The Ending is Just a Beginner: Jewish Approaches to Heaven and Hell

(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.” These have no share in the World to Come: One who says that [the belief of] resurrection of the dead is not from the Torah...

(3) Antigonus a man of Socho received [the oral tradition] from Shimon the Righteous. He used to say: do not be like servants who serve the master in the expectation of receiving a reward, but be like servants who serve the master without the expectation of receiving a reward, and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.

Anyone who looks into four things would be better off if he had not come into this world: what is above, what is below, what is before, and what is after.

And Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: All the prophets only prophesied with regard to the days of the Messiah. However, with regard to the World-to-Come, [it is stated]: “No eye has seen it, God, aside from You.”

(9) (Ibid. 29) "Happy are you, O Israel": Israel says (Shemoth 15:11) "Who is like You among the mighty, O L-rd," and the Holy Spirit responds "Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you?" All of Israel gathered unto Moses and said to him: "Moses, our teacher, tell us what good the Holy One Blessed be He has in store for us in the world to come." He will answer "I don't know what to tell you — Happy are you for whatever awaits you!"

Heretics asked Rabban Gamliel: From where is it derived that the Holy One, Blessed be He, revives the dead? Rabban Gamliel said to them... as it is written: “And the Lord said to Moses, behold, you shall lie with your fathers and arise” (Deuteronomy 31:16). The heretics said to him: But perhaps the verse should be read: “Behold, you shall lie with your fathers, and this people will arise and stray after the foreign gods of the land.” ...

The Romans asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya: From where is it derived that the Holy One, Blessed be He, revives the dead, and from where is it derived that He knows what is destined to be? He said to them: Both of those matters are derived from this verse, as it is stated: “And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, you shall lie with your fathers and arise; this people will go astray” (Deuteronomy 31:16). The Romans asked: But perhaps the verse should be read: “Behold, you shall lie with your fathers and this people will arise and go astray after the foreign gods of the land.”

ויקבר אותו AND HE BURIED HIM — i.e. The Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory, buried him (Sotah 14a). R. Ishmael, however, said, It means: “He buried himself”.

(1) These are things the fruits of which a person enjoys in this world, while the principal remains for them in the world to come: Honoring parents, acts of lovingkindness, and bringing peace between people. And the study of Torah is equal to them all.

And you should know and understand that the karet punishment mentioned regarding the soul constitutes a great belief in the continued existence of souls after death and in the granting of reward in the World of Souls. For when G-d, may He be blessed says "that soul shall be cut off from among its people" "that souls shall be cut off from before me" He implies that it is the sinning souls that shall be cut off on account of its sin, whereas other souls, which did not sin, shall exist before Him in the supernal radiance.

Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said, "Behold I am like a man of seventy years and I have not merited [to understand why] the exodus from Egypt should be said at night until Ben Zoma explicated it, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 16:3), 'In order that you remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life;' 'the days of your life' [meaning] the days, 'all the days of your life' [meaning] the nights." But the Sages say, "'the days of your life' [meaning] this world, 'all the days of your life' [meaning] in the days of the Messiah."

A scientific/astrological approach: “counting the dust of Yaakov” is an allusion to resurrection of the dead in the future. Seeing that Bileam has already mused about how Israel will survive the destruction of the earth in the distant future whereas the nations of the world will perish, he now muses on the innumerable Jews who will be resurrected from their graves at that time and who will join their brethren who have survived the cataclysm. We know that this will be so from Daniel 12,2: “and many of those who have been asleep in the earth will wake up.”

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And it is revealed to us from here about the world of souls and the world to come, which is after the resurrection, which is the the ultimate goal and the hope of all those who hope.

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It is well-known that immediately upon death of the body the soul enters the domain of disembodied spirits. Bilam had expressed the hope that when he would die he (his soul) would qualify for immediate transfer to that world, for that is the death of the righteous. And he further asked that he merit at the end of days to enter the world to come, which is prepared for those who are now in the world of souls.

With these words Moses alluded to a total of four worlds; They are: 1) this world 2) the world of souls. 3) the era of resurrection. 4) the world to come.

Rav had a favorite saying: "The world-to-come is not at all like this world. In the world-to-come there is no eating, no drinking, no procreation, no commerce, no envy, no hatred, no rivalry; the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and enjoy the radiance of the Shekhina (Divine Presence), as it is written (Ex. 24:11) 'And they saw G-d and they ate and drank.'"

And let us derive from the dead that Ezekiel revived (see Ezekiel, chapter 37) that the resurrected dead will not live forever, but will die at some point? The school of Eliyahu holds in accordance with the opinion of the one who says that was a parable.

Rabbi Yokhanan said: Everyone who exerted oneself in Torah study in this world, in the world-to-come will not be set down to sleep, but rather will be led to the Beit Midrash of Shem and Eveir, and of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and Aaron.

§ It is stated: “And from the blood of the grape you drank foaming wine” (Deuteronomy 32:14). The Sages said: The World-to-Come is not like this world. In this world there is suffering involved in picking grapes and in pressing them. By contrast, in the World-to-Come one will bring one grape in a wagon or on a boat and set it down in a corner of his house and supply from it enough to fill about the amount of a large jug [pitus], and with its wood one will kindle a fire under a cooked dish. And every grape you have will produce no less than thirty full jugs of wine, each with the capacity of a se’a.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Those who pass through the valley of weeping turn it into a water spring; moreover, the early rain covers it with blessings” (Psalms 84:7)? “Those who pass through [overei],” these are people who transgress [overin] the will of the Holy One, Blessed be He... their punishment is that Gehenna is deepened [ma’amikin] for them. “Of weeping [bakha]” and “turn it into a water spring [ma’ayan yeshituhu],” indicates that they weep [bokhin] and make tears flow like a spring... And Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar also said: There are three entrances to Gehenna, one in the wilderness, one in the sea, and one in Jerusalem... There are two date trees in the valley of ben Hinnom, and smoke rises from between them, and with regard to this statement about date trees that differ from other palms we learned: The palms of Har HaBarzel are fit for the mitzva of palm branches [lulav], and this is the entrance to Gehenna.

The school of Eliyahu taught: Gehenna is above the heavens, and some say that it is beyond the Mountains of Darkness.

Abaye disagrees with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, who said: There is no Gehenna in the World-to-Come. Rather, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will remove the sun from its sheath [minartika], and the righteous will be healed by it and the wicked will be punished by it. The righteous will be healed by it

It is taught in a baraita: Beit Shammai say: There will be three groups of people on the great Day of Judgment at the end of days: One of wholly righteous people, one of wholly wicked people, and one of middling people. Wholly righteous people will immediately be written and sealed for eternal life. Wholly wicked people will immediately be written and sealed for Gehenna... Middling people will descend to Gehenna to be cleansed and to achieve atonement for their sins, and they will cry out in their pain and eventually ascend from there,