Kesher Talk

As a Jew, can I safely say Arafat is going to hell? Judaism does not have vivid notions of the afterlife like Christianity and Islam. So I can't simply say that Yasser has a date with Satan.

We do have something like hell, referred to as Gehinnom or She'ol. There is supposed to be a limited period of punishment there (insert appropriate Dante's Inferno graphics) (I've just read that it lasts 12 months... whatever) after which the person's soul goes on to our equivalent of heaven, Olam Ha-Ba. Of course, I've just discovered that a few specially reprehensible souls simply get snuffed out of existence. So I guess not all dogs go to heaven after all... The Torah does discuss the afterlife, just not a lot.

Judaism focuses on the here-and-now, how we lead our lives while we are alive. That's why through my years in Sunday school, the subject of the afterlife was not discussed even once. We were just supposed to be good, for goodness' sake - lead life the right way, or else... or else... well, just be quiet and behave!

The Torah itself puts the focus on reasonably immediate rewards and punishments, not ones in the far-off future.

Confusing the issue, Olam Ha-Ba has also been used to described the age of the Messiah. So I guess at that point, the living world and the "afterlife" merge in some fashion?

Oh, and some of the more Kabbalah-minded Jews, particularly among the Chabad, believe in reincarnation of souls, something that I presumed was just an Asian thing.

Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism not only makes me uncomfortable, I often find them to be genuinely sneer-worthy. While I was never a fan, my outlook hardened dramatically when I encountered the idiocy of the "Bible Codes" and other "magic number" propositions.

posted by Howard @ 4/10/2002 02:22:11 PM