Please explain the view of Judaism regarding…
[The full text of question was removed for the sake of brevity]
The issues that you raise, are at the core of Jewish philosophy, and they are the topics of libraries of literature written over the past 3000 years.
The topics as far as I could discern, come under six headings:
1. G-d – is He All-powerful..etc.
2. After-life, Heaven and Hell.
3. What are the entry requirements for heaven?
4. Why isn’t suffering stopped ?
5. The role of angels, and their ability.
6. Why doesn’t G-d simply address us all, and show us what to do.
Each of these topics really deserves a full year’s study, (and I definitely don’t know their full depth) but perhaps I could describe a little of that which I do know Traditional Judaism holds to be true.
(CAVEATE: We find different opinions, and sometimes these opinions vary greatly, but I will stick to what I see as the 95% majority opinion on all this, because I am assuming that they are correct.)
G-D – G-d is indeed All-powerful and All-knowing. This means that G-d knows each and everyone of us personally, intimately (better than we know ourselves). This makes our actions and our lives meaningful. We have protection and accountability for our actions. G-d can choose to provide for us, but He can choose also not to provide for us. . . Our Torah tells us numerous times, that if we ‘do good’, then G-d will provide for us everything we need.
This reality is comforting, but is also demanding. (“We live on a perpetual mission” as some Jewish existentialist thinkers might say.)
This segues perfectly to the topic at hand of..
HEAVEN AND HELL (or AFTER-LIFE)….
This accountability and responsibility means that there must be a “place” (even though, of course it isn’t a physical one, or if it is physical, as we might see in a moment, it isn’t right now) where “Good is given to Good-doers” and “Punnishment is met out to Evil-doers”….
This is where things become a little complex….
There a 3 mediums or ways in which G-d rewards us:
a) In this world
b) In a world of souls that exists for when we die immediately
c) In the future, down here on a drastically changed earth.
Let me explain –
a) If a person has done many bad things, and few good things, then, rather than give him/her reward in a different and better time/place, G-d rewards that person for the few good things that they have done, down here, in the “here-and-now” (this is why so many bad people do so well in this world. It is a form of punnishment, because they will not recieve the best form of reward. . . When it comes time to leave this world – they will no longer exist – we will never have to face these really evil people again.)
b) If a person has done many good things and a few bad things, then G-d does the reverse, He punnishes then down here to givew them a clean slate for when they go to “Heaven”.
This ‘world of souls’ will be without our body, and although it will be a type of spiritual reward, it ultimately is a waiting ground – an ‘excersize ground’ for the soul, where it can connect to G-d without the debilitating body that prevents it from connecting to G-d properly while we are in this world.
Part of this stage is what people call ‘hell’, but it really is a ‘washing machine’, which is for:
(i) souls of people, who although they did mostly bad things (and so they should be destroyed in this world), they did certain actions during their life that allowed them to enter this stage of afterlife…. or
(ii) souls of people, who although deserve to be in this heaven, have done certain things which punnishments in our world cannot atone for….
whew… (sounds very complex… it is…)
c) The third and final stage, is one that not everyone actually can get to… It is a world where the soul and body reconnect to each other, and they live ‘together for eternity’ (Just like Adam was always meant to…) This existence will we in this world, but not as we know it. There will be no pain, no suffering, no evil – we will not have to work to provide ourselves with food. Our bodies will be different – more supernatural… Nowadays, we can only see our souls through our faces (when we feel sad, our eyes and face reveal it all – as when we are happy) but then, our whole bodies will describe what we feel… an amazing thought. (The difference between animals nowadays and humans nowadays, will be the difference between humans now and humans then.)
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS FOR HEAVEN: This is a difficult topic. There are 2 elements to what G-d wants of us – one is in our thoughts, and one in our actions.
THOUGHTS
In our thoughts we are to believe in certain principles of faith, because if we don’t believe these principles, all of our actions are not done in the service of G-d. For example, if I was not to believe in G-d’s existence, any good actions I do, don’t reflect the fact that I am doing G-d’s will.
It is worthwhile looking up these principles of faith. I am sure that a ‘google’ search for “The 13 principles of Faith” or “Rambam’s 13 principles of faith” will yield some more information in this area.
ACTIONS
In terms of our actions, we are to keep the commandments to the best of our ability (G-d doesn’t expect us to be superheroes…) – and to find out more about that, you could contact a local Rabbi, or again the internet, under “commandments” or “Mitzvot” (the hebrew name for commandment.)
SUFFERING – This is a complicated issue, and if you are interested, you can e-mail me back with the question.
