The second stanza of the Amidah prayer, Gevurot, is a sacred cacophony in many synagogues, with Reconstructionists saying mechayeh kol chai (who enlivens all life), Reform Jews saying mechayeh hakol (who gives life to all), and traditional Jews saying mechayeh metim (who gives life to the dead). But all regroup near the end to affirm that God me'mit um'chayeh, is the Power behind both death and life.
Nothing is too great for the Totality of Existence. That same Creative Process that brought us into being also gave us intellect, empiricism, and philosophical impulses, which may have us hedge our bets. The afterlife makes for great speculation, but what matters most is what we do in the one realm and one timeline we surely share.
Rabble-rouser Mother Jones says it well: "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living." And poet Mary Oliver asks the key question, as reprinted in the Reconstructionist Machzor: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb
Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda, MD
Jewish Renewal
So many accept the view that "Jews believe in life and living, the here and now. We don't focus on the afterlife."
While this perspective may accurately describe 20th-century Judaism, it is not representative of the broad-range historical legacy of Judaism. Nor is it reflective of the perspective of Jewish Renewal, which integrates mystical Judaism into contemporary Jewish practice.
In the pre-modern Jewish world -- the world of Isaac Bashevis Singer, the Hasidic and Kabbalistic masters, and even the Rabbis of the Mishna and Talmud -- never is there any doubt about the survival of the soul and of consciousness after death. Between the world of the living and the world of the dead is a window, not a wall.
Jewish Renewal recognizes that the soul passes through a journey of completion and purification after the death of the physical body. According to the sources, this is a four-fold journey.
It is understood that immediately after death there is a period of transition -- Hibbut HaKever, "the pangs of the grave" -- as the soul lets go of its attachment to the physical body. According to the Zohar, "For seven days the soul [nefesh] goes to and fro from his house to his grave from his grave to his house, mourning for the body..." Interestingly, this corresponds with the Shiva period, suggesting a time of transition for both the departed and the bereaved.
Next, Rabbinic and Kabbalistic sources speak of a (maximum) 12-month process called Gehenna, purgation. "In Gehenna," explains the Zohar, "there are certain places [where] souls that have been polluted by the filth of this world... are purified by fire and made white, and then they ascend toward the heavenly regions." In Jewish renewal, consonant with the mystics of old, Gehenna is not a geographical place as much as a state of consciousness in which the soul of the deceased wrestles with unresolved guilt, grief, and other incomplete emotions of the life just lived. The period of daily Kaddish, corresponding with this stage, is likewise a process of completion, clearing up the unresolved for both the bereaved and the soul of the deceased.
The third stage of the post-mortem journey is referred to as Gan Eden. It is said that after purgation of Gehenna, the soul takes repose in the heavenly Garden of Eden. This is a time of spiritual reflection, where souls commune with like-minded souls. For the Rabbis, Gan Eden was a paradise of perpetual study of Torah. In contemporary terms, it is a harvesting of the accrued spirituality of one's lifetime.
There are seven realms of Gan Eden, experienced according to the level of spiritual development achieved by an individual. According to traditional belief, the act of the bereaved saying Kaddish at the time of Yahrzeit helps the soul ascend higher in Gan Eden.
Finally, traditional sources suggest that a soul returns to Tzror Ha-Hayyim -- "source of life" or "bond of life" -- a realm of unification with the godhead, said to be under the Throne of God.
Jewish renewal also accepts the notion of reincarnation of souls. Hence, it might be said that the soul returns to Tzror Ha-Hayyim, the Source of Life, in order to receive its calling for another incarnation [gilgul].
The reintegration of these traditional ideas of a post-mortem journey and reincarnation into contemporary Jewish practice can transform Jewish notions of living and dying.
Simcha Raphael
Rabbinic Pastor and Professor of Religion at La Salle University
Humanistic Judaism
Judaism, in its origins, makes clear references to burial customs and mourning practices, including the purchase of graves and the tearing of one's garment, but the biblical text is conspicuously reticent about discussing what happens next. There are references to sheol -- a kind of oblivion in the dust for both the righteous and the sinner -- but the Bible's virtual silence on the matter suggests a finality to life.
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