Judaism's view of 'next life'

Q: I'd like to have a simple, step-by-step comparison of what different religions believe happens after death.

A: What is the Jewish view of life after death?

We are born and die. These events appear to be the twin terminals of all life. Thus all religions feel called upon to respond to the universal inevitability of death. In fact, some faiths have made their response to death a central feature of their religious worldview. You can understand, therefore, why this is one of the first questions to be asked about a religion.

Judaism is, above all, an answer to the question of how to live in the world God created. What does God expect of us here? Therefore, questions about the hereafter are not the fundamental focus of Jewish theology. As you might expect, Judaism tolerates a variety of eschatologies and theologies of the "next life."

The Hebrew Bible, in most places, emphasizes the finality of death. "Shall man live eternally, never to see the grave?" "The Dead cannot praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence" (Psalm 115). Only God is immortal. The Bible, however, is not a unified document. The end of the book of Daniel, for example, appears to propose a kind of resurrection in the "end of days." Exodus implies that our deeds live on through our children who are rewarded or punished for our behavior.

Post-biblical Judaism saw the rise of two doctrines that overturned the biblical belief that the grave is final. The first is that every human possesses a soul which, at the end of life, separates from the body and lives on with God. The second posits that God will resurrect some human beings from their graves.

This view has some precedent in books such as Daniel, which promises that "Those who sleep in the dust will awake." Isaiah 66 suggests that those who rebel against God shall suffer eternal physical pain.

Resurrection grew in importance during the Maccabean Wars of the second century B.C. Antiochus IV martyred thousands of Jewish men and made himself one of the paradigmatic enemies of the Jewish people. His persecutions were so unprecedented that a new theology was called upon to find some kind of justice for the myriad deceased. This justice would be rendered when God would call the righteous and the evil from their graves to judge between them. The righteous sons of Israel might then be vindicated.

Classic Jewish theology balances these two views of afterlife: resurrection with judgment on the one hand and eternal life of the soul on the other. Each played a major role in Jewish liturgy and rabbinic theology. In fact, the Pharasees, the heroes of classical Judaism, were distinguished by their devotion to the hereafter.

Today, Jewish movements differ about belief in the next life. Orthodox Judaism maintains a belief close to the traditional views described above. Reform Judaism focuses more attention upon the life God gave us here on Earth, recognizing that a certainty about the hereafter will have to wait.

Note: In coming weeks, look for responses to this question from clergy of other faiths.

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Do you have a question you've always wanted to ask a faith leader? Do you wonder what role religion should play in your day-to-day life? Send us your questions, and we'll try to find an area clergyperson to answer them. We'll publish some of the questions and answers in our Faith pages. Send questions by e-mail to debra.boyette@newsobserver.com or by mail, Debra Boyette, The News & Observer Features Department, 215 S. McDowell St., Raleigh, NC 27601.