Hey everybody, just wanted to know what kind of imagery the tenach placed into the Jewish religion. Im doing an essay so Id like some references of how heaven and hell is depicted in the tenach. thanks.
answer: there are many views because the afterlife isn't described in Judaism. Most Jews don't focus on the afterlife, we let G-d worry about that. Jews focus on the here-and-now: keeping G-d's commandments, studying Torah, caring for others and helping to repair the world.
Some Jews believe that when someone dies and they are righteous, we go to join G-d immediately. If we aren't righteous they spend a short time away from G-d.
Some Jews believe that we enter a sleep-like state until the Messiah/Messianic age and then join in the new world to come.
Some Jews believe in reincarnation until the Messiah/Messianic age or until one becomes righteous enough to join G-d.
Jews do NOT believe in an eternal torment/hell. That would not be part of the righteous plan of a loving G-d. There is NO discussion or description of “hell” in the Jewish Tanakh. Some believe the utmost in evil souls simply cease to exist
"Hel" was the Norse goddess of the underworld
The Greek and Latin original New Testaments used Hades for the place English-speaking Christians call Hell.
This is the same as the ancient Greek word for the underworld.
Any such reference in a translation of the Jewish Bible is an inference by a Christian translator without actual Jewish basis.
Anyone who gives you one definitive answer for "the Jewish afterlife" is lying.
The best Jewish characterisation of the afterlife is:
We know that the world is ethical - therefore any aparent unfairness of life is balanced out in the afterlife.
Meanwhile -- we should just focus on living this life in the most positive way we can.
This is most directly expressed in Ecclisiastes.
Some Jewish afterlife images:
1) The afterlife is a Yeshivah study hall.
God is giving the class. Your position is closer or further away depending on how much you prepared in life -- and certain people find it to be hell.
2) There is a big Chinese banquet
In Hell you can only get at the food with these massive chopsticks - but they are so big that you can't turn them about to get the food in your mouth. So there is an overabundance while the people starve.
Heaven is the same banquet -- but each person feeds the other one - so all are happy.
And if the people in "hell" only got past their self-centeredness - hell would transform into heaven.
NOTE: Many people will say something about "Sheol"
But they would be wrong.
If you put together the many references to Sheol you will find that even the same Bibilcal poet will refer to it in vastly different ways.
This is because they use Sheol as a poetic metaphor - it can be death, despair... etc.
The Torah contains no imagery of the afterlife, it focuses on practicing good living in this life and only hints at the next one as a sort of unclear Eden. Hell is described as little more than a dark abyss, which is often interpreted as the end of life, period - like atheists believe.