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Jewish eschatology is the area ofJewish theology concerned with events that will happen in theend of days and related concepts. This includes the ingathering of the exileddiaspora, the coming of theJewish Messiah, theafterlife, and theresurrection of the dead. InJudaism, the end times are usually called the "end of days" (aḥarit ha-yamim, אחרית הימים), a phrase that appears several times in theTanakh.
These beliefs have evolved over time, and according to some authors there is evidence of Jewish belief in a personal afterlife with reward or punishment referenced in theTorah.
InJudaism, the main textual source for the belief in the end of days and accompanying events is the Tanakh orHebrew Bible. The roots of Jewish eschatology are to be found in the pre-exileprophets, includingIsaiah andJeremiah, and the exilic prophetsEzekiel andDeutero-Isaiah. The main tenets of Jewish eschatology are the following, in no particular order, elaborated in theBook of Isaiah, theBook of Jeremiah, and theBook of Ezekiel.[1]
According toEzekiel 38, the "war of Gog and Magog" is a climactic war that will happen at the end of the Jewish exile. According to biblical commentator andrabbiDavid Kimhi, this war will take place inJerusalem.[2]
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TheHebrew Bible reflects the belief of theIsraelites in an arguablyHades-like afterworld, where both the righteous (seeSamuel) and the unrighteous continue to exist in a miserable manner.
Theafterlife is known asolam ha-ba (Hebrew:עולם הבא,lit. 'coming world', 'next world'),[3][4] being related to the concepts ofGan Eden— heavenly "Garden in Eden", orParadise—andGehinnom.[5] The phrase "olam ha-ba" itself does not occur in theHebrew Bible. In Jewish theology, the widely acceptedhalakha is that it is impossible for living human beings to know what the world to come is like.[6]
In the lateSecond Temple period, beliefs about the ultimate fate of individuals were diverse. ThePharisees andEssenes believed in theimmortality of the soul, but theSadducees did not.[7] TheDead Sea Scrolls, Jewishpseudepigrapha, andJewish magical papyri all reflect this variety of opinions.
While classical rabbinic sources discuss the afterlife,medieval scholars disputed the nature of individuals' continued existence after theMessianic Age. WhileMaimonides describes an entirely spiritual existence for souls, which he calls "disembodied intellects",Nachmanides proposed a spiritual existence on Earth wherein spirituality and physicality are merged. Both agree that life after death is, as Maimonides describes, the "End of Days". This existence entails a heightened understanding of and connection to theShekhinah. All classical rabbinic scholars share this latter view.[8]
According to Maimonides, anynon-Jew who lives according to theSeven Laws of Noah is regarded as arighteous gentile and assured a place in the world to come (the final reward of the righteous).[9][10]
There is a great deal of surviving rabbinic material concerning the fate of thesoul after death, its experiences, and where it goes. At various points in the afterlife journey, the soul may encounter:hibbut ha-kever, the pains and other experiences of physico-spiritual dissolution or reconfiguration within the grave;Dumah, theangel in charge of funerary matters;Satan, as theangel of death or another equally grim figure; theKaf ha-Kela, the ensnarement or confinement of the stripped-down soul within ghostly material reallocations, described in chapter 8 of theTanya,Chabad's primary philosophical text,[11] as devised for the cleansing of souls needing punishment not severe enough to warrantGehinnom;Gehinnom; andGan Eden (a place ofheavenly respite orparadise characterized by spiritual purity). Classical rabbinic scholars agree that these concepts are beyond typical human understanding, so these ideas are expressed throughout rabbinic literature asparables and analogies.[8]
Gehenna is fairly well defined in therabbinic literature. It is sometimes translated as "hell" but is more similar toNicene Christianity'spurgatory than to itsHell. Rabbinic thought maintains that souls are not tortured inGehenna forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be eleven months, with the exception ofheretics and the exceedingly sinful.[12] This is why Jews mourning for near relatives will not recitemourner's kaddish for more than eleven months after death.Gehinnom is considered a spiritual forge whereby the soul is purified for its eventual ascent toGan Eden (Garden of Eden).
