Olam Ha-Ba: The Afterlife
Level: Basic |
Traditional Judaism firmly believes that death
is not the end of human existence. However, because Judaism is primarily
focused on life here and now rather than on the afterlife, Judaism does not
have much dogma about the afterlife, and leaves a great deal of room for
personal opinion. It is possible for an
Orthodox Jew to believe that the souls of
the righteous dead go to a place similar to the Christian heaven, or that
they are reincarnated through many lifetimes, or that they simply wait until
the coming of the messiah, when they will
be resurrected. Likewise, Orthodox Jews can believe that the souls of the
wicked are tormented by demons of their own creation, or that wicked souls
are simply destroyed at death, ceasing to exist.
Some scholars claim that belief in the afterlife is a teaching that developed
late in Jewish history. It is true that the
Torah emphasizes immediate, concrete, physical
rewards and punishments rather than abstract future ones. See, for example,
Lev. 26:3-9 and Deut. 11:13-15. However, there is clear evidence in the Torah
of belief in existence after death. The Torah indicates in several places
that the righteous will be reunited with their loved ones after death, while
the wicked will be excluded from this reunion.
The Torah speaks of several noteworthy people being "gathered to their people."
See, for example, Gen. 25:8 (Abraham), 25:17
(Ishmael), 35:29
(Isaac), 49:33
(Jacob), Deut. 32:50
(Moses and Aaron)
II 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, Gen. 17:14 and Ex. 31:14. This punishment is referred to
as kareit (kah-REHYT) (literally, "cutting off," but usually translated as
"spiritual excision"), and it means that the soul loses its portion in the
World to Come.
Later portions of the Tanakh speak more clearly
of life after death and the World to Come. See Dan. 12:2, Neh. 9:5.
Belief in the eventual resurrection of the dead is a fundamental belief of
traditional Judaism. It was a belief that distinguished the
Pharisees (intellectual ancestors of
Rabbinical Judaism) from the
Sadducees. The Sadducees rejected the concept,
because it is not explicitly mentioned in the
Torah. The Pharisees found the concept implied
in certain verses.
Belief in resurrection of the dead is one of
Rambam's 13 Principles
of Faith. The second blessing of the Shemoneh
Esrei prayer, which is recited three times daily, contains several references
to resurrection. (Note: the Reform movement,
which apparently rejects this belief, has rewritten the second blessing
accordingly).
The resurrection of the dead will occur in the
messianic age, a time referred to in Hebrew
as the Olam Ha-Ba, the World to Come, but that term is also used to refer
to the spiritual afterlife. When the messiah
comes to initiate the perfect world of peace and prosperity, the righteous
dead will be brought back to life and given the opportunity to experience
the perfected world that their righteousness helped to create. The wicked
dead will not be resurrected.
There are some mystical schools of thought
that believe resurrection is not a one-time event, but is an ongoing process.
The souls of the righteous are reborn in to continue the ongoing process
of tikkun olam, mending of the world. Some sources indicate that reincarnation
is a routine process, while others indicate that it only occurs in unusual
circumstances, where the soul left unfinished business behind. Belief in
reincarnation is also one way to explain the traditional Jewish belief that
every Jewish soul in history was present at Sinai and agreed to the covenant
with G-d. (Another explanation: that the soul
exists before the body, and these unborn souls were present in some form
at Sinai). Belief in reincarnation is commonly held by many
Chasidic sects, as well as some other
mystically-inclined Jews. See, for example
Reincarnation Stories
from Chasidic Tradition.
The spiritual afterlife is referred to in Hebrew as Olam Ha-Ba (oh-LAHM hah-BAH),
the World to Come, although this term is also used to refer to the
messianic age. The Olam Ha-Ba is another,
higher state of being.
In the Mishnah, one rabbi says, "This world
is like a lobby before the Olam Ha-Ba. Prepare yourself in the lobby so that
you may enter the banquet hall." Similarly, the Talmud says, "This world
is like the eve of Shabbat, and the Olam Ha-Ba
is like Shabbat. He who prepares on the eve of Shabbat will have food to
eat on Shabbat." We prepare ourselves for the Olam Ha-Ba through
Torah study and good deeds.
The Talmud states that all Israel has a share
in the Olam Ha-Ba. However, not all "shares" are equal. A particularly righteous
person will have a greater share in the Olam Ha-Ba than the average person.
In addition, a person can lose his share through wicked actions. There are
many statements in the Talmud that a particular
mitzvah will guarantee a person a place in
the Olam Ha-Ba, or that a particular sin will lose a person's share in the
Olam Ha-Ba, but these are generally regarded as hyperbole, excessive expressions
of approval or disapproval.
