Jewish people help me out please!

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Hexapod Robo

Congratulations :) .. if you seek the fact .. you WILL find it soon !

Judaism, christianity and islam are ORIGINALLY a single religion .

I know you wonder because you find some changes and differences, but actually the " reason " for that is :-

1- By the time, old data change and get substituted by myths. That's why God sended messengers from time to time. Some people refuse to accept this fact.

2- God's unique religion has soooo many many much information, very precise and intricate laws, which people need apply to live safely,peacefully and happily.

These "precise" data is transmitted from God to us through a CONTINUOS individulas, in order to keep information correct . which you will find exclusively in "Islam"..

Please note .. I DO NOT SAY that judaism and christianity does not include any correct information.. they do have some, but not the entire fact that's reqired to lead us to our God .

Few people have the fact.. Fact is Islam is THE correct way to God !

GivPerf

There definitely is a day of judgment after death. I don't know what the people above me have been reading, but many of the Jewish scholars have written about it. Even the Talmud says that the reward for our actions is not received in this world - implying that there is another world which we enter after death. The Pirkei Avos says this world is like a corridor - our true existence is in the next world. The way to get there is through this world

There is definitely a reward/punishment for our actions. There is a concept of heaven and hell, but it is quite different from the Christian version. There is no such thing as eternal damnation. Since a soul is part of God (as it were), all it wants is to be close to God. That is heaven - the state of the soul returning to its Source and being close to God. If (God forbid) the soul has done too many sins in this world, which severs its connection to God, it has to go through a purification process. This is called Gehinnom, translated roughly as hell. It lasts at most for 11 months, and it is not necessarily a "lake of fire." Some say it is the shame and humiliation of having all your misdeeds exposed. Of course, no one really knows, since we're all still alive. :) After these 11 months, the soul has been purified and can enter "heaven." The more mitzvos the soul has performed, the better a person was in this world, the closer his soul will be to God in the next world. Once we pass from this world into the next, we ourselves cannot improve our standing. The time is past - whatever we have done will influence our closeness to God, and it is too late to do anything about it. (The only way we can improve it and come closer to God after death is if someone still on earth does mitzvos in our names - but that's a side point.)

Pirkei Avos also says we should not perform mitzvos (the commandments) in this world for the sole purpose of receiving the reward. They are here to make our life in this world more enjoyable, AS WELL as for the purpose of bringing our souls closer to God.

If you want more info, email me.

Michael J

Unlike Christianity and Islam, Judaism is not a dogmatic religion, especially with regards post-material existence. There is no official version of the afterlife in Judaism, nor even a concerted effort to define one; the approach to the afterlife is vague and open to interpretation. What is known and accepted is that all people have a soul, and there is a concept of "heaven" (refered to as the 'Garden of Eden') and "hell" (refered to as "Gei Hinom" or "Azazel"), though both are different from popular descriptions. There is no fire and brimstone and eternal damnation, rather people go to Hell to atone for their sins and certainly not for eternity. In fact, mourning relatives only recite the Kadish prayer for someone's soul for 11 months because even the most evil person will only be sent to hell for a year (and our relatives certainly aren't that evil). Clearly time is not defined on that metaphysical plane, but the message is that even the most evil person is worthy of redemption.
One standard Orthodox view is that Heaven is simply the euphoria of one soul being close to and in harmony with God. Other parables describe it as the literal Garden of Eden and others simply say that the afterlife is to this life as a sky-scraper is to a shack - just simply undefinable. There is a concept of judgement upon arrival as well.
Beyond for those basic tenets, everything is up in the air. Reanimation is not incompatible with Judaism, and some influential Rabbis over the years have held this belief. In fact, there is a famous parable that explains infant and child mortality as souls being sent back to Earth to relive a short amount of time and atone for a past life.
To sum up, Judaism is aware that there is some form of afterlife incorporating reward and punishment, but as corporeal beings we simply do not and cannot know its truth. This is not an issue for Judaism, which emphasizes this world rather then the next one. In the Old Testament, one may be surprised to find a complete lack of overt references to the afterlife. When one encounters a reward offered for appropriate deeds or a punishment for inappropriate ones it is invariable material, often having to do with exile from the land of Israel. Many Jews interprate this as logical based on the belief that the divine commandments are reasoned; these rewards and punishments are not so much divine decree as simple consequences for positive and negative actions. For example, the reward of an extended life for honoring ones parents may not be divine, rather a consequence of a society that respects its elders, learns from them and ultimately helps each other. The oral law contained in the Talmud does delve into the metaphysical, particularly with regards the classic paradox of bad things happening to good people (and vice versa), but in general Judaism does not try to sell good deeds as a way to get into heaven, rather just as the right thing to do for all.

