Is hell an eternal punishment according to Judaism?

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Hi everyone! šŸ™‚

Similar to my post about Islamā€™s view of hellā€¦what does Judaism believe on the ā€˜durationā€™ of hell? (if they even believe in it to begin with, Iā€™ve heard different views)

Iā€™m trying to get a grasp for what our brothers in the Abrahamic religions believe in regarding the afterlife šŸ™‚
 
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Oftentimes they may say they donā€™t know what happens after death
 
The place of spiritual punishment and/or purification for the wicked dead in Judaism is not referred to as Hell, but as Gehinnom or Sheā€™ol. According to most sources, the period of punishment or purification is limited to 12 months, after which the soul ascends to Olam Ha-Ba or is destroyed (if it is utterly wicked)
 
CatholicHere_Hi said:
Hi everyone! šŸ™‚

Similar to my post about Islamā€™s view of hellā€¦what does Judaism believe on the ā€˜durationā€™ of hell? (if they even believe in it to begin with, Iā€™ve heard different views)

Iā€™m trying to get a grasp for what our brothers in the Abrahamic religions believe in regarding the afterlife šŸ™‚
Click to expand...
ā€œBoth major schools of Judaism in Jesusā€™ time (Shammai and Hillel) had notions of eternal punishments in hell for at least the most wicked folks. And they also had a notion of purgation before entering heaven (which is a precursor to Catholic purgatory).ā€ ā€“ Dave Armstrong (American Catholic apologist)
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davear...l-eternal-punishment.html#sHAfl0AaZW3h5K4c.99
 
The modern concept of heaven and hell was only invented after considerable time had passed in Judaism. Most of it accredited to after the fall of the second temple/Babylonian exile.

During that time they adopted a lot of traditions out of Persia and incorporated it into their belief system.

As noted by Josephus, there was a significant disagreement about what the afterlife even consisted of during that time. Sheol was a spiritual realm where everyone ā€˜restedā€™, with various opinions and debates held around what that consisted of. What they finally settled on shared reasonable amounts of commonality with later Greek/Gentile beliefs, likely influencing them in turn.

As focus shifted on scripture eventually they adopted a Persian perspective of ā€˜evil spiritā€™, which lay in opposition to good.

The concept of ā€˜Heaven and Hellā€™ were eventually forged out of that.
 
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The concept of hell is spoken by Jesus in the NT
more times than ALL the prophets of the OT comb-
ined!! It is a place of outer darkness, agony and
weeping, prepared for the devil and his angels.
see Mt. chaps.5, 10, 18, 23 Mk. chap. 9 Lk. 12.
The concept of ā€œeternal punishmentā€ was already
well developed by the time the NT was written.
See Heb. 6:2
 
I have read about two dozen academic Jewish books that are written for a general audience. I have heard of those terms used, that are mentioned above.

Judaism seems to have an idea, even expressed in the New Testament, about storing up good deeds along with a record of not violating the prohibitions in the Torah. Their modern reasoning is that God will simply weigh those in the balance, somehow ā€“ provided that God may have a different view of our deeds than we do (and probably does ā€“ e.g. which are most important and how much weight is attached to each one).

In Catholic teaching, we have concupisence (?) because of original sin. In Judaism, God has created everything, including what is called ā€œthe evil inclination.ā€ The purpose for the evil inclination(s) is (are) to show us where we need to improve our earthly living.
 
I agree in general with what you say, except it is important to note that in Judaism, good and evil are not equal and opposing forces. First, they are not equal since G-d triumphs over evil. Second, they are not completely oppositional, because G-d created the evil as well as the good, and also sometimes the so-called ā€œevil inclinationā€ can be applied in a positive way, for example, behaving in an aggressive way in standing up for oneā€™s rights. it is the misapplication of the evil inclination, either by taking it in the wrong direction or by behaving too intensely or stubbornly, that gets us and others into trouble.
 
We are not permitted to speculate too much about the afterlife, one way or another. The reason for speculation in the first place, however, is that the details of the afterlife are not spelled out either in the Torah or the Talmud. One thing is for sure: in the vast majority of Jewish experience during childhood, hell is not much an issue of concern. At the same time, obeying G-d Law as best one can is of particular concern. Sound paradoxical? Welcome to Judaism!
 
By custom, the purgatorial period of prayer for the deceased (as well as the potential punishment of the evil) is actually limited to 11 months rather than a full year since it is hoped that no one is so evil that they merit the eternal punishment of hell, whether it be separation, annihilation of the soul, or something else.
 
Actually itā€™s the reverse.

The people who the Jews borrowed their ideas of good and evil from, believed that evil wins in the end and that ā€˜Godā€™ is ultimately defeated.

The Hebrews didnā€™t like that idea so they flipped it on its head and edited the story slightly to more align with their pre-exile beliefs. Which interestingly enough the ancient Persians also came to agree with as they adopted belief in a Saoshyant, which would eventually become ā€˜a messiahā€™ and evolve also into Jewish scripture.

Obviously the Jews believe as you say now. In a ā€˜God Trumps allā€™ scenario.

But according to many early works and that of stories circa Cyrus the Great, many Achaemenids believed that ā€˜the good spiritā€™ would eventually fail and be destroyed.

Blend that all in with a twist of Babylonian myth and you end up with the concept of Hell, that the Jews eventually adopted.

There are bound to be many myths that sprang up on both sides moving forward, as some preferred the Hebrew version of events, whilst clearly others preferred an almost more Hinduā€™esque direction.
 
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In Catholicism it is much the same, except instead of saying God created evil, it is that evil is simply lack of good, and evil is allowed via His passive Will and not His active Will. Of course God is infinitely greater than any evil.
 
Iā€™m just curiousā€¦ if we assume that Hebrew ideas of the afterlife are largely founded upon pagan traditions, what basis do we have for accepting them? At least in the OT? Christian theology developed directly from Jesusā€™ words regarding damnation and salvation, which seemed to be revolutionary at bestā€”if not totally deviant from Jewish custom.
 
I responded in PM because my reply here became too long and it then deleted argh -.-
 
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