Some people look at these teachings and deduce that Jews try to "earn our
way into Heaven" by performing the mitzvot. This is a gross mischaracterization
of our religion. It is important to remember that unlike some religions,
Judaism is not focused on the question of how to get into heaven. Judaism
is focused on life and how to live it. Non-Jews frequently ask me, "do you
really think you're going to go to Hell if you don't do such-and-such?" It
always catches me a bit off balance, because the question of where I am going
after death simply doesn't enter into the equation when I think about the
mitzvot. We perform the mitzvot because it is our privilege and our sacred
obligation to do so. We perform them out of a sense of love and duty, not
out of a desire to get something in return. In fact, one of the first bits
of ethical advice in Pirkei Avot (a book of the
Mishnah) is: "Be not like servants who serve
their master for the sake of receiving a reward; instead, be like servants
who serve their master not for the sake of receiving a reward, and let the
awe of Heaven [meaning G-d, not the afterlife]
be upon you."
Nevertheless, we definitely believe that your place in the Olam Ha-Ba is
determined by a merit system based on your actions, not by who you are or
what religion you profess. In addition, we definitely believe that humanity
is capable of being considered righteous in G-d's eyes, or at least good
enough to merit paradise after a suitable period of purification.
Do non-Jews have a place in Olam Ha-Ba? Although there are a few statements
to the contrary in the Talmud, the predominant
view of Judaism is that the righteous of all
nations have a share in the Olam Ha-Ba. Statements
to the contrary were not based on the notion that membership in Judaism was
required to get into Olam Ha-Ba, but were grounded in the observation that
non-Jews were not righteous people. If you consider the behavior of the
surrounding peoples at the time that the Talmud was written, you can understand
the rabbis' attitudes. By the time of Rambam,
the belief was firmly entrenched that the righteous of all nations have a
share in the Olam Ha-Ba.
The place of spiritual reward for the righteous is often referred to in Hebrew
as Gan Eden (GAHN ehy-DEHN) (the Garden of Eden). This is not the same place
where Adam and Eve were; it is a place of spiritual perfection. Specific
descriptions of it vary widely from one source to another. One source says
that the peace that one feels when one experiences
Shabbat properly is merely one-sixtieth of
the pleasure of the afterlife. Other sources compare the bliss of the afterlife
to the joy of sex or the warmth of a sunny day. Ultimately, though, the living
can no more understand the nature of this place than the blind can understand
color.
Only the very righteous go directly to Gan Eden. The average person descends
to a place of punishment and/or purification, generally referred to as Gehinnom
(guh-hee-NOHM) (in Yiddish, Gehenna), but
sometimes as She'ol or by other names. According to one
mystical view, every sin we commit creates
an angel of destruction (a demon), and after we die we are punished by the
very demons that we created. Some views see Gehinnom as one of severe punishment,
a bit like the Christian Hell of fire and brimstone. Other sources merely
see it as a time when we can see the actions of our lives objectively, see
the harm that we have done and the opportunities we missed, and experience
remorse for our actions. The period of time in Gehinnom does not exceed 12
months, and then ascends to take his place on Olam Ha-Ba.
Only the utterly wicked do not ascend at the end of this period; their souls
are punished for the entire 12 months. Sources differ on what happens at
the end of those 12 months: some say that the wicked soul is utterly destroyed
and ceases to exist while others say that the soul continues to exist in
a state of consciousness of remorse.
This 12-month limit is repeated in many places in the
Talmud, and it is connected to the mourning
cycles and the recitation of Kaddish. See
Life, Death and Mourning.
 The following books can be found in many major
bookstores, or click the links to buy the book online from amazon.com.
Adin Steinsaltz's
The
Thirteen Petalled Rose (Hardcover) or
(Paperback)
is a complete mystical cosmology written by one of the greatest Jewish scholars
alive today. It discusses the various levels of existence, the angels and
demons that are created by our actions, the concept of reincarnation, and
many other subjects of interest.
For an outline of Jewish thought on the afterlife, see
The
Death of Death : Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought, by Neil
Gillman. Gillman is a Conservative rabbi and a professor of Jewish philosophy
at the Jewish Theological Seminary (a most important school for Conservative
rabbis).
For information about the wide variety of Jewish views on what happens after
death, see Simcha Paull Raphael's book,
Jewish
Views of the Afterlife (Hardcover) or
(Paperback).
Raphael, a Reconstructionist rabbi, takes a historical approach to
life-after-death theories, exploring the views that predominated in each
era of Jewish history.
© Copyright 5759-5760 (1999), Tracey
R Rich
|
