The Bad Place: Is There a Jewish Afterlife?

(17) There the wicked cease from troubling; There rest those whose strength is spent. (18) Prisoners are wholly at ease; They do not hear the taskmaster’s voice. (19) Small and great alike are there, And the slave is free of his master.

(1) The hand of the LORD came upon me. He took me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the valley. It was full of bones. (2) He led me all around them; there were very many of them spread over the valley, and they were very dry. (3) He said to me, “O mortal, can these bones live again?” I replied, “O Lord GOD, only You know.” (4) And He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! (5) Thus said the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live again. (6) I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with flesh, and form skin over you. And I will put breath into you, and you shall live again. And you shall know that I am the LORD!” (7) I prophesied as I had been commanded. And while I was prophesying, suddenly there was a sound of rattling, and the bones came together, bone to matching bone. (8) I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had grown, and skin had formed over them; but there was no breath in them. (9) Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, O mortal! Say to the breath: Thus said the Lord GOD: Come, O breath, from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live again.” (10) I prophesied as He commanded me. The breath entered them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast multitude. (11) And He said to me, “O mortal, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.’

(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, [one who says that] that the Torah is not from Heaven, and one who denigrates the Torah. Rabbi Akiva says: also one who reads outside books, and one who whispers [an incantation] over a wound, saying, (Exodus 15:26) “I will bring none of these diseases upon thee that I brought upon the Egyptians for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Abba Shaul says, also one who utters the Divine Name as it is spelled.

(16) Rabbi Yaakov says: This world is like a hallway before the world to come. Fix yourself in the hallway so you may enter the drawing room.

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), meaning that beholding God’s countenance is tantamount to eating and drinking.

Said Rabbi Yochanan: If man merits, he inherits two worlds, this one and the coming one, that's what is written: "You have created me behind and before (front)." And if not, he comes to give reckoning, as it says, "And You laid your hand (kapcha) on me." [ibid], as it is written, [Job 13:21] "Withdraw your hand (kapcha) far from me."

(5) They have built shrines to Baal, to put their children to the fire as burnt offerings to Baal—which I never commanded, never decreed, and which never came to My mind. (6) Assuredly, a time is coming—declares the LORD—when this place shall no longer be called Topheth or Valley of Ben-hinnom, but Valley of Slaughter.

14) Yet another meaning of the word בראשית is that it alludes to the tradition (Pessachim 54) that (the concept of) Paradise and Hell, i.e. גן עדן וגהנם were created prior to the creation of the physical universe. This means that G'd had to establish the idea of reward and punishment in advance of the creative process. These two concepts are referred to in the word ב־ראשית, i.e. "two beginnings." The reason for the emphasis on the "2" is that 2 places are reserved for each human being, one in Paradise and one in Hell. It depends on him which place he will ultimately occupy. In either event, if he occupies a place in either domain he will also be accorded the second place, i.e. the one left vacant by a fellow human being who has forfeited it. The reason that the ב is appended may also be to teach us that these two concepts came into existence simultaneously.

15) Another reason for the letter ב (meaning 2) preceded the word ראשית is the fact that G'd created two worlds, i.e. the עולם הזה and the עולם הבא. When man preoccupies himself with the study of Torah and the performance of good deeds (to his fellow human beings) he will attain the ultimate good, i.e. eternal life in the עולם הבא. The Torah therefore alludes already at its very outset to the fact that the reward for proper conduct in this world is stored up for enjoyment in the second world, the עולם הבא. In that world most of the reward will be paid to the נשמה, the soul. If man has qualified for additional reward he will receive that in this world. The reason the Torah mentions the heavens first is to teach us that G'd is concerned with assuring us of our share in the "higher" world first.

Why doesn't the Torah say "It was good." on the second day of Creation? Rabbi Yochanan taught in the name of r yosi the son of r chalafta, because hell was created on the second day, as it says " the topheth has been ready for him since yesterday, a day that has a yesterday.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish as well as his colleague Rabbi Yannai, said that there is no such thing as the popular concept of a hell, gehinnom, lasting a long time, but that at the time when G’d passes out judgment the wicked will be burned by the fiery heat of a flame. They based themselves on Maleachi 3,19 הנה יום בא בוער כתנור, “here a day will come when the fire will burn as in a furnace.” The other sages said that there most certainly is such a thing as gehinnom, as we have a verse in Isaiah 31,9 נאום ה' אשר אור לו בציון ותנור לו בירושלים, “says the Lord Who has a fire in Zion and an oven in Jerusalem.” Rabbi Yehudah bar Ila-i claims there is neither a specific day, nor a specific place such as gehinnom, but fire will come forth from the very bodies of the wicked and will consume them with its heat. He based himself on Isaiah 33,11 תהרו חשש תלדו קש רוחכם אש תאכלתם, “you shall conceive hay, give birth to straw; My breath will devour you like fire.”

Rabbi Avahu quoted Rabbi Elazar as having said: The fire of hell does not rule of the scholars, as can be proven by logically extrapolating from a salamander, For just as a salamander, which is the product of fire [rather than fire itself], and one who anoints himself with [the salamander's] blood cannot be harmed by fire, certainly the scholars who's entire bodies are fire [cannot be harmed by fire of hell], as it is written "Is it not that my words are like fire, says God".

(6) And, the following are they that have no share in the World to Come but suffer excision and loss of identity, and are damned for ever and ever for their exceeding wickedness and sinfulness: atheists, infidels, traducers of the Torah, dissenters of resurrection and the coming of a Redeamer, apostates, enticers of many to sin, seceders from the congregation, a public perpetrator of sins emulating Jehoiakim,⁸See II. Kings, 23.36–24.6 G. informers, leaders who cast fear upon the congregation not for the sake of God, shedders of blood by defaming people in public, evil-tongued people, he who abolishes circumcision.⁹Rosh ha-Shanah, 17a. G.

41. One who rules a halachic (Jewish law) decision in the presence of his rabbi is liable to the death penalty, and it is fitting for a snake to bite him, and he is called a sinner, and he is cast down from his greatness, and he descends to Hell (Sheol) childless.

(3) Antigonos, man of Sokho, received from Shimon the Righteous. He would say, "Do not be as servants who are serving the master in order to receive a reward, rather be as servants who are serving the master not in order to receive a reward; and may the fear of Heaven be upon you."

(17) He [R' Yaakov] would say: One hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than all the time in the world to come. And one hour of pleasure in the world to come is better than all the time in this world.

(12) I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and, though he may tarry, I will constantly anticipate his coming.

(13) I believe with perfect faith that there will be a resurrection of the dead at the time that the Creator, His name be blessed, desires, and forever his presence will be known.

(1) The foundation of piety and the root of perfect service [of G-d] is for a man to clarify and come to realize as truth what is his obligation in his world and to what he needs to direct his gaze and his aspiration in all that he toils all the days of his life.

(2) Behold, what our sages, of blessed memory, have taught us is that man was created solely to delight in G-d and to derive pleasure in the radiance of the Shechina (divine presence). For this is the true delight and the greatest pleasure that can possibly exist. The place of this pleasure is, in truth, in Olam Haba (the World to Come). For it was created expressly for this purpose.

(3) But the path to arrive at the "desired haven" (Ps. 107:30) of ours is this world. This is what our sages of blessed memory said: "this world is like a corridor before the World to Come" (Avot 4:16).