Nadene Goldfoot
The Torah first mentions death as "going to our fathers." Since the Torah first talks about Adam and Eve, and such people as Abraham, this is the early Hebrew thought going back more than 3,000 years ago. It was a very scientific outlook without any additional add-ons, because they knew this is what happened to one's fathers. A premature death was looked upon as a terrible misfortune, such as a small child dying, as indeed it was. A blessing pronounce over people was that they would live till a ripe old age. Moses lived till 120, so our blessing said today is that you live till 120. In doing a toast, we say, L'Chaim! (To Life!) Life is the best of all possibilities. We are here on this earth to care for all life. Becoming a doctor is the best thing our children can become; "My son, the doctor!"
Jewish people cherish life. The Torah was given to ISRAEL SO THAT "YOU SHALL LIVE" BY THE TEACHINGS, AND NOT
DIE THROUGH THEM." Death has no virtue since THE DEAD CANNOT PRAISE THE LORD" (Psalms 115:17) King Solomon said, "A good name is better than precious oil; and the day of death than the day of one's birth." This was said about a man who died a peaceful death following a long life blessed with good health and vitality of mind and body; a life rich in good deeds.
Then Sheol was developed, a place the dead were at in a questionable existence. It's location was far below the earth, looked upon more as the dwelling of the wicked with later writers. The dead were also considered to have certain psychic powers.
In later Hebrew thoughts on death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind, death came to be considered a prime evil; at the end of days, death would cease and all the dead would rise. These developments all occurred before 70 CE.
The thoughts on Resurrection became a fundamental doctrine of Pharisaic Judaism. Remember, there were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They were the Jewish political and Religious parties during the 2nd Temple period (c 580 BCE and on). At the same time, the Sadducees had absolute control over the Temple. Their differences were somewhat like the Democrats and Republicans of today, with a lot of antagonism, but with Jews then due possibly to differences in basic social differences.
Resurrection is the belief that that at the end of time, the bodies of the dead would rise from their graves. It was a philosophy adopted by post-exilic Judaism, particularly by the Pharisees, although rejected by the Sadducees. The Talmud teaches belief in resurrection as a fundamental of the Jewish faith, and Maimonides incorporated it into his 13 Principles of Faith, so it did not come from Moses's laws. The denial of Resurrection was generally considered as heresy until the modern period when various Reform prayer books substituted phrases like "eternal life" for the earlier references to resurrection. Although belief in resurrection seems to contradict belief in Immortality, the 2 views were combined in Jewish as well as in Christian and Muslim orthodoxy.
Traditional Jews believe that during the Messianic Age, the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the Jewish people ingathered from the far corners of the earth and the bodies of the dead will be brought back to life and reunited with their souls. It is not entirely clear whether only Jews, or all people, are expected to be resurrected at this time.
Pharisaism was responsible for strengthening morality and introducing elasticity which enabled Judaism to withstand its subsequent tribulations. The movement was continued in the stream of historic Judaism of which we now have 3 basic avenues to walk upon; Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism.
The Sadducees were more scientific in their theories; no belief in a future world, resurrection, or the immortality of the soul and also rejected the evidence given of angels and spirits. They stuck with Moses's written law so much that they would behave severely if it was broken. Their interpretation was more literal causing severe punishments.
The classical liturgy reiterates faith in G-d as the "REVIVER OF THE DEAD." Death came to the world, according to the rabbis, because of sin; either that of Adam, from which mankind still suffers, or else personal sin. Various rabbinic legends convey a belief that the dead carry on some connection with the living and even take an interest in their affairs. The practice of praying for the intercession of the dead is considered by the rabbis as of early origin.
The last act of the dying Jew is the recitation of the Shema. It is read from right to left, starting with the word, Shema.
Then the body of the deceased is washed by a certain group of people prepared to do this, and the body is watched until it is placed in the earth so that no harm will come to it. Burial is done within 24 hours (or as quickly as humanly possible) and is to be conducted with simplicity.
