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Yes, I know there is a thread about this in the Apologetics section, but it is all regarding Christianity.
In Judaism, death is a natural part of G-d's Creation. Our deaths, like our lives, have meaning and are all part of G-d's plan. There is a general belief in the afterlife, though there is much diversity of thought over the specifics of the afterlife.
Judaism believes that obsession with death ultimately devalues life. No one would fight against the evils and injustices of the world if this life is only a preparation for the world to come. Moses said See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil ... I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that you and your children may live. (D e u t. 30:15, 19). We already accept that life is good and death is bad, these are truisms. Yet these were not common ideas in the ancient world, they were revolutionary.
In his teachings to the Jews, Moses does not focus on the afterlife or resurrection. He tells us something different altogether. You achieve immortality by being part of a covenant, a covenant with eternity itself, i.e. a covenant with G-d. Our faith is not like that of the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, or virtually every other civilization known to history. Judaism does do not find G-d in a realm beyond life or in mystic disengagement from the world or in philosophical contemplation. We find G-d in life. We find G-d in joy. To find G-d, you don't have to climb to heaven or cross the sea (D e u t. 30:12-13). G-d is here. G-d is now. G-d is life.
In Judaism, death is a natural part of G-d's Creation. Our deaths, like our lives, have meaning and are all part of G-d's plan. There is a general belief in the afterlife, though there is much diversity of thought over the specifics of the afterlife.
Judaism believes that obsession with death ultimately devalues life. No one would fight against the evils and injustices of the world if this life is only a preparation for the world to come. Moses said See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil ... I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that you and your children may live. (D e u t. 30:15, 19). We already accept that life is good and death is bad, these are truisms. Yet these were not common ideas in the ancient world, they were revolutionary.
In his teachings to the Jews, Moses does not focus on the afterlife or resurrection. He tells us something different altogether. You achieve immortality by being part of a covenant, a covenant with eternity itself, i.e. a covenant with G-d. Our faith is not like that of the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, or virtually every other civilization known to history. Judaism does do not find G-d in a realm beyond life or in mystic disengagement from the world or in philosophical contemplation. We find G-d in life. We find G-d in joy. To find G-d, you don't have to climb to heaven or cross the sea (D e u t. 30:12-13). G-d is here. G-d is now. G-d is life.
From 30,000 feet, it shows a marked affinity to Christian Gnosticism, as well as Neoplatonic thought (which heavily stressed the transcendence of G-d).
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