ANGELS – This is also a complex concept, and again – I am happy to respond if you are interested.
WHY DOESN’T G-D ADDRESS US ALL… – I’ll have to say the same thing again. It touches on something very big, but please, if you are interested, I am very interested to discuss it.
I thank you for your questions and interest. These were always things that bothered me when I was younger. I assumed from the length of your question, that this topic is important to you. (I hope I didn’t bore you with the technicalities…)
All these spiritual ideas, we do not really understand them (until we experience them), but this is our tradition, part of what Moses recieved at Mount Sinai from G-d.
I hope I have been of help. I have definitely enjoyed writing this. Thank you for the opportunity.
Doesn’t Judaism emphasize the importance of good works on Earth? You say “if I was not to believe in G-d’s existence, any good actions I do don’t reflect the fact that I am doing G’d’s will.” Doesn’t G-d appreciate and reward the good done by anyone, even an agnostic?
I agree that topics like Angels and Suffering are too complex to lend themselves to short answers. Since I’m not smart enough to figure it out, I guess I’ll just continue trying to be a good person, whether there be a reward for it or not. However, having lost both my parents in recent years, I would like your opinion as to whether we are ever reunited with our loved ones–my mom particularly was convinced that we will be–I know that belief sustained her for many years when her mother passed. Sometimes during the past few years, I’ve been “rescued” from some pretty tight spots and have felt that mom and dad had a hand in that somehow and that’s what prompted my question about angels. My sister is going through some tough times now and I keep hoping those angels will appear again.
First of all, I understand from your response, that I misunderstood the intent of your original query – and for that I wish to apologize. I hope that I didn’t come across as someone who has all the answers. However, your response makes me want to clarify some of the points that I made.
Before I do this, I would like to wish you condolences over the recent loss of your parents, and wish you a long life.
You asked about being reunited with our loved ones – I am unsure about that. I would have thought that there is a re-uniting of souls in some way, since all of our souls come from one ‘root’. But I do not know yet.
Regarding whether or not your mother and father could have ‘rescued’ you from certain tight spots – This is certainly possible. We have this saying in hebrew “malitz yosher” which means that a relative who has passed on can be “a good advocate” – The good life that your mother led, could definitely act as a good advocate (. . . but of course, this is only meaningful if G-d really does exist. . . and if He really does interact with us to “rescue” us. . . in fact, the very feeling of anger at unjustified suffering, is the result of some deep belief that there is a system. A true atheist should not care if there is injustice – after all there is no judge… )
An important point, which I think I misrepresented when I e-mailed you last time, was this ‘entry requirement of Belief in G-d’. Traditional Judaism has a principle: In hebrew it is “Ain Hakadosh Baruch Hu Mekapeach Sechar Kol Beryah” (= “G-d does not withhold the reward of any creature”) which loosely means, that any action that we do, G-d rewards us for. Even the smallest deed of kindness is repaid. (Even the thought of doing kindness!) However, it remains true, that entry levels to certain rewards are only if one believes in G-d. Belief in G-d, however, unlike Christianity, does not mean that you are “forgiven for everything” or “saved” if you led a bad life. If one leads an evil life, one will suffer consequences….
I read a 500 year old image of what kindness does: It is like an Infinite river that has tributaries flowing out of it. The more that the tributaries allow to flow out of them, the more water is pumped into them from the Infinite river. I found this parallel to be very profound. I enjoyed meditating over it.
I would like to make one more point.
Imagine someone had a car crash yesterday. He comes to me, and tells me about it. I tell him that I don’t believe him. He says look at my damaged car. I tell him maybe you took a sledgehammer and smashed your car. He says, I have witnesses. I respond, maybe you paid them. etc.
Since Descartes, man has been sidetracked by needing to prove that we exist. The level of proof necessary to prove that anything is true, or that anything occurred in the past, changed dramatically. Sometimes, things can’t be proven to the extent that science tries to prove. Things can add up, however, to make belief in a Creator, not only likely, but very unlikely that He doesn’t exist.
Evolutionary theory has not substantiated any claim in laboratory or in findings. The time necessary for a human being to evolve, takes much longer than 14 billion years. I just want to know one question, where do we all come from?
I don’t think that I have all the answers to Life’s riddle, but I definitely wouldn’t want to rule out G-d.
I too, apologize for keeping you so long. The truth is, that I am a little bit of a romantic-existentialist, I appreciate real thoughts, and real feelings, and real discussion, that penetrates a little deeper into our hearts and self.
Many thanks,
Feel free to keep in touch.