A question for Jewish people: do you believe in an afterlife?

[Anonymous]

Lots of non religious Jews here.

I'm an orthodox Jew. Of course we believe in an afterlife. And in reward and punishment.

[Anonymous]

If you think Or Sameach is Messiah focused you must know nothing of Chabad. Some Orthodox Jews think they are going to turn into another Christianity.

[Anonymous]

As for Trump, nearly all orthodox Jews support him (in my community, out of gratitude for freeing Rubashkin). Among conservative or reform Jews almost no one supports him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of non religious Jews here.

I'm an orthodox Jew. Of course we believe in an afterlife. And in reward and punishment.

Umm, Reform and Conservative Jews aren't non-religious.

Get out of here with your intolerance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, I can’t stand Trump or the Kushners, but your question is inane and offensive. There is no “word on the street” as to what Jews think of them. Because Jews are, you know, people. With a diverse range of perspectives.

Yes, but that's why in this country we have the Jewish vote, white vote, ....

Just curious. Are you saying most Jews don't identify as white?

I think most white Jews do (Black, Latino/a and Asian Jews also exist). White Jews recognize that we enjoy White privilege in the US, but we remember that we're not always considered white by everybody. My rabbi in college who was from Germany remembered seeing the boots of the Nazis who came to arrest his dad from where he (rabbi) was hiding under the bed. I've never experienced much anti-Semitism, but I've experienced it a few times totally out of the blue -- like at a big work dinner when a guy senior to me suddenly started loudly ranting about Jews being greedy and clannish, and a bunch of people seemed to agree with him. Or the parent of a high school friend who didn't think it was right that I "dated white women." Of course, this is NOTHING compared to what many POC experience on a daily basis.

This is a really tough subject. I'm 50% Ashkenazi and a smattering of other things (mostly Asian).

It's my firm opinion that Ashekanzi Jews (which comprise about 10 million of the 14 million Jews in the world) are white passing. Why? Well, because we aren't part of European Christendom. When you really think about what people talk about when they discuss "white people," they really mean those of European Christian background. Of course, Sephardic Jews are often not even white passing, and then you have Jews of other backgrounds (African Jews, Asian Jews, etc.).

Now, since we are white passing, we have privilege based on that. However, like the PP said above, we also suffer a ton of discrimination. It's just more complicated than simply saying "Jews are white people."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, I can’t stand Trump or the Kushners, but your question is inane and offensive. There is no “word on the street” as to what Jews think of them. Because Jews are, you know, people. With a diverse range of perspectives.

Yes, but that's why in this country we have the Jewish vote, white vote, ....

Just curious. Are you saying most Jews don't identify as white?

I think most white Jews do (Black, Latino/a and Asian Jews also exist). White Jews recognize that we enjoy White privilege in the US, but we remember that we're not always considered white by everybody. My rabbi in college who was from Germany remembered seeing the boots of the Nazis who came to arrest his dad from where he (rabbi) was hiding under the bed. I've never experienced much anti-Semitism, but I've experienced it a few times totally out of the blue -- like at a big work dinner when a guy senior to me suddenly started loudly ranting about Jews being greedy and clannish, and a bunch of people seemed to agree with him. Or the parent of a high school friend who didn't think it was right that I "dated white women." Of course, this is NOTHING compared to what many POC experience on a daily basis.

I've heard countless antisemitic anecdotes, too. I don't know why people assume I would agree with them. I find antisemitism really disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Orthodox Jews believe in the biblical dogma which includes the returning of the Moshiach..Messiah. Mainstream Jews celebrate the ethnicity and culture, and give nod to the dogma without believing the literal biblical aspects, and there is a large spectrum of practice, or no practice and belief, or no belief.So, your question involves a lot of cultural contextual schema.


An Orthodox woman once explained to me that she was looking forward to the Moshiach coming because she would then have her dream kitchen.

What I learned from this? Heaven and the afterlife is dependent upon one's perception of their actual life.

What I learned from this? You have no sense of humor.

[Anonymous]

I thought the question was what does the Jewish religion say about an afterlife, not what individual Jews think about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of non religious Jews here.

I'm an orthodox Jew. Of course we believe in an afterlife. And in reward and punishment.

