Is it true what they say about Hell?: The Jewish View of Hell

Most of what passes for "facts" about the nature of Hell and the Afterlife among Christians is not derived from the Bible at all, but from a variety of other sources. One of the most influential of these sources was medieval Italian author Dante Alighieri. In his 14th century poem The Divine Comedy (including The Inferno, the section on his alleged visit to Hell), he relied for inspiration and details extensively on Greek mythology, along with teachings derived from Jewish fables, apocryphal writings, and speculative traditions that had worked their way into Roman Catholic views on the nature of Hell over the centuries. (For an extensive overview of the nature and content of apocryphal writings, see the article "Where Angels Fear to Tread" on the companion website Answers About Angels.)

The Jewish Tanach (the same collection of writings that Christians label "The Old Testament") contains the slimmest of vague hints on what happens after death. (See Old Testament Hell for a brief overview of the references to the Afterlife in the Old Testament.) And thus Jewish beliefs about Hell are not based on biblical exposition, but on those fables, speculative traditions, and extra-biblical writings.

Here is a brief overview of the Jewish approach to Hell from the Wikipedia.com article on Jewish Eschatology:

If you ask many secular or liberal Jews whether Judaism teaches that the soul is immortal or if there is an afterlife, they will likely answer that Judaism doesn't believe in afterlife; rather, most people will say that Judaism is a this-worldly religion which concentrates on the here and now. While it is certainly true that Judaism does concentrate on the importance of this world, the fact is that much (not all) of classical Judaism does posit an afterlife. Much of the Jewish tradition affirms that the human soul is immortal, and thus in some way survives the physical death of the body. The existence of the soul after death is described with terms such as Olam Haba (the world to come), Gan Eden (the Heavenly Garden of Eden, or Paradise) and Gehenna (Purgatory)

Classical rabbinic afterlife teachings varied in different places and times; they were never synthesized into one coherent philosophy. As such, the different Jewish views of the afterlife are sometimes contradictory. This is especially true for "Olam Haba", the world to come. In some rabbinic works this phrase refers to the messianic era, a physical realm right here on Earth. However, in other works this phrase means Gan Eden, Paradise, a purely spiritual realm.

There is much rabbinic material on what happens to the soul of the deceased after death, what it experiences, and where it goes. At various points in the afterlife journey, the soul is said to encounter: Hibbut ha-kever, the pains of the grave; Dumah, the angel of silence; The angel of death; The Kaf ha-Kela, the catapult of the soul; Gehenna (purgatory); and Gan Eden (Heaven; Paradise).

Gehenna is fairly well defined in rabbinic literature. It is sometimes translated as "hell", but Jews must take note that the Christian version of hell is extremely different from the Jewish view of Gehenna. For Christians, hell is an abode of eternal torment where sinners go; it is important to note that any person who does not accept Jesus as their messiah/god is defined by most Christian sects as someone destined for eternal damnation. For Jews, gehenna - while certainly a terribly unpleasant place - is not hell. The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not tortured in hell forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be 12 months. It is a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Gan Eden [Heaven], where all imperfections are purged.

The reality is that the common Orthodox Jewish views of Hell and the Afterlife are not based on the clear teachings of the Old Testament at all, but, just as with much of Christian teaching on these topics, are derived from pure speculation and superstitions handed down orally or in writings outside the Bible. In fact, as is established in other articles on this website, much Christian teaching about these topics doesn't come from the Bible, Old or New Testament, either. It is an outgrowth of two millennia of development of a mish-mash of these non-Biblical Jewish fables, speculations, and apocryphal writings, combined with pagan Greek and Roman mythology and alleged "visions" of the Afterlife by religious people throughout the centuries,

Here is a brief excerpt from an article on traditional Jewish speculation on the Afterlife from The People's Almanac (David Walleschinsky and Irving Wallace, © 1975-1981) that reflects this eclectic source of the beliefs. Just as with the claims of Dante in The Inferno, absolutely none of this has any roots in the Bible.

It is very puzzling that so many Christians who claim to base their theology on Sola Scriptura (the Bible alone) accept a doctrine as profound as the nature of the Afterlife on so little from the Bible and so much from sources such as Jewish fables and Greek Mythology!

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All of the articles on this Is it true what they say about Hell? website were written by Pam Dewey, with the support and sponsorship of Common Ground Christian Ministries. For more of Pam's inspirational and educational writings, visit her Oasis website.