It's That Guy

Christianity is all about salvation. You need to be -saved-, that's the whole reason you live. And you are saved by belief, so belief is like the most important thing.

Judaism is not about salvation. It's not about the next life, it's about THIS life. It's about moral/ethical principles that will make your life better while you are here. The next thing, whatever it is, we'll meet that when it comes.

And because of this, Judaism is not big on doctrines. There are no obligatory beliefs. If you study Judaism you study the thoughts and opinions of great minds of the past, great thinkers and writers, and they don't agree on much! Everything is open to interpretation.

Jews see Judaism almost more as a cultural heritage than a belief system. Because it's not about belief, it's about principles.

lemon_lorrain

Judaism believes in life now rather than life after death--it is by our blood (children) that we live. When we die we are gathered back to our forefathers. Jews like to believe in some sort of resurrection, and it is best not to concentrate on this aspect, since it is not in our hands but in G-d's.

allonyoav

What we believe in is euphemistically called "The World to Come". Not much is taught on it (at least not in open sources.) It is not a world as we know it, nor are there beautiful gardens and winged angels playing harps with golden halos around their heads. At the same time- their is no fire and brimstone or eternal damnation and burning in the fires of hell...

The world to come is a spiritual realm- souls try to cluster around the pure essence of God, to close to the holy for the sake of being near it- because souls yearn to be as close to God as possible. but it is not as simple as that either. The world to come is not a simplistic realm of one level- in the Talmud, Masechta Chagigah, it is said that the outer courtyards to God's abode has seven levels - each of ascending holiness, each soul wanting to be as high as possible. It briefly states that beyond these levels you have the inner courtyard and abode itself- but stops there with the statement "Beyond here we do not enquire". Maybe it elaborates further in the Kaballah- I have no idea on that.

Hell is completely absent from Judaism. There is no devil in Judaism as it is not possible for an angel to rebel (only humans have free will- angels can only perform specific tasks). What is generally misinterpreted as hell is the concept of Sheol or Gehinnom. This refers to the burning the soul feels at the heavenly trial after death.

Essentially, we are brought to the heavenly court (God) and judged. Satan (literally the accusser) is the prosecutor and wants to introduce all our sins into the equation. God is merciful, and drops some of the sins before the trial begins (Rambam, Hilchos Teshuvah). After that, the soul basically watches two movies- one is- what your life was- the other, what your life could have been. The soul feels shame at the lost opportunities, at what it could have been vs what it is. It is this shame that feels like an eternity of burning. The burning is not a literal one- it is the burning of shame that it feels at realising how it has transgressed, when it could have been so much more! Think of how, for us with physical bodies, the shame of being shouted at by a parent/teacher/ boss can feel like burning- how much worse for a soul which is a pure being and has no physical imperfections or mental imperfections to give it excuses! But though it states that this "burning" feels like an eternity- it truth, it never lasts for more than 12 months. God is much too loving to give out eternal punishments, just as a loving parent would never punish a child for forever.

Does this process differ between Jews/non-Jews? Nope- it is exactly the same except Jews (all of them- even apostates that converted to other religions) are judged by the law in the Torah and everyone else by the Seven Noachide laws.

What happens to particularly evil people? Here we are moving into the territory of those who are punished with kares (spiritual excission). In its most simplistic understanding this means the soul is eternally cut-off from God, unable to enter into the world to come. But what that means is debated with two main answers:
1) The soul dissipates and is destroyed
2) It is forever outside, looking in and regretting its decisions in life.