Umm, Reform and Conservative Jews aren't non-religious.

Get out of here with your intolerance.

If you don't believe in the basics how are you religious?? The basics are God created the world, gave the Jews the Torah, and that reward and punishment exist for all people.

That's how we know there's a world to come. Because this is the world of choice, and perfect reward and punishment will come later, in the next world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, I can’t stand Trump or the Kushners, but your question is inane and offensive. There is no “word on the street” as to what Jews think of them. Because Jews are, you know, people. With a diverse range of perspectives.

Yes, but that's why in this country we have the Jewish vote, white vote, ....

Just curious. Are you saying most Jews don't identify as white?

I think most white Jews do (Black, Latino/a and Asian Jews also exist). White Jews recognize that we enjoy White privilege in the US, but we remember that we're not always considered white by everybody. My rabbi in college who was from Germany remembered seeing the boots of the Nazis who came to arrest his dad from where he (rabbi) was hiding under the bed. I've never experienced much anti-Semitism, but I've experienced it a few times totally out of the blue -- like at a big work dinner when a guy senior to me suddenly started loudly ranting about Jews being greedy and clannish, and a bunch of people seemed to agree with him. Or the parent of a high school friend who didn't think it was right that I "dated white women." Of course, this is NOTHING compared to what many POC experience on a daily basis.

I've heard countless antisemitic anecdotes, too. I don't know why people assume I would agree with them. I find antisemitism really disgusting.

Just curious, in what contexts have you heard these?

- Jewish person who is really troubled by rising anti-semitism in the US & Europe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of non religious Jews here.

I'm an orthodox Jew. Of course we believe in an afterlife. And in reward and punishment.

Umm, Reform and Conservative Jews aren't non-religious.

Get out of here with your intolerance.

If you don't believe in the basics how are you religious?? The basics are God created the world, gave the Jews the Torah, and that reward and punishment exist for all people.

That's how we know there's a world to come. Because this is the world of choice, and perfect reward and punishment will come later, in the next world.

Huh? I was never taught about the afterlife in my Reform shul, nor was my husband taught about it in his Conservative shul.

[Anonymous]

I'm part Ashkenazi part Italian, Turkish, and a huge mix.

My mom did ancestry DNA. 99% Ashkenazi 1 % Eskimo. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the question was what does the Jewish religion say about an afterlife, not what individual Jews think about it.

Yeah, you really can't generalize about what the Jewish religion thinks about anything, except that God revealed the 10 commandments to Moses and that we should read the Torah.

We have everything from Orthodox Jews to Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, secular Humanists, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of non religious Jews here.

I'm an orthodox Jew. Of course we believe in an afterlife. And in reward and punishment.

Umm, Reform and Conservative Jews aren't non-religious.

Get out of here with your intolerance.

If you don't believe in the basics how are you religious?? The basics are God created the world, gave the Jews the Torah, and that reward and punishment exist for all people.

That's how we know there's a world to come. Because this is the world of choice, and perfect reward and punishment will come later, in the next world.

Huh? I was never taught about the afterlife in my Reform shul, nor was my husband taught about it in his Conservative shul.

Do you keep anything? These are incredibly basic Jewish theological principles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of non religious Jews here.

I'm an orthodox Jew. Of course we believe in an afterlife. And in reward and punishment.

Umm, Reform and Conservative Jews aren't non-religious.

Get out of here with your intolerance.

If you don't believe in the basics how are you religious?? The basics are God created the world, gave the Jews the Torah, and that reward and punishment exist for all people.

That's how we know there's a world to come. Because this is the world of choice, and perfect reward and punishment will come later, in the next world.

Huh? I was never taught about the afterlife in my Reform shul, nor was my husband taught about it in his Conservative shul.

Do you keep anything? These are incredibly basic Jewish theological principles.

By "these" you mean the notion of reward/punishment in the afterlife. Don't act like it's more than that.

Maybe YOU need some education on how diverse conceptions of the afterlife are in Judaism: https://www.haaretz.com/hblocked?returnTo=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fjewish%2F.premium-what-is-the-jewish-afterlife-like-1.5362876

You're a member of a religion that varies on many principles, despite what you may think.