Traditional Judaism believes that there are two worlds: this world, or ha'olam hazeh and the "world to come", or ha'olam haba. The first refers to the material physical world we know so well. The next world is something about which Jewish tradition offers a great deal of guidance....After we die, we are obligated to give what is called a din v'heshbon, a judgment and accounting for our lives before G-d....
One of the questions that willl come up in that judgment is whether we really enjoyed our lives. Mainstream Judaism is not a relgion of self-flagellation. The rabbis teach that G-d created a beautiful world for us to enjoy and we will be asked why we didn't take full advantage of its beauty and pleasure. This doesn't mean that Judaism condones hedonism...
Traditional Judaism teaches that G-d weighs all our good deeds against our bad deeds. We do get a handicap, though. Our apologies and annual Yom Kippur atonement help tip the scales more in our favor. These do not count against us. Also, according to Jewish tradition, at the last moment, an angel comes along and knocks out most or all of the bad deeds we committed so that ultimately we will be able to enjoy eternity in God's presence. Judaism does not believe in a concept of eternal damnation.
Instead, Judaism specifies something of a limbo state in which a person is forced to spend at most a year in a holding pattern prior to admission to G-d's presence. It's not fun: the rabbis speak of burning, searing pain, and embarrassment during that period. Kind of like being stuck in the penalty box.
What exactly happens in ha'olam haba? Of course, no one knows for certain. The rabbis give several intriguing possibilities. The basic idea is that the world to come is a world of 100 percent truth, unlike our falsehood-filled world today. The soul and body are reunited; how this happens, of course, is beyond human understanding in this life.
Other interpretations abound. The world to come may be a large banquet...Other rabbis see the world to come as a great Talmudic academy where all the unanswered questions in the Bible and Talmud are answered, either by G-d, by his prophet Elijah...or by a similarly worthy teacher. The Talmud teaches us that all Jews have a share in the world to come, and so do all the righteous, whether or not they are religious. However, we're still uncertain about the seating arrangements.
The rabbis traditionally have believed that we are reunited with our loved ones in the world to come...The Jewish attitude towards death is that the soul ascends to heaven, where it is first judged and then admitted to ha'olam haba.
...[The afterlife] is where the wicked are again punished--not with eternal damnation but with a delay perhaps of millenia, before they are admitted to the joyous presence of God. Suffering in this life is considered a form of purification that prepares us for the joy and beauty that we will encounter in the next world.
...The Talmud teaches that one hour of bliss in the world to come is greater than all the pleasure that can be enjoyed in this world...
[The book explains the concepts of karait, prozdor, kategor and sanegor]
...It comes as a surprise to many Jews when they discover that for 3,000 years, Judaism has always believed in the inevitability of some kind of afterlife...
You could say the Jews have two legacies--one of faith, one of doubt. The legacy of doubt became strong over the last 200 years, when Jews first began to question some of the supernatural tenets of Judaism...it can sometimes overshadow the legacy of faith, the 3,000-year belief in God and an afterlife, and the importance of one's spiritual development...
[The book then explains moshiach] The basic idea behind the concept of the Messiah is that the period of human history in which we now live--one marked by free will the presence of evil, and suffering and death--is only meant to last for a finite period of time. This world is meant by G-d as a laboratory or school for people to work on their character and to seek to overcome the baser parts of their nature. At some point, traditional Judaism has always believed, God is going to "blow the whistle" on human history and usher in a new era. That era will be of peace and tranquility, but it will be one where people do not enjoy the same level of free will. Free will brings in its train the likelihood that individuals will hurt each other, and so there is no way to have entire peace in the world while people still have the possibility of choosing wrongly and hurting each other.
Traditional Judaism believes that there are two ways for the Messiah to appear and usher in this era of world peace. The first is through our actions. If the entire Jewish people were to observe Jewish law--if they would even just keep two consecutive Sabbaths in accordance with Jewish law--then the Messiah would appear. By this process, we would merit the arrival of the Messiah.
There is a second way by means of which the Messiah will appear, and this is referred to as "the end of day." According to one interpretation, human history is meant to last a total of only 6,000 years. In the Jewish calender, we are currently midway through the fifty-eighth century, which means that there are only approximately 250 years left of human history. If the Jewish people do not merit the Messiah through the quality of their actions, then the Messiah will simply arrive anyway in the year 6,000 of the Jewish calendar.
According to mystic Jewish teachings, the world will actually "close down for repairs" for a 1,000 years, during which time the world will recover from the damage that human beings have caused it. The first 6,000 years, therefore, would be the equivalent of the first Sabbath day...At the end of the 1,000 years, human history would begin again, but on a vastly different basis from the way we know it now.
The idea of the Messiah waxes and wanes in importance, depending on the position of the Jews in the world...This current period in Jewish history is somewhat unusual in that regard, and that's due to the influence of the Lubavitch Hasidim who strongly emphasize the concept of the desire for the arrival of the Messiah.
This Chapter has answered so many questions and addressed some speculations I had when I was developing my philosophy about life. Did I ever tell you about when I started believing in God? I remember the time, distinctly. When I was little, about 8 or 10 years old, I was washing the dishes and was doing a lot of thinking. I remember thinking that if there wasn't a God and I believed in him anyway, that it wouldn't be so bad. But if there was a God and I didn't believe, then that would be very bad. It made sense to me then that it is better to believe in God. Since then all I've ever wanted was to know more about G-d and to be loved by him. I have often sought for his approval and to love others, unconditionally. Also, spirituality and metaphysics have always intrigued me. And, especially in college I started to form my own spiritual beliefs. But, somewhere along the line I stopt thinking for myself and I started just living from day to day. So now when I read this chapter, I reminded of many of those same ideas I had before that shaped my spiritual beliefs that were then just beginning to form. I realize even more that I have taken a huge step in the right direction. I have stopt living from day to day and have begun to live for my spiritual self and a deep relationship with Hashem.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are many key tenets that resonate with me in this reading--that at some time in my past I had already arrived to these same conclusions before, but had simply forgotten until now.
Have you heard of Plato's Cave theory? You should look it up. It is the same idea in Judaism about the 2 worlds: one world is physical, but is wrought with false or imperfect impressions of the other world--the reality of what is truth and good and heavenly. Both worlds exists, but the physical world can only be perceived by what is presently physical and sensual (through our senses). The other world that exists is metaphysical and our understanding is limited. Our souls perceive shadowy impressions of what is true and really real. We are all limited by the imperfections of this world (and by the knowledge that is given to us in the Torahs).
Inevitably people begin to wonder when it is that we will begin to experience the true world fully as it was intended in all it's glory and perfection. Many people sense that the world is not right. And they wonder what will come next or what happens after you die. I was never really concerned with what immediately happened when someone dies--about death and dieing. But, I did wonder what the next world would be like. I had always believed in the afterlife and in heaven. I had my doubts about hell if G-d is so loving. And I see where Judaism has clarified on the ideas of karait, prozdor, kategor and sanegor. I was relieved to know and understand more about the concepts of about judgement and punishment and the accounting of our deeds.
Also people begin to wonder what is our business here on earth. I believe we find truth through spirituality and by studying the Bible. But it is not enough that we seek out truth and search for what is real. Our souls need to find meaning in our spiritual relationship with Hashem. And it is also our business to enjoy the beauty and goodness that G-d has allowed and lovingly blessed us with.
I was most surprised about the moshiach and the ushering in of the new era. The idea as it is presented in the book seems clear and the numbers 6,000 and 1,000 make sense.
I need to run.
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