Do Jews believe in heaven and an afterlife?

The world to come

The Hebrew Bible speaks mainly about this life, but it already hints at more: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake” (Daniel 12:2). The Mishnah makes it a principle: “All Israel have a share in the world to come.” Pirkei Avot compares this world to a corridor before a banquet hall – prepare yourself in the corridor so that you may enter the hall.

Gan Eden and Gehinnom

Rabbinic literature uses the name Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) for the place of the righteous souls, and Gehinnom for a place of purification. Gehinnom is not eternal damnation: according to the Mishnah (Eduyot 2:10) most souls spend at most twelve months there, which is why the mourner’s Kaddish is said for eleven months – one does not want to suggest that a parent needed the full term.

The resurrection of the dead

Belief that the dead will one day live again is one of Maimonides’ thirteen principles and appears in the second blessing of the Amidah, recited three times a day: “Blessed are You, Lord, who revives the dead.”

Why so little detail?

Maimonides writes that the reward of the world to come is beyond what people in a body can imagine, so the sages described it in images. Judaism therefore teaches that one should serve God out of love, not for reward (Pirkei Avot 1:3), and concentrates on what can be done now: mitzvot, learning and kindness.

Non-Jews are not excluded: the Talmud teaches that the righteous of all nations have a share in the world to come.