Jews Afterlife
The Jews Afterlife, in its importance, is secondary in some ways to the Earthly world or Olam Ha'zeh ("this world"). Jewish Afterlife tradition auures one that the human soul is immortal and survives physical death. The Jews Afterlife is known as Olam Haba ("world to come"), Gan Eden (the heavenly equivalent of the Garden of Eden or Paradise) and Gehinom (the Jewish equivalent of Purgatory).
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The Mishnah states that belief in the resurrection is one of three essential beliefs necessary for a Jew to participate in the Jews Afterlife:
"All Israel have a portion in the world to come, for it is written: Thy people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.' But the following have no portion therein: one who maintains that resurrection is not a biblical doctrine, the Torah was not divinely revealed, and an Apikoros. Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1, Talmud Sanhedrin 90a."
Classic rabbinic sources discuss the afterlife, but Medieval Jewish scholars dispute the form of existence in the "End of Days" that are believed to immediately follow the "messianic" period. Maimonides described a spiritual existence for souls or "disembodied intellects," as he called them, but Nahmanides favored an intensely spiritual existence on Earth, where spirituality and physicality would be mergedinto one. Both were in agreement that the Jews Afterlife, or life after death, would involve an extremely heightened understanding of and connection to the Divine Presence.
Jewish rabbis have written much concerning what would happen to the soul after death. They have detailed their beliefs on what it would experience and where it would go. Most rabbis agree that following the death of the human body, the soul might encounter: Hibbut ha-kever, the pains of the grave; Dumah, the angel of silence; Satan as the angel of death; the Kaf ha-Kela, the catapult of the soul; Gehinom (purgatory); and Gan Eden (the heavenly Garden of Eden or paradise). Rabbinic scholars agree these concepts reach far beyond the limits of human understanding and use parables and analogies to convey their promise.
Hell, as a concept of the Jews Afterlife, is called Gehinom. Gehinom is believed to be a terrible and unpleasant place, but unlike in its Christian counterpart, souls are not tortured forever. Instead, souls remain in Gehinom for twelve months or less and undergo a spiritual cleansing or purifcation in preparation for its ascent to Gan Eden.
