Most Jews believe that the very righteous got to Gan Eden while the rest go to Gehinnom for spiritual cleansing . Rather than being a place of eternal punishment, a soul that goes through Gehinnom is stripped of the sin it committed in its life so it can experience the infinitely higher pleasure of basking in G-dly light . This belief in Gan Eden and Gehinnom has evolved from the early ideas of the Jewish afterlife in order to promise hope and to justify the suffering of the Jewish people. Making sense of suffering was and essential in Judaism as it is incomprehensible to think that God’s chosen people would face suffering and persecution while their oppressors, people like the Egyptians and Hitler, were not punished. The afterlife rectifies this as it judges everyone and then assigns reward and retribution respectively. This belief in the afterlife therefore helps to clarify the covenantal relationship with god because it enables Jews to have a positive relationship with God without feeling resentment and
Most Jews believe that the very righteous got to Gan Eden while the rest go to Gehinnom for spiritual cleansing . Rather than being a place of eternal punishment, a soul that goes through Gehinnom is stripped of the sin it committed in its life so it can experience the infinitely higher pleasure of basking in G-dly light . This belief in Gan Eden and Gehinnom has evolved from the early ideas of the Jewish afterlife in order to promise hope and to justify the suffering of the Jewish people. Making sense of suffering was and essential in Judaism as it is incomprehensible to think that God’s chosen people would face suffering and persecution while their oppressors, people like the Egyptians and Hitler, were not punished. The afterlife rectifies this as it judges everyone and then assigns reward and retribution respectively. This belief in the afterlife therefore helps to clarify the covenantal relationship with god because it enables Jews to have a positive relationship with God without feeling resentment and