Number 2 is the one that has the most support in the Talmud. there is a story of Onkelos, a nephew of Titus and sorceror who summons the souls of three enemies of the Jews to discuss their fates. If they were still around to be summonsed, then they could not have dissipated- ergo number 2 would be correct.. As a side note to this incident, Onkelos repented, converted and became one of the major commentators on the Torah!

Of course, this is even further complicated by the Jewish view of the soul. In its most simplistic form (yes, it can get a LOT more complicated!) the soul is seen as containing three divisions: 1) the animating spirit which is tied to the physical and dies with the body 2) The "You" part, the intellect etc which is the linkage between the holy and the spiritual and 3) the Holy spark, that bit of God that is within all of us.

Now the purpose of life is to elevate the holy spark, to bring it even closer to God through the "You" part performing positive deeds and moving towards spirituality and away form the animalistic. As such, it is this part which is judged and has the reward/punishment applied to it. Even if the soul is punished with kares, this would only apply to the "You" part, and not to the holy part.

Annt Hu DeShalit

That's not accurate.

Judaism is about being good to be good and to have a healthy relationship with God, man, and oneself--not to be saved.

The role of Jewish Law is to provide tools to learn how to do that, and values that one ought acquire. Judaism teaches that God gave us these laws because there are subtleties to the ideal that can not be conveyed in broader strokes. We therefore learn from the subtleties of the ritual, and the nuances of the inter-personal laws. Often very fundamental ideas about Jewish values can emerge from same arcane bit that one would think would never have found application in practice.

But I would like also to dwell on an aspect that others have ignored.

Islamism is nothing less than Islam. The Quran, the Hadith, and Islam's murderous history make this crystal clear. But consider the judgment of two astute scholar-statesmen of uncommon urbanity:

Alexis de Tocqueville:
"I studied the Quran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad. So far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion more to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself."

Winston Churchill said as much in 1899, but with chilling significance for Europe today:
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.

"Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

Unlike Americans and Europeans, Muslim leaders name their enemies. They call Christians the "Sunday people," and Jews the "Saturday people." Ahmadinejad of Iran calls for a world without the United States and Israel, meaning a world without Christianity and Judaism. The same murderous hatred is preached in innumerable mosques in the United States financed by Saudi Arabia.

Muslims do not speak of "moderate" Christians or of "moderate" Jewsâ€”no more than we ever spoke of "moderate" Nazis. Intellectually liberated Muslims like Nonie Darwish and Wafa Sultan are strategically irrelevant. Indeed, the more we appease the enemy by refraining from calling him by his true name, the more so-called moderate Muslims will manifest their violent Mohammedan heritage. Even secular Muslims supported Saddam Hussein.

.

lustr3

Religion is what you make out of it. Personally, I don't believe that by doing some things, or not doing it cuts my connection to my G-D.

This might be a good link for beginners though: http://www.jewfaq.org/index.htm

jfluss1226

In Judaism, there is a day of judgment and there is an after life. Its just different that in Christianity. Judaism's day of judgment is not quite the day of reckoning it is in other religions, it is about the glorious and universal recognition as God as the one and true Ruler of the world. The others or non-believers will not be killed, they will be brought into the believing fold, and that does not mean that they will necessarily become Jewish. There are signs of the period of Redemption as it refered to, but there are many different and diverging possibilities (see the prophets of the Old Testament for some of them). One possibility is that the Jewish nation, acting in the ways of the Torah and all its commandments, are deserving of the Redeption and God will deliver it to them. There is also the posibility that the Jewish nation will be so bad, so ignorant of the commandments and so morally corrupt that if God does not step in at that very moment, the Jewish nation may be lost altogether. It is in this possibility that the idea of an Armagedon (deriving from the Heberew Har Meggido, meaning Mount Meggido, the place of one of the bloody against the Jews in the negative redemption process) originates.

That is where the role of the Messiah comes in; he will be the herald of the Redemption, when the Jewish people will return to the Holy Land, the Land of Israel. This is why some Jews see the modern State of Israel as the commencement of the Redemption, while some thought (and still do think) its very creation is wrong and inappropriate, since the Messiah has not come yet to start the Redemption. The Redepmtion in Judaism is more of a process than a one day show. It is the beginning of a different state of being in the world, including the building of the Third Temple, to stand on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Dome of the Rock stands now. (This is not a subliminal message against Islam, just the facts of the story.)