We never were to find out where Moses was buried, and that's the way he wanted it.
You will find Jewish people involved in what's happening now with people who are living, and not with what happens to us after we die. That's the unknown to us, and we have faith in G-d enough not to worry about it. More so, we worry about doing the right things while living, for afterwards we are in G-d's hands. L'Chaim!
The world we live in is viewed as a corridor that leads to still another world. The belief in an afterlife, in a world to come (Olam Haba) where man is judged and where his soul continues to flourish is imbedded in Jewish thought. "All Israel have a share in the world to come." But the worthier the individual, the greater is his loss to the living. The more he meant to those about him; family, friends, community, the deeper the grief and sharper the anguish. Observances surrounding death and mourning address themselves to maintain the dignity of the deceased and to comforting the pain of the mourners.
To accompany the dead to their final resting place is considered a high religious obligation. Kindness performed for the dead must in the nature of the case be sincere. The dead cannot reciprocate. In the rabbinic view, respect for the dead is incumbent upon the living for the same reason that the rich are obliged to help the poor. There is none so helpless as a dead man. "He that mocketh the poor blasphemeth his Maker." Judaism does not approve of expensive funerals. Many a Rabbi has argued that if a family has money to spare, a better way of honoring the dead is to donate a sum of money in the name of the departed to some worthy cause.
1. Bury within 24 hours.
2. No burial on Saturday (Shabbat).
3. Tear a place on a piece of your clothing to express grief
4. Sit (Shiva) 7 day period for father, mother, wife, husband, children, siblings; time period of no shaving or cosmetics, sex
5. Shloshim period (30 days period) no parties, marriage, shaving or haircuts, ; ends mourning for all but mother or father.
6. Avelut (12 month period) no joyous events. Kaddish is said daily by sons for 11 months)
7. If a Kohen male, under different rules: no physical contact with dead or being in same room with corpse, of 6 feet from grave with exception for close relatives; parents, children, siblings.
From Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur, our holiest of holidays that come in Autumn, we are aware that our names will go down in the Book of Life, life for another year. We hope ours will be there, so we will try harder this coming year to be very good.
Reincarnation was adopted by the Karaites in the 8th century possibly under the influence of Islamic mysticism. The earliest in Judaism appeared in Saadiah Gaon's Emunot ve-Deot. He refuted others' proofs. Then along came the Kabbalists who did believe in the transmigration of souls. The Zohar refers to the doctrine, and so does Nahmanides. The later Kabbalah is full of the belief in the transmigration of souls. Various sins are punished by transmigration, ie the soul of the proud man entering the body of a bee until atonement is attained. The heroes of the Bible and later Jewish history heroes are said to be the reincarnation of earlier heroes.
Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
To Be a Jew-a guide to Jewish observance in Contemporary Life by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheol
What Does Judaism Say About...? Louis Jacobs
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-resurrection-of-the-dead/
 |
| I'm standing at my paternal grandmother, Zlata "Hattie" Jermulowske Goldfoot's grave in Portland, Oregon. We leave pebbles by her tombstone. Hebrew writing is on the other side of her stone. |
Jewish people cherish life. The Torah was given to ISRAEL SO THAT "YOU SHALL LIVE" BY THE TEACHINGS, AND NOT
DIE THROUGH THEM." Death has no virtue since THE DEAD CANNOT PRAISE THE LORD" (Psalms 115:17) King Solomon said, "A good name is better than precious oil; and the day of death than the day of one's birth." This was said about a man who died a peaceful death following a long life blessed with good health and vitality of mind and body; a life rich in good deeds.
Then Sheol was developed, a place the dead were at in a questionable existence. It's location was far below the earth, looked upon more as the dwelling of the wicked with later writers. The dead were also considered to have certain psychic powers.
Sheol (/ˈʃiːoʊl/ SHEE-ohl, /-əl/; Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל Šəʾōl Aramaic: ܫܝܘܠ), in the Hebrew Bible, is a place of darkness to which the dead go. Under some circumstances they are thought to be able to be contacted by the living. Sheol is also called Hades.
