Death, Burial and Afterlife

DEATH: Torah; Do Not Murder Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:7 : “Do Not Kill” in Christian translations in accordance with Jesus’ ‘turn the other cheek’ philosophy. But killing in Self Defense is O.K. Exodus 22:2. A man breaks into your house OK to kill Exodus 22:2 but by day not OK 22:3
Death Penalty:OK Genesis 9:6, but only if there are two witnesses Numbers 35:30. Mishnah makes it very, very, difficult to convict. Suicide wrong but Samson, King Saul and Masada OK Abortion is not murder. Miscarriage due to strife is a tort, not a crime Exodus 21:22 because soul does not enter at birth but closer to exit from womb. Genesis 4:7.

BURIAL: Principle one; All creatures go to one place: of earth they were made, and into the earth they return Ecclesiastes 3:20 so this life is really important. Rabbi Yaakov taught “One hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come Mishnah Avot 4:17.
Principle two: Do not do what the Egyptians did. i.e. no mummy: so no embalming, and quickly into the earth to decay. No splendid tomb; just a simple wooden box or just a shroud. No grave goods but give to charity to honor the deceased name.

AFTERLIFE: Seven different Jewish views; or seven options.
1- Humans no different from animals. All have same end place. Ecclesiastes 3:19-21

2- Sheol; the big question. there is something, but who knows what it is: it is not heaven or hell Psalms 6:5, 88:10 115:17.

3- Resurrection during the Messianic Age as part of God’s final Judgement. Good people live again on earth, evil people die quickly. Daniel 12:1-4, Isaiah 26:19-21, 17:15.

4- Postmortem reward and punishment for individuals: between death and resurrection everyone, except saints, goes to Gehennom-purgatory for 1-12 months to atone for their sins. Most people, including non Jewish good people, then go to Gan Eden, a good place since it is populated by good people. Evil people who are still unrepentant after 12 months of painful confrontation with their sins are extinguished (avadon). The great majority of people are basically good (that is why custom is to say Kaddish for only 11 months) and only really evil people do not enter the spiritual world to come. All these ideas are post Biblical rabbinic ideas.

5- Immortality: Based on the laws of Physics that matter and energy are never destroyed but only transformed. Thus just as the body disorganizes into its basic molecules and is recycled in the ground; so does the soul lose it’s personal memories and yet its basic energy becomes part of the cosmic energy of the universe. This view was popular among Jews in the Greek/Roman Empire and was revived by many Reform Progressive Jews in the 19th century.

6- Gilgul- Recycling: Reincarnation is a Kabbalistic concept that arose in the 12th century and became popular in Eastern Europe through Hassidism. Unlike Indian concepts, gilgul is limited to humans and does not occur to everyone. There are new souls born all the time. Most current living souls do not return. Some of those who return, do so as a punishment but for most souls it is a second chance to improve themselves. Souls of Jews who were cut off from the Jewish people are reborn in a descendent and return to the Jewish people through conversion/reversion to Judaism.

7- Some of these concepts are not mutually exclusive. Most Kabbalists and Hassidim believed in #3 and #4 and #6 Many Jews today believe in #5 and #6. For most of the 20th century most non-Orthodox Jews believed in #1 and #2. What happens to you might depend partly on what you believe will happen to you #7. If you believe in Gilgul you become a gilgul. If not, you don’t. So what you believe is important. However, if you do not believe in a reward and you deserve it you will still receive it; and it does not matter what Hitler or Stalin believed: there is a judge and there is judgement. Genesis 18:25.

For more details see:
Jewish Views of the Afterlife by Simcha Raphael Jewish Lights 1997
The Death of Death by Neil Gillman Jason Aronson 1994
God, Sex and Kabbalah by Rabbi Allen S. Maller