Forever

I rarely use this forum to discuss religious ideas, mine or anyone else's. However, lately I have found myself both asking and being asked about my ideas of forever. So, consider this forewarning. In this post I am unpacking both, my personal understanding of a Jewish after-life as well some of my personal ideas and questions on the topic. I will write Hebrew words and phrases in transliteration (phonetic spelling) and I will supply short definitions as needed.

If this is not your cup of tea feel free to skip this post and to the rest of you please feel free to share your own thoughts or ideas from your belief systems. This is not meant to be a definitive answer, merely an unpacking of ideas.

A  Jewish Frame of Reference:
Jewish texts make very few references to an after-life or what may happen after death. This is because Judaism is focused on actions far more than beliefs. The result is that our texts describe the mitzvot (commandments) we are expected to fulfill in this earthly life. Successfully living toward this purpose brings reward, failure may bring punishment, whether either will continue after death, or whether anything occurs after death, is not considered relevant to the task of living.

Neither the Torah (the Jewish Bible), nor the Talmud (Rabbinic analysis of the laws that inform Jewish daily life and practice) discuss an after-life in any detail. There are references to Olam Ha-Ba (the world to come) but whether that is one that exists in a heavenly realm or is simply a reference to a future time on earth is unclear. Neither view is considered the definitive Jewish position on the matter.    

In the Mishnah (a written redaction of Jewish traditions referred to as the Oral Torah) we find the majority of the texts referencing Olam Ha-Ba (the world to come) both as descriptions of the messianic age (a time of universal peace and brotherhood on the earth, without crime, war or poverty) or to describe an after-life.  

Mishnah (chronicled Oral Torah) tractate Moed Katan (essays within Mishnah and Talmud) teaches us "This world is like a hotel. The world to come is like a home."  However, even in imagining an eternal home we are told 'Better one hour in repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life in the world to come.” Pirkei Avot (essays within Mishnah and Talmud) reaffirming our actions here should be the focus of our efforts.  


What did Jewish Sages Think Forever Would Look Like?
References to a heavenly after-life are few. Ideas of what a heavenly world to come might look like differ widely and while there are very few references to heaven there is even less said about an eternal punishment or hell.  

The concept of hell was never extensively developed in Judaism. Its origins are in a specific site (a physical and decidedly earthly location), the Valley of Gehinnom, a valley that was the site of a heathen cult whose rituals included burning children, ( II Kings 23:10 and Jeremiah 7:31) and even the souls who find themselves in this valley are not expected to stay any longer than 12 months. (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Eduyot 2:10)

Throughout our history our sages have taken strong, sometimes bold, positions of what to expect from eternity, much of which informs Jewish thought today:

·         Rabbi Akiba states clearly that any punishment that is part of an after-life is not eternal.

·         Moses Maimonides (aka: Rambam) maintained that the pious of all the nations of the world have a portion in the world-to-come. (Jews and Non-Jews alike)

·         Babylonian Talmud, tractate Taanit suggests that the righteous will sit at golden banquet tables and lavish banquets are described in the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Baba Batra.

·         Johanan Ben Nappaḥa tells us that the three central activities of life in the world-to-come are celebrating Shabbat, enjoying sunshine, and making love.

From these early descriptions it seems clear that there is an expectation that we will inhabit our bodies again.  However, Judaism considers our bodies and souls as completely integrated, much like the first being God created: “God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” Perhaps this is why sacred texts refer to the “soul of man” as “her,” but where the soul resides at the end of an earthly life until it is reunited with a new body or its original earthly form is less clear. Contemporary rabbis and scholars have offered their own interpretation of an after-life.

·         Rabbi Milton Steinberg wrote of the lasting influence of each individual on the world. This, he claimed, is our immortality. “Death cannot be and is not the end of life. Man transcends death in many altogether naturalistic fashions. He may be immortal biologically, through his children; in thought, through the survival of his memory; in influence, by virtue of the continuance of his personality as a force among those who come after him; and ideally, through his identification with the timeless things of the spirit.”

·         Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn promoted a different variation of biological immortality. “Our bodies no longer live after death, but they are then transformed into other kinds of life. The energy and chemical elements from our bodies go into the soil, where they help make flowers grow and directly or indirectly provide food for plants, animals, and human beings. So as we come from nature, so we return to nature.”

·         Rabbi Bernard S. Raskas took these two concepts and joined them in his writings. “I was with my people when they were part of the exodus from Egypt. I stood with them at Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. The pronouncements of Isaiah pound in my blood. The sayings of Akiba are sealed in the cells of my brain. The message of Maimonides is part of my mind. I experienced the Holocaust and shared in the agony of my people. I participated in the birth of modern Israel and the ecstasy of my people for I am a Jew, a corporate part of my people. I say this, not in arrogance, but in awesome humility. As a member of the Jewish people, I am immortal.”

My Incomplete Thoughts on an After-Life
To be honest, until recently I hadn’t really given forever much thought. I am preoccupied with the here and now, sometimes to the point of not fully considering the outcomes of choices I make daily – so you can see how life after death might not make it on to my radar too routinely.  

 As part of my Jewish education I was familiar with the contemporary rabbi’s positions mentioned above, which I read as not mutually exclusive of one another, and had adopted as the most reasonable expectations about what we can know happens after death.

 As for the Talmudic sages, I am indifferent regarding gold furniture or lavish banquets, but Rabbi Akiba, Rambam, and Johanan Ben Nappaḥa do each envision a world to come that I’d be more than happy to take part in. Again their ideas are not mutually exclusive of one another, they seem to have reasonable expectations about the process of transitioning from this life to the ones they describe, and so if it turns out theirs is the more accurate description of a world to come I am prepared to spend eternity this way.

When I have considered the possibilities of an after-life I have primarily thought of it as a function of our ability to imagine. This is a powerful and well developed skill, even in very young children. We visualize other worlds daily in this life. Over the course of history we have imagined cures for disease, responses to famine, the ability to fly, and in time each has become part of our reality, so why not forever?

Certainly this could be an extension of the Jewish ideal to create paradise on earth, but I do not think it has to be limited to that concept. People are rich in imagination and resourcefulness. What could be a more natural culmination of those human traits than turning a lifetime of experiences and ideas into a “world” we create to sustain the final remnants of our minds/souls as our bodies cease to function.

Is there more, less? Probably, I am still new to this line of thinking and I am hoping to hear your thoughts regarding possibilities I have not even considered imagining yet…