"While the Hebrew Bible describes Sheol as the permanent place of the dead, in the Second Temple period (roughly 500 BC – 70 AD) Sheol is considered to be the home of the dead wicked, while paradise is the home of the dead righteous until the Last Judgement (e.g. 1 Enoch 22; Luke 16:19-31). In some texts, Sheol was considered a place of punishment, meant for the wicked dead, and is equated with Gehenna in the Talmud. When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek in ancient Alexandria around 200 BC, the word "Hades" (the Greek underworld) was substituted for Sheol."
Soul: Our Nephesh, ruah, neshamah, all understand life as the animation of the body and is connected to breath. After death there is merely a shadowy existence in the underworld (sheol) Only in the last centuries CE did the soul-body dualism and the concept that the soul was an independent substance joined to the body gain general credence; the soul originates in heaven and descends to earth, joining a material body at the moment of conception or birth and losing its original perfection. this dichotomy, fully developed in hellenistic literature, is also accepted by the Talmud where it is said that all souls exist from the creation of the world and are stored in heaven until their time comes to join the bodies destined for them. The rabbis do not merely equate soul and body with good and evil; it is always the soul which sins and not the body. Maimonides and other Jewish Aristotelians assumed that only that part of the soul which man develops by his intellectual efforts is immortal; other thinkers defined the soul in such a way as to extend immortality also to non-philosophers.
Kabbalists generally accepted the belief in Metempsychosis (gilgul). The desire to express one's love for departed souls and if possible, to improve their lot in the hereafter has given rise to a large extent under non-Jewish influence to various rites, some of which such as Yizkor and Kaddish, have become permanent features of the synagogue service. Somewhere I read that when the living are doing something worthwhile, this raises the station of where their parent is in sheol. Our acts reflect on our parents, even in their death.
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| headstone of a Cohen, with the hands on top, sign of the Cohen (descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses) |
In later Hebrew thoughts on death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind, death came to be considered a prime evil; at the end of days, death would cease and all the dead would rise. These developments all occurred before 70 CE.
The thoughts on Resurrection became a fundamental doctrine of Pharisaic Judaism. Remember, there were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They were the Jewish political and Religious parties during the 2nd Temple period (c 580 BCE and on). At the same time, the Sadducees had absolute control over the Temple. Their differences were somewhat like the Democrats and Republicans of today, with a lot of antagonism, but with Jews then due possibly to differences in basic social differences.
Resurrection is the belief that that at the end of time, the bodies of the dead would rise from their graves. It was a philosophy adopted by post-exilic Judaism, particularly by the Pharisees, although rejected by the Sadducees. The Talmud teaches belief in resurrection as a fundamental of the Jewish faith, and Maimonides incorporated it into his 13 Principles of Faith, so it did not come from Moses's laws. The denial of Resurrection was generally considered as heresy until the modern period when various Reform prayer books substituted phrases like "eternal life" for the earlier references to resurrection. Although belief in resurrection seems to contradict belief in Immortality, the 2 views were combined in Jewish as well as in Christian and Muslim orthodoxy.
Traditional Jews believe that during the Messianic Age, the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the Jewish people ingathered from the far corners of the earth and the bodies of the dead will be brought back to life and reunited with their souls. It is not entirely clear whether only Jews, or all people, are expected to be resurrected at this time.
This belief — distinct from, though connected to, the belief in the immortality of the soul — is mentioned explicitly only twice in the Hebrew Bible, in the books of Isaiah and Daniel, though hints of it are extrapolated from other biblical sources.
Pharisees admitted Divine predestination with man's responsibility for his deeds; life after death, the resurrection of the dead, the advent of the Messiah, and the Day of Judgement. Not all Pharisees lived up to their high principles, and the Talmud itself lists 7 hypocritical types; nevertheless, in reality they were far removed from the demogatory New Testament picture. Pharisaism was responsible for strengthening morality and introducing elasticity which enabled Judaism to withstand its subsequent tribulations. The movement was continued in the stream of historic Judaism of which we now have 3 basic avenues to walk upon; Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism.
