One thing that has intrigued me about Judaism which I am uncertain if I have been correctly informed on is Judaisms belief...or non belief...in hell.  I was informed that Jews do not believe in a hell.  If you would be willing could you clarify this for me?  According to your beliefs what happens to those that disobey God?

It is very difficult to make categorical statements about what Jews do or not believe or about what Judaism teaches on a given theological precept. Judaism is more concerned with action than belief and so there are only very few beliefs that Jews are obligated to hold. The medieval philosopher/commentator Moses Maimonides compiled a list of 13 Principles of Faith that he determined a Jew must hold and I suppose his list has the most widespread acceptance even if many, many Jews differ in opinion on one or more points.

Maimonides list mentions nothing about hell. He does, however, hold that a Jew should believe that God judges our actions and rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked.

The Rabbinic tradition speaks of Gehinnom, which is a place/state of some kind of suffering and/or purification after death for those who are not judged righteous enough to enter immediately into Paradise (called Gan Eden). It appears that practically everyone who ends up in Gehinnom eventually is released into Paradise, and so Gehinnom has more in common with Purgatory than Hell. It's not clear, though, if there are persons so thoroughly wicked that they cannot be purified. Maybe they stay in Gehinnom forever or their souls are annihilated.

Then there is the doctrine of "The World To Come." The righteous are granted "a place" or "a share" in the World To Come, and those who are judged wicked enough maybe be denied a place a in the World To Come. Whether this refers to the spiritual afterlife or resurrection in the new world at the end of time or both or something else is unclear. The resurrection of the dead is one of Maimonides' 13 Principles, but it is controversial because it is not all that clear whether he refers to belief in an actual general resurrection at the end of time or the belief that God can and will resurrect some people at some point for His own unstated purposes.

The most important issue, though, is that Judaism focuses more on proper action in  this world rather than potential rewards or punishments in the next. Therefore, we do not spend nearly as much time focusing on eschatology as Christians do. I think the vast majority of Jews do not believe in any kind of hell, and there certainly is basis for that belief in our traditions.

Jan 4, 2010 -- 2:57PM, Skeptic889 wrote:

Could this Gehinnom be considered hell since it is a place/state of some kind of suffering?  Especially if it is possible that one could stay in this place forever? Additionally if it is just a purgatory of sorts that you will eventually be realeased into Paradise then what is the motivation to do what God commands?  My parents brought me up as a Christian and it seemed a lot of emphesis was placed on hell basically as a motivator to believe and obey God. 

Gehinnom is certainly the antecedent to Christian Hell, although pretty much every ancient religion conceived of some kind of bad place for bad people.

The two main differences between Gehinnom and Hell, however are that most if not all people who go through Gehinnom eventually make it out of there and one ends up there based on one's actions rather than one's belief. Hell is the default destination for everyone who has not been saved; Gehinnom is a cleansing/purification process.

The motivation for the Jew to observe the commandments is (or should be) that virtue is its own rewards. The Torah and it's laws are "our life and length of days," and adherence to its precepts - though it can be difficult - enhances the quality of life.

One thing that makes Judaism very different from Christianity and more in common with something like Hinduism is that it is not a credal religion, not a proselytizing message that came about in a specific place and time and was promulgated to other people who had no knowledge of it. Traditional belief, of course, is based on Divine revelation but for the most part Judaism evolved from the basis way of life of the ancient Israelite commonwealth. In antiquity there was no distinction between civil and religious law, between the courts and the priests. Society was a single organic whole, so the Torah contains both religious and civil laws, rituals and ethics. It is the basis of  the complete way of life of the Jewish people. In antiquity, then, disobedience in a religious law was identical (and in some ways more grievous) that disobedience in a civil law. Real punishments -- fines, flogging, or even death -- were imposed if one were found guilty. Just as the fear of facing justice can compel obedience for many who are not otherwise convinced of the value of the law for its own sake, the same held true in ancient Israel. Moreover, there was the belief in the immanence and omniscience and justice of God which required that if the wicked did not get what they deserved through the courts, God would punish them in His own way.

But things change, and Jews eventually had less and less power over their own domestic affairs and the domestic court system withered away. Also, the doctrine of personal reward and punishment in this world proved far too simplistic and did not answer all the questions, as the Psalms often attest. So, the doctrine of post mortem reward and punishment was reemphasized and became the centerpiece of Rabbinic eschatology. The Rabbis did not agree, as I said, about the particulars of the afterlife. But there was general agreement that every sin has its punishment and every mitzvah its reward. If the desire not to disobey or disrepect God or not to harm one's neighbor or community was not enough, there was the the desire to minimize punishment; if the desire to serve God and help one's neighbor and community and the personal satisfaction of doing the right thing was not enough, there was the desire to increase one's reward in the World To Come.

