What Happens When We Die?

(22) He would say: Those that are born will die, and those that are dead will be revived, and the living will be judged. [It is necessary] to know, to make known, and to become conscious that [God] is God, [God] is the Maker ... [God] is the Judge...the future Judge. And do not let your [evil] impulse assure you that the netherworld is a place of refuge for you; because against your will you were created, and against your will you were born, and against your will you live, and against your will you die, and against your will you are destined to give account and reckoning before the ... the Holy One, blessed be God.

[Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai] said to them: ...I have two paths before me, one of the Garden of Eden and one of Gehenna, and I do not know on which they are leading me; and will I not cry?

(10) He also used to say that there are five things that [last] 12 months: The judgment of the generation of the flood, 12 months; The judgment of Job, 12 months; The judgment of the Egyptians, 12 months; The judgment of Gog and Magog in the time to come, 12 months; The judgment of the wicked in hell, 12 months, for it is said, "And it will be from [one] month until the [next appearance of the same] month" (Isaiah 66:23).

(1) All Jews have a share in the World to Come, as it says, (Isaiah 60:21), “Thy people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.”

§ Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: In their prophecies with regard to redemption and the end of days, all the prophets prophesied only about the messianic era, but with regard to the World-to-Come the reward is not quantifiable, as it states: “No eye has seen it, God, aside from You, Who will do for those who await God” (Isaiah 64:3).

Rav was wont to say: The World-to-Come is not like this world. In the World-to-Come there is no eating, no drinking, no procreation, no business negotiations, no jealousy, no hatred, and no competition. Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the splendor of the Divine Presence, as it is stated: “And they beheld God, and they ate and drank” (Exodus 24:11)

(1) The hidden good in store for the righteous is life in the World to Come, which is a life connected with no death and a kind of good connected with no evil; such as is described in the Torah: "That it may be well with you, and you may prolong your days" (Deut. 22.7), which was traditionally deducted to mean, "That it may be well with you" in a world which is entirely good; "and that you may prolong your days"—in a world existing forever; and this is the World to Come. The reward of the just is, that they will acquire the sweetness thereof; and the punishment of the wicked is, that they will not share in such life, but will suffer excision and eternal death. And, whosoever does not earn such life, is to be dead, without coming to life forever; for he is severed from life...