The old Jewish conception of the afterlife is Sheol, a dark subterranean cave where we all go upon death. Gehinnom is also described as a place of spiritual purification where the wicked are punished and atone for their sins for no more than 12 months, and without punishment on the Sabbath. It's unclear whether this is a place within Sheol, a separate place, or a literal actual valley west of Jerusalem into which people were exiled to atone for their sins.
As a kid, my Rabbi described it as something akin to a re-education camp where the wicked and greedy are brought to justice and begun down the path of redemption by way of labour and education on how their actions harmed others. Once their sentence is up, they either live on in remorse among the rest of us in Sheol, or their soul is destroyed if they are not remorseful.
For that last one, isn't Jewish heaven and hell almost the same place? Do they not even know their own religion?
The old Jewish conception of the afterlife is Sheol, a dark subterranean cave where we all go upon death. Gehinnom is also described as a place of spiritual purification where the wicked are punished and atone for their sins for no more than 12 months, and without punishment on the Sabbath. It's unclear whether this is a place within Sheol, a separate place, or a literal actual valley west of Jerusalem into which people were exiled to atone for their sins.
As a kid, my Rabbi described it as something akin to a re-education camp where the wicked and greedy are brought to justice and begun down the path of redemption by way of labour and education on how their actions harmed others. Once their sentence is up, they either live on in remorse among the rest of us in Sheol, or their soul is destroyed if they are not remorseful.
God sounds awfully communist