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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The number of no’s is astounding. How does Judaism even continue to exist when the majority of Jews aren’t even religious?

You can be religious without believing in an afterlife.

If you don't believe in reward and punishment, you may be technically keeping the commandments, but not religious.

Christian here. I have studied both the new and old Testaments (the first five books are, essentially, the Torah). My understanding (and this may well be wrong) of the Jewish concept of reward and punishment is that a Jew (by following the 600+ rules of Judaism) can earn a place in heaven. Is that untrue? FWIW, Christians believe that no one, on their own, can earn a place in heaven; we have to rely on the Grace of God for that (and follow two rules: Love God, Love Your Neighbor as Yourself).

That is wrong. Jews believe pretty much everyone gets a place in heaven unless you deliberately don't observe the 613 commandments or in non Jews case, don't keep the 7 laws of the sons of Noah.

Now, I'm telling you what Jewish thought is.

Individual Jews can believe anything they want. There are Jews who believe in jesus. That doesn't make it Jewish thought, just because there are Jews who believe in it.

So too, reward and punishment (and an afterlife) is basic Jewish thought, even if there are Jews who don't believe in it (or in the Jewish bible for that matter).

[Anonymous]

I truly don’t mean any disrespect, but this thread makes me even more confused. Several (like the poster above) say with authority heaven/afterlife is a Jewish thing, while others (like the poster just before that, in a somewhat disparaging tone) insist it is not and that is a main difference with Christianity. For this non-Jew, the lack of consensus is mind boggling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I truly don’t mean any disrespect, but this thread makes me even more confused. Several (like the poster above) say with authority heaven/afterlife is a Jewish thing, while others (like the poster just before that, in a somewhat disparaging tone) insist it is not and that is a main difference with Christianity. For this non-Jew, the lack of consensus is mind boggling.

It is because, as a few people have noted, the afterlife is sort of an afterthought in a lot of Jewish theological discussion, at least by comparison with Christian theology (or at least what I know about it). So if you’re used to thinking heaven or hell are big concerns for the living, it makes sense that the lack of consensus on what happens after you die is weird. If you’re Jewish, it’s not particularly surprising at all.