The rabbinic literature includes many legends about the world to come and the two Gardens of Eden. As compiled byLouis Ginzberg in the bookLegends of the Jews, these include the world to come, called Paradise and said to have a double gate made ofcarbuncle that is guarded by 600,000 shining angels.[13] Seven clouds of glory overshadow Paradise, and under them, in the center of Paradise, stands theTree of Life.[13] The Tree of Life overshadows Paradise, too; it has fifteen thousand different tastes and aromas, blown by wind throughout.[13] Under the Tree of Life are many pairs of canopies, one of the stars and the other of sun and moon, while a "cloud of glory" separates the two. In each pair of canopies sits a rabbinic scholar who explains the Torah to the soul.[13] When one enters Paradise, one is proffered byMichael thearchangel to God on the altar of the Temple in the heavenly Jerusalem.[14] The soul is transfigured into an angel, with the ugliest person becoming as beautiful and shining as "the grains of a silverpomegranate upon which fall the rays of the sun".[13] The angels that guard Paradise's gate adorn the soul in seven clouds of glory, crown it with gems, pearls, and gold, place eightmyrtles in its hand, and praise it for being righteous before leading it to a garden of eight hundred roses and myrtles watered by many rivers.[13] In the Garden is one's own canopy, its beauty according to one's merit, but each canopy has four rivers—milk, honey, wine, andbalsam—flowing out from it, and has a golden vine and thirty shining pearls hanging from it.[13] Under each canopy is a table of gems and pearls attended to by sixty angels.[13] The light of Paradise is the light of the righteous souls therein.[13] Each day in Paradise, one wakes up as a child and goes to bed as an elder, enjoying the pleasures of childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age.[13] In each corner of Paradise is a forest of 800,000 trees, the least among these greater than the best herbs and spices,[13] attended to by 800,000 sweetly singing angels.[13] Paradise is divided into seven sub-paradises, each 120,000 miles long and wide.[13] Depending on its merit, a soul is assigned to one of these sections of Paradise: the first is made of glass and cedar and is forconverts to Judaism; the second is of silver and cedar and is for penitents; the third is of silver, gold, gems, and pearls, and is for thePatriarchs,Moses andAaron, the Israelites who fled Egypt and lived in the wilderness, and the kings of Israel; the fourth is of rubies and olive wood and is for the holy and steadfast of faith; the fifth is like the third, except a river flows through it and its bed was woven byEve and the angels and is for the Messiah andElijah; and the sixth and seventh divisions are not described, except that they are respectively for those who died doing pious acts and those who died from illness in expiation for Israel's sins.[13]
Above this Paradise is the higherGan Eden, where God isenthroned and explains the Torah to its inhabitants.[13] The higherGan Eden contains 310 worlds and is divided into seven compartments.[13] The compartments are not described, though it is implied that each compartment is greater than the previous one and is made open to a soul based on its merit.[13] The first compartment is forJewish martyrs, the second for those who drowned, the third for "RabbanYohanan ben Zakkai and his disciples", the fourth for those whom the "cloud of glory" carried off, the fifth for penitents, the sixth for youths who never sinned, and the seventh for the poor who lived decently and studied the Torah.[13]
An early explicit mention of resurrection in Hebrew texts is theVision of the Valley of Dry Bones in theBook of Ezekiel, datedc. 539 B.C.. Alan Segal argues that this narrative was intended as a metaphor for national rebirth, promising the Jews' return to Israel and reconstruction of theTemple, not as a description of personal resurrection.[15]
TheBook of Daniel promised literal resurrection to the Jews in concrete detail. Alan Segal interprets Daniel as writing that with the coming of the archangelMichael, misery would beset the world, and only those whose names were written a divine book would be resurrected.[15] Moreover, Daniel's promise of resurrection was intended only for the most righteous and the most sinful: the afterlife was a place for righteous individuals to be rewarded and unrighteous individuals to receive eternal punishment.[15]
Greek andPersian culture influenced early Jewish beliefs of an afterlife between the 6th and 4th centuries B.C., as well.[15] TheHebrew Bible, at least its rabbinic interpretation in tractateSanhedrin, contains frequent references to theresurrection of the dead.[16] TheMishnah lists belief in theresurrection of the dead as one of three essential beliefs of Judaism:
All Israel have a portion in the world to come, for it is written: 'Thy people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.' But the following have no portion therein: one who maintains that resurrection is not a biblical doctrine, the Torah was not divinely revealed, and anApikoros ('heretic').[12]
In the lateSecond Temple period, thePharisees andEssenes believed inresurrection, whileSadducees did not.[7] During the period ofChazal, signaling the adoption of resurrection into the Jewish canon.[15]
Jewish liturgy, most notably theAmidah, contains references to the bodily resurrection of the dead.[17] In contemporary Judaism, bothOrthodox Judaism andConservative Judaism maintain the traditional references to it in their liturgy.[18] However, Conservative Jewish leadership has officially acknowledged metaphorical rather than literal interpretations, too.[19] Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism have altered traditional references to the resurrection of the dead in the liturgy, revising "who gives life to the dead" to "who gives life to all" in the second blessing of theAmidah.
