Overview

Originally published in 1994, Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a classic study of ideas of afterlife and postmortem survival in Jewish tradition and mysticism. As both a scholar and pastoral counselor, Raphael guides the reader through 4,000 years of Jewish thought on the afterlife by investigating pertinent sacred texts produced in each era. Through a compilation of ideas found in the Bible, Apocrypha, rabbinic literature, medieval philosophy, medieval Midrash, Kabbalah, Hasidism and Yiddish literature, the reader learns how Judaism conceived of the fate of the individual after death throughout Jewish history. In addition, this book explores the implications of Jewish afterlife beliefs for a renewed understanding of traditional rituals of funeral, burial, shiva, kaddish and more. This newly released twenty-fifth anniversary edition presents new material on little-known Jewish mystical teachings on reincarnation, a chapter on “Spirits, Ghosts and Dybbuks in Yiddish Literature”, and a foreword by the renowned scholar of Jewish mysticism, Rabbi Arthur Green. Both historical and contemporary, this book provides a rich resource for scholars and laypeople and for teachers and students and makes an important Jewish contribution to the growing contemporary psychology of death and dying.

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9781538103456

Table of Contents

Reviews

Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a profound and comprehensive guide to the multiplicity of Jewish perspectives on death, the soul, and eternal life. The book includes Jewish perspectives on heaven and hell, ancestors and the underworld, reincarnation and resurrection. A cornucopia of primary sources and commentary illuminate the development of a variety of Jewish beliefs about the afterlife, spanning centuries of Jewish history. Raphael's book is both well-organized and sensitive to the power of this topic. There is no other book like this-it is a treasure. -- Rabbi Jill Hammer, director, Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion

Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a profound and comprehensive guide to the multiplicity of Jewish perspectives on death, the soul, and eternal life. The book includes Jewish perspectives on heaven and hell, ancestors and the underworld, reincarnation and resurrection. A cornucopia of primary sources and commentary illuminate the development of a variety of Jewish beliefs about the afterlife, spanning centuries of Jewish history. Raphael's book is both well-organized and sensitive to the power of this topic. There is no other book like this-it is a treasure. -- Rabbi Jill Hammer, director, Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion Simcha Raphael envisioned this profound and beautiful book as a `Traveler's Guide to the Afterlife' as he searches through four thousand years of cultural history for texts and teachings of the Jewish sages about death and the meaning of life. He describes in a totally fascinating way how the Zohar, the key collection of texts of the mystical Kabbalah, originating historically in thirteenth-century Spain, contains detailed descriptions of the after-death journey of the soul. Perhaps surprising to modern readers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, these texts contain a detailed phenomenology of deathbed visions, the kinds of ethical choices and challenges the soul may expect to confront on this journey, and visionary guidance in anticipation of the hereafter and a new incarnation to come. -- Ralph Metzner, professor emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies and author of The Well of Remembrance While many modern Jews may not realize it, Judaism has an extensive mythology about the afterlife. Simcha Raphaell has devoted himself to exploring the geography, traditions, and rituals of heaven-and-hell-related Jewish myth found in the Bible, the Talmud, and many rabbinic, kabbalistic and Hasidic texts. Jewish Views of the Afterlife, now in its third expanded edition, is the most extensive in English to describe these realms of the afterlife, and a revelation to those unaware of these traditions. They include the biblical heaven, where God and the angels reside, and the biblical sheol, the first references to a biblical afterlife. There also are extensive talmudic and kabbalistic references to the fate of righteous souls in heaven and frightening details about the fate of those sentenced to Gehenna, Jewish hell. This new edition presents a fascinating exploration of images of afterlife and the world beyond in Yiddish literature. Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a masterpiece of scholarship, worthy reading for everyone curious about these once widely known Jewish traditions. -- Howard Schwartz, Author of Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism ...Raphael's book adds a Jewish voice to the cacophony of other traditions that avow that life continues. It clearly shows that Jewish belief in life after death and many elements of the near-death experience is older and deeper than contemporary doubt. -- Beverly Brodsky * The Journal of Near-Death Studies *

Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a profound and comprehensive guide to the multiplicity of Jewish perspectives on death, the soul, and eternal life. The book includes Jewish perspectives on heaven and hell, ancestors and the underworld, reincarnation and resurrection. A cornucopia of primary sources and commentary illuminate the development of a variety of Jewish beliefs about the afterlife, spanning centuries of Jewish history. Raphael's book is both well-organized and sensitive to the power of this topic. There is no other book like this-it is a treasure. -- Rabbi Jill Hammer, director, Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion Simcha Raphael envisioned this profound and beautiful book as a `Traveler's Guide to the Afterlife' as he searches through four thousand years of cultural history for texts and teachings of the Jewish sages about death and the meaning of life. He describes in a totally fascinating way how the Zohar, the key collection of texts of the mystical Kabbalah, originating historically in thirteenth-century Spain, contains detailed descriptions of the after-death journey of the soul. Perhaps surprising to modern readers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, these texts contain a detailed phenomenology of deathbed visions, the kinds of ethical choices and challenges the soul may expect to confront on this journey, and visionary guidance in anticipation of the hereafter and a new incarnation to come. -- Ralph Metzner, professor emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies and author of The Well of Remembrance While many modern Jews may not realize it, Judaism has an extensive mythology about the afterlife. Simcha Raphaell has devoted himself to exploring the geography, traditions, and rituals of heaven-and-hell-related Jewish myth found in the Bible, the Talmud, and many rabbinic, kabbalistic and Hasidic texts. Jewish Views of the Afterlife, now in its third expanded edition, is the most extensive in English to describe these realms of the afterlife, and a revelation to those unaware of these traditions. They include the biblical heaven, where God and the angels reside, and the biblical sheol, the first references to a biblical afterlife. There also are extensive talmudic and kabbalistic references to the fate of righteous souls in heaven and frightening details about the fate of those sentenced to Gehenna, Jewish hell. This new edition presents a fascinating exploration of images of afterlife and the world beyond in Yiddish literature. Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a masterpiece of scholarship, worthy reading for everyone curious about these once widely known Jewish traditions. -- Howard Schwartz, Author of Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism ...Raphael's book adds a Jewish voice to the cacophony of other traditions that avow that life continues. It clearly shows that Jewish belief in life after death and many elements of the near-death experience is older and deeper than contemporary doubt. -- Beverly Brodsky

Author Information

Simcha Paull Raphael is founder and director of the DA’AT Institute for Death Awareness, Advocacy and Training, adjunct professor in the Department of Religion and Theology at LaSalle University, and on the faculty of the New York Open Center’s Art of Dying Institute. He works as a transpersonal psychotherapist and bereavement counselor affiliated with Mount Airy Counseling Center in Philadelphia and is a Fellow of the Rabbis Without Borders network. His website is www.daatinstitute.net.

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