At the end of your life, you will be judged on all of the deeds in your life, both good and bad. There is no idea in Judaism of Hell of Damnation or Purgatory or anything like that. Some suggest that nearly all will spend some time in Gehenom, (with the exception of the most truly rightous and pious in the world), the closest Jewish equivalent to hell (originating from the hebrew words Gey Henom, meaning the valley of Henom, a valley outside of Jeusalem). During that time their sins will be dealt with and after that period they will all move on the the Garden of Eden, which has been hidden since the Sin of Adam. All, that is, with a few exceptions. It is written in the Talmud that several people in the Bible were stuck in Gehenom for all of eternity. There is definite reward and punishment, and we pray for forgiveness every year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Attonement. Finally, unlike Christianity (I'm not sure about this in Islam so I will not include it here) not only Jews are allowed into Heaven/The Garden of Eden, and not all non-Jews are sent automatically to Hell/Gehenom. They to face the process of measuring dees, and while [I think I have heard] their reward will not be as great as that of the Jews, the good gentiles will have their place in the Garden of Eden as well.
I hope that answers your questions. Don't be shy about finding the Rabbi or other leader of a Synagogue nearby and stopping there to see if you can ask some questions, even just out of curiosity. I'm sure that they will be glad to help.

Lupines supports GEERT WILDERS

We do not go into deep explanation of the after life as people have a propensity to put too much weight on the afterlife it IMPAIRS their ability to act in today.

Judaism is to repair the EXISTING world not to have hindrance in that.

In Islam you see suicide bombers desecrating their lives for "promise of virgins in paradise" and majority believe there is no afterlife for those that are not Islamic. They are very ascetic (doing without worldly pleasures) and with too much at stake on afterlife is problem there.

In Christianity many believe to pray but use no action or deeds while others actually believe it is Messiah to come when the world is purposely at its poorest. This is a self-fulfilled destructive prophecy by not acting in today's world. Many also believe there is no afterlife for non-Christians. I find that a very hateful ideaology for such a claim to be loving religion in both aspect of non-believers not warranting the world to come but also because lack of action in today's world with so much weight on afterlife shows hatred for G-d's creation not love of it.

THESE things impair ones ability to act in today's world and those beliefs are very much conflict of Judaism. I find those theologies very hateful towards non believers and greedy as they are actually claiming their own "choseness" status which you will see is very different than that of Judaism's chosen status. Judaism chosen status is "choose G-d" as it relates to today not so much weight on exclusive afterlife!!!

Judaism's after life very much exists that is where the other two got it from but don't put so much weight on afterlife when studying it as it will HINDER the actions required of today you see the other 2 religions went too wild with it.

To sum up one can't say "maldito mundo" (damned be the world, I am saved) in Judaism one needs to repair the world, to not cease from trying. There is still afterlife for non-Jewish people they are Noahides one is either righteous or not. Afterlife is basking in G-d's Glory and there are different levels but we don't go into such an indepth explanation otherwise religious beliefs take on a direction and life of their own very much depart from what was written.

Just study Noahide laws to not conflict and get a purer belief from those other adulterated versions.

harajuku lover

well in judaism there is only heaven and no hell or other place of purgatory. anyways when you die(my rabbi explained this to me)it may tale a while to get to heaven depending on what bad stuff you have done throughout life. but eventually you get to heaven. sp there is no judgement day or anything o fthat sort. hope i helped.

vansemmmanuel *JPA

To sum everything up,
We don't worry and spend our whole life worrying about death. We live to enjoy life and worry about today. Live today like its your last. I believe there is a heaven. But i dont worry about it i just worry about life now.

Tom

Reward for living? Life isn't enough for you?
Punishment for living? Ever hear of pain, sadness, and suffering? It happens everyday through your ignorance and lack of understanding.