In Judaism, the day of judgment happens every year onRosh Hashanah; therefore, a future "last day" of judgment for all humankind is disputed. Some hold that there will be such a day following the resurrection of the dead. Others maintain that there is no need for that because of Rosh Hashanah. Yet others hold that this accounting and judgment happens when one dies. Others contend that the last judgment only applies to the gentile nations and not the Jewish people.[20]
Irving Greenberg, representing anOpen Orthodox viewpoint, describes the afterlife as a central Jewish teaching deriving from the belief in reward and punishment. According to Greenberg, sufferingmedieval Jews emphasized the world to come as a counterpoint to the difficulties of this life, while early Jewish modernizers portrayed Judaism as interested only in this world as a counterpoint to "otherworldly" Christianity. Greenberg sees each of these views as leading to an undesired extreme—overemphasizing the afterlife leads to asceticism while devaluing the afterlife deprives Jews of the consolation of eternal life and justice—and calls for a synthesis, in which Jews can work to perfect this world, while also recognizing the immortality of the soul.[21]
Conservative Judaism both affirms belief in the world beyond (as referenced in theAmidah and Maimonides'sprinciples of faith) while recognizing that human understanding is limited and we cannot know exactly what the world beyond consists of. Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism affirm belief in the afterlife, though they downplay the theological implications in favor of emphasizing the importance of the "here and now" as opposed to reward and punishment. TheUnion for Reform Judaism believes the righteous of any faith have a place in heaven but does not believe in a concept of hell.[22]
The Hebrew wordmashiach (ormoshiach) refers to the Jewish idea of the messiah. In biblical times the titlemashiach was awarded to someone in a high position of nobility and greatness. For example,Cohen ha-Mašíaḥ meansHigh Priest. While the name of the Jewish Messiah is considered to be one of the things that precede creation,[23] he is not considered divine, in contrast to Christianity whereJesus is both divine and the Messiah.
In the Talmudic era the titleMashiach or מלך המשיח,Méleḵ ha-Mašíaḥ literally means "the anointed King". The Messiah is to be a human leader, physically descended from theDavidic line, who will rule and unite the peopleof Israel[24] and will usher in theMessianic Age[25] of global and universal peace.[26]
Early in the Second Temple period hopes for a better future are described in the Jewish scriptures.[27] After the return from the Babylonian exile,Cyrus the Great was called "messiah" in Isaiah, due to his role in the return of the Jews exiles.[27]
A number ofmessianic ideas developed during the later Second Temple Period, ranging from this-worldy, political expectations, to apocalyptic expectations of an endtime in which the dead would be resurrected and the Kingdom of Heaven would be established on earth.[27] The Messiah might be a kingly "son of David" or a more heavenly "son of man", but "Messianism became increasingly eschatological, and eschatology was decisively influenced by apocalypticism," while messianic expectations became increasingly focused on the figure of an individual savior.[27] According toZwi Werblowsky, "the Messiah no longer symbolized the coming of the new age, but he was somehow supposed to bring it about. The "Lord's anointed" thus became the "savior and redeemer" and the focus of more intense expectations and doctrines."[27] Messianic ideas developed both by new interpretations (pesher,midrash) of the Jewish scriptures, but also by visionary revelations.[27]
TheBabylonian Talmud (200–500 CE), tractateSanhedrin, contains a long discussion of the events leading to the coming of the Messiah.[note 1] Throughout their history Jews have compared these passages (and others) to contemporary events in search of signs of the Messiah's imminent arrival, continuing into present times.
The Talmud tells many stories about the Messiah, some of which represent famous Talmudic rabbis as receiving personal visitations fromElijah the Prophet and the Messiah.[note 2]
Inrabbinic literature, the rabbis elaborated and explained the prophecies that were found in the Hebrew Bible along with theoral law and rabbinic traditions about its meaning.[1]
Maimonides' commentary to tractateSanhedrin stresses a relatively naturalistic interpretation of the Messiah, de-emphasizing miraculous elements. His commentary became widely (although not universally) accepted in the non- or less-mystical branches ofOrthodox Judaism.[29][note 3]
The belief in a human Messiah of theDavidic line is a universal tenet of faith among Orthodox Jews and one ofMaimonides' thirteenprinciples of faith.
Some authorities in Orthodox Judaism believe that this era will lead to supernatural events culminating in a bodily resurrection of the dead. Maimonides, on the other hand, holds that the events of the Messianic Era are not specifically connected with the resurrection.
Conservative Judaism varies in its teachings. While it retains traditional references to a personal redeemer and prayers for the restoration of theDavidic line in the liturgy, Conservative Jews are more inclined to accept the idea of a Messianic Era:
We do not know when the Messiah will come, nor whether he will be a charismatic human figure or is a symbol of the redemption of mankind from the evils of the world. Through the doctrine of a Messianic figure, Judaism teaches us that every individual human being must live as if he or she, individually, has the responsibility to bring about the messianic age. Beyond that, we echo the words of Maimonides based on the prophetHabakkuk (2:3) that though he may tarry, yet do we wait for him each day... (Emet ve-Emunah: Statement of Principles of Conservative Judaism)[31]
Reform Judaism generally concurs with the more liberal Conservative perspective of a future Messianic Era rather than a human Messiah.[32]
In certain sources, Olam Ha-Ba is uniquely associated with teachings about collective redemption and resurrection, but in other places Olam Ha-Ba is conceived of as an afterlife realm for the individual.
More frequently the Rabbis used 'olam ha-ba' with reference to the hereafter.
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