The Sadducees were more scientific in their theories; no belief in a future world, resurrection, or the immortality of the soul and also rejected the evidence given of angels and spirits. They stuck with Moses's written law so much that they would behave severely if it was broken. Their interpretation was more literal causing severe punishments.
 |
| Neveh Shalom Synagogue with 10 Commandments |
The classical liturgy reiterates faith in G-d as the "REVIVER OF THE DEAD." Death came to the world, according to the rabbis, because of sin; either that of Adam, from which mankind still suffers, or else personal sin. Various rabbinic legends convey a belief that the dead carry on some connection with the living and even take an interest in their affairs. The practice of praying for the intercession of the dead is considered by the rabbis as of early origin.
The last act of the dying Jew is the recitation of the Shema. It is read from right to left, starting with the word, Shema.
Then the body of the deceased is washed by a certain group of people prepared to do this, and the body is watched until it is placed in the earth so that no harm will come to it. Burial is done within 24 hours (or as quickly as humanly possible) and is to be conducted with simplicity.
We never were to find out where Moses was buried, and that's the way he wanted it.
You will find Jewish people involved in what's happening now with people who are living, and not with what happens to us after we die. That's the unknown to us, and we have faith in G-d enough not to worry about it. More so, we worry about doing the right things while living, for afterwards we are in G-d's hands. L'Chaim!
The world we live in is viewed as a corridor that leads to still another world. The belief in an afterlife, in a world to come (Olam Haba) where man is judged and where his soul continues to flourish is imbedded in Jewish thought. "All Israel have a share in the world to come." But the worthier the individual, the greater is his loss to the living. The more he meant to those about him; family, friends, community, the deeper the grief and sharper the anguish. Observances surrounding death and mourning address themselves to maintain the dignity of the deceased and to comforting the pain of the mourners.
To accompany the dead to their final resting place is considered a high religious obligation. Kindness performed for the dead must in the nature of the case be sincere. The dead cannot reciprocate. In the rabbinic view, respect for the dead is incumbent upon the living for the same reason that the rich are obliged to help the poor. There is none so helpless as a dead man. "He that mocketh the poor blasphemeth his Maker." Judaism does not approve of expensive funerals. Many a Rabbi has argued that if a family has money to spare, a better way of honoring the dead is to donate a sum of money in the name of the departed to some worthy cause.
1. Bury within 24 hours.
2. No burial on Saturday (Shabbat).
3. Tear a place on a piece of your clothing to express grief
4. Sit (Shiva) 7 day period for father, mother, wife, husband, children, siblings; time period of no shaving or cosmetics, sex
5. Shloshim period (30 days period) no parties, marriage, shaving or haircuts, ; ends mourning for all but mother or father.
6. Avelut (12 month period) no joyous events. Kaddish is said daily by sons for 11 months)
7. If a Kohen male, under different rules: no physical contact with dead or being in same room with corpse, of 6 feet from grave with exception for close relatives; parents, children, siblings.
From Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur, our holiest of holidays that come in Autumn, we are aware that our names will go down in the Book of Life, life for another year. We hope ours will be there, so we will try harder this coming year to be very good.
Reincarnation was adopted by the Karaites in the 8th century possibly under the influence of Islamic mysticism. The earliest in Judaism appeared in Saadiah Gaon's Emunot ve-Deot. He refuted others' proofs. Then along came the Kabbalists who did believe in the transmigration of souls. The Zohar refers to the doctrine, and so does Nahmanides. The later Kabbalah is full of the belief in the transmigration of souls. Various sins are punished by transmigration, ie the soul of the proud man entering the body of a bee until atonement is attained. The heroes of the Bible and later Jewish history heroes are said to be the reincarnation of earlier heroes.
Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
To Be a Jew-a guide to Jewish observance in Contemporary Life by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheol
What Does Judaism Say About...? Louis Jacobs
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-resurrection-of-the-dead/
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