Catholicism is very similar (or at least used to be). Sins are divided into mortal and venial: if one commits a mortal sin and dies without being absolved, one goes to hell; venial sins do not send one to hell but need to be purged after death before the person could enter heaven. The greater one's piety and sanctity in life, the greater the life of grace in the soul and thus the closer place to the Beatific Vision -- total union with God -- one would enjoy in Heaven. Both Judaism and Catholicism hold that doing good deeds can shorten one's stay in Purgatory/Gehinnom and that charity can be given in honor of the dead that benefits them in the afterlife. However, because Catholicism ended up being the hegemonic religion in Early Modern Europe, it was the Catholic teaching that was corrupted into the selling of indulgences to finance the building projects, wars, and lifestyles of the Papacy and other church leaders that sparked the Reformation...

Speaking for myself, now, I am optimistically agnostic on the topic of the afterlife. I really want to believe that there is one, but I have my doubts. However, I'm not going to know for sure until I die and I'm therefore in no hurry to find out. I choose to do mitzvot for the following reasons (in no particular order):

- The mitzvot are the folkways of the Jewish people. Doing mitzvot is what a Jew does, and in doing mitzvot one actualizes one's identity as a Jew. These commandments are the root and expression of my identity as a Jew.

- They give structure and meaning and sanctity to my life, as well as a sense of purpose.

- In following these laws and rules, I feel connected to something greater than myself.

Failing to following these laws and rules has the opposite effect.

That's enough of a motivation for me. I am not Orthodox and never would be, and there is plenty that I find either silly or offensive in certain traditional laws and rules and so the final arbiter of what I choose to do and not to do is my own reason and experience, and I don't need fear of a post-mortem punishment to guide my decisions.

I believe in hell because I believe in the justice of God.

I trust in His mercy to keep me from there!

Jan 4, 2010 -- 10:42PM, Roodog wrote:

I believe in hell because I believe in the justice of God.

I trust in His mercy to keep me from there!

Hi, Roodog,

I've never understood how Hell squares with a just God. Could you shed some light on that? 

If God is just, then He must desire that everyone get what they deserve. How can anyone deserve Hell? If God is just, then surely the punishment must fit the crime? How can anything we mortal finite beings can do warrant eternal torment and suffering? I don't even think Hitler deserves Hell! 

God creates and sustains all things. All things, all people exist because God wills it so and keeps us in existence. If Hell exists, then God must willingly allow the suffering souls to continue to exist in eternal torment. How is that just? There are some denominations that answer this by saying that God annihilates the souls of the damned, so they do not suffer for eternity. That seems a little bit better than the Hell option, but that's human logic. A doctor, for example, has to make the choice to let a patient die if there's nothing he can do and the patient will suffer too much otherwise, but that's because the doctor is not omnipotent and doesn't have any other option.

I've heard some people say that God doesn't send anyone to Hell: we send ourselves there by choosing to follow our own wills over Him, by rejecting Him. That seems to me like a mother warning her child not to play in traffic and then just sitting by and letting him face the consequences of his actions if he then disobeys her. A human parent who did that and let her child get hit by car because he didn't obey her would be called negligent at best. Isn't God supposed to be better than we are?

Finally, if I had to, I could probably accept the notion of Hell as punishment for what we do, but how does God's justice square with people who end of in Hell because of what they believe (or, rather, what they don't believe)?

According to very many Christians, I will go to Hell when I die because I do not believe in Jesus as my savior. Very many Christians believe that no one can avoid going to Hell unless they accept Jesus. A person can be a devout Jew or Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist and he can devote his or her life to helping other people and trying to make the world a better place -- but if he or she doesn't choose the right religion before death then he or she will end up in Hell. Meanwhile, a man could spend his life raping and murdering children, have a sudden conversion on his death bed, and go to heaven. How is that just?

I know if probably seems like I'm attacking you, but honestly I'm not. This is just a passionate issue for me. I really would appreciate learning about your POV.

Thanks!

Jan 4, 2010 -- 10:42PM, Roodog wrote:

I believe in hell because I believe in the justice of God.

I trust in His mercy to keep me from there!

I guess that this is just one of those things I may never understand.  Must be a 'Christian' thing.....

I see GOD as pure, pure Spirit - but never has He dealt with humans in pure Justice because it would be fatal to us (and thus pointless).  His Justice is *always* mixed with Mercy because too much of either would hurt the world.

So even though a place of eternal suffering makes no sense to me, I do agree with you as far as trusting His Mercy.  AS IF you would need my 'gebench' (blessing) on your beliefs, lol....