Judaism believes that the life after the physical world, is a state of nirvana - peace. You don't cease to exist, you just don't experience things. You only think. There is no judge. Only you and your ability to think clearly and gain knowledge through reason.

Eitan F

first, you have to accept that religions are changed while time passes - even though they claim to be the absolute truth and no other truth can be.
in the original Israeli belief, the law of the Torah that was given to the Israelis by moses, there is a very important conscience base: the life of a person is from his birth to his death on earth. that all and nothing else. nothing after death. so, a person has to be good, keep the law of the Torah in his life on earth, and if doing the wrong he must be punished immediately, in his life here.
believing in life after death, paradise and hell - all this are later and of foreign influence. since Christianity and Islam were branched from late Judaism, paradise, hell and resurrection are quite developed in this religions, as you well noticed.

dmaud56

When you die, your soul simply "goes to sleep" in a dark and lonely abode known as "sheol." During the advent of the Messiah (according to Judaism), the dead will return to life, and then they will be judged as to who will die permanently, that is, simply dissapear, or be given ever lasting bliss in the garden of the righteous. It is the job of the good Jew to keep the teachings and bloodlines alive because if he doesn't (yes, he), the Messiah won't have anything to study. Nor will he be born either.

The idea of hell, is a Christian one, the word itself even is of Scandinavian origin, after the godess "Hela," ruler of the underworld where the dishonored dead, cowards, men who did not die in battle, were sent. Men who died fighting, were the honored heroes of Valhalla, who would fight alongside Odin on the advent of Ragnarok.

The word itself "Ragnarok," even though you may not understand old norse, does have an ominous sound to it doesn't it? It was largely from the Norse mythology that the church got imagery of the apocalypse. Judaism envisions the messianic reign, starting with a final, decisive defeat of all evil, but no catastrophe killing half the world's people, whereas Christianity is all doom and gloom, largely the influence of scandinavian mythology, scandinavia, the place where Scarlet Johansson's paternal ancestors the Vikings who wanted to die to go to Valhalla came from.

I'm sorry, I just never get tired of picking on her Viking side; its such an easy target!

hehehehehehehe....

Well getting off the tangent; Yes, there is a day of judgement, and the "sign" is the messiah. There is no concept of hell, but the concept of the "second death" in christianity was taken straight out of Judaism. Evil people, according to Judaism, will simply cease to exist. In other words according to Judaism, what God has in store for evil men and women, is oblivion.

When you die, according to Judaism, you either go to sheol where your soul will rest awaiting judgement, or, the garden of the righteous, you return to eden.

What is sheol like? Darkness, sadness, despair and death, a realm where it is better to sleep, than to wander around. The good Jew wants to follow the law, because obviously enough it is better to go the garden, than to sheol, where all who die go (according to Judaism).

Myself what do I think?

Frankly, I think its between the person and God.

A dangerous train of thought though, when you say "its between me and God" as an excuse to do evil.

food for thought.

domominue j

their is a hell and a heaven

The rule of judgment is the standard of God's law as revealed to men, the heathen by the law as written on their hearts (Luke 12:47, 48; Rom 2:12-16); the Jew who "sinned in the law shall be judged by the law" (Rom 2:12); the Christian enjoying the light of revelation, by the will of God as made known to him (Mat 11:20-24; John 3:19). Then the secrets of all hearts will be brought to light (1Co 4:5; Luke 8:17; Luke 12:2, 3) to vindicate the justice of the sentence pronounced.
â€”Easton's Illustrated Dictionary
Jack as you can see from this Christian source there is not one judgment for all. Christians will not be judged at all, their judgment is already taken care of and they will be in heaven.
The heathen will be judged by the laws of their heart.
The Jew has a separate and individual judgment under the law of Moses.
Please be sure of your statements about Christianity here. Know what you are talking about when you represent us.
Incidentally Hell is the grave. Ask any farmer.

John E

There is actually an improved version of Judaism.
Some people believe that it's OK to love your neighbor or to turn the other cheek when someone slaps you, or if you have two coats it's OK to give as a gift the second one to someone that doesn't have one already.
That new and improved version was given to man by God's own Son.
It's called Christianity.
Greetings

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