathering is described as a separate event from the physical death of the body or the burial.

Certain sins are punished by the sinner being "cut off from his people." See, for example, Genesis 17:14 and Exodus 31:14. This punishment is referred to as kareit (literally, "cutting off," but usually translated as "spiritual excision"), and is traditionally understood to mean that the soul loses its portion in the afterlife, or "World to Come".

The Torah also prohibits contacting the spirit of the dead in Leviticus 19-20 and Deuteronomy 18, indicating that something of a person lives on after physical death. As well, Saul, in 1 Samuel 28:19, employs a sorceress to raise the spirit of the prophet Samuel who had died some time prior.

Job 19:26 has traditionally been considered a reference to the afterlife: "And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God". Other verses suggesting an afterlife include:

• Isaiah 26:19 "Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!..."
• Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it"

Perhaps the most explicit Biblical reference to an afterlife is found in the Book of Daniel:

• Daniel 12:2 "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence."

In the Tanakh God's promises to the people of Israel — whether benefits or punishments — seem to concern events of this world and not another (e.g. good crops, peace; famine, plague). Some verses appear to qualify the existence of the afterlife wherein one cannot praise or thank God, though they do not rule out an afterlife in which one receives a reward or punishment for what one has done:

• Isaiah 39:18 "For it is not Sheol that praises You, Not [the land of] Death that extols you; Nor do they who descend into the Pit hope for your grace. The living, only the living can give thanks to you."
• Psalms 6:6 "For there is no praise of You among the dead; in Sheol, who can acclaim you?"
• Psalms 115:17 "The dead cannot praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence."

Other verses are more general:

• Job 7:7-10 "Consider that my life is but wind; I shall never see happiness again....As a cloud fades away, so whoever goes down into Sheol does not come up.."
• Ecclesiastes 9:4-5 "For he who is reckoned among the living has something to look forward to - even a live dog is better than a dead lion - since the living know that they will die. But the dead know nothing; they have no more recompense, for even the memory of them has died."

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The afterlife and olam haba the world to come", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki