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What dose Judaism teach about the immaterial, i.e., the angels, spirits, and souls?
Thank you for the “bump” because I was going to do that. I do not have answers, but would love to learn something new.Bump
Job 1:21: He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
There is no ‘one’ version of Judaism on this issue, and views have changed over time. At the time of Jesus, the two ‘big’ schools were Pharisees and Sadducees, the Bible does give a brief look at what they thought Re angels/spirits:What dose Judaism teach about the immaterial, i.e., the angels, spirits, and souls?
There aren’t any monolithic beliefs. Alot of the Conservative/Reformed Jews de-emphasize the afterlife. In some Orthodox and Hasidic teachings influenced by Kabbalah, there is a heaven, a “Garden of Eden” that the righteous go to when they die, there’s a purgatory called “Gehenom” (Gehena) where people are punished, and often times a soul from purgatory will be reincarnated (gigul) as a human being or animal, though not every Orthodox rabbi teaches reincarnation. The God of Kabbalah is panentheistic- there are two aspects, the “knowable God” that has emanations as the 10 Sefirot, and then “En Sof” or The Infinite, there is a sort of “karma” or tikkun, and the purpose of life is spiritual enlightenment. It’s similar in some ways to Mahayana Buddhism, not only in some of the metaphysics, but also the emphasis on compassionate activity to heal or perfect the world. There’s no real original sin, the Genesis story is strictly a metaphor, human beings, and the universe as a whole, have two natures, almost a yin and a yang, complementary opposites - the Seal of Solomon or the Star of David has been intepreted with this esoteric meaning (and incidentally it is very similar to the Hindu Sri Yantra and has an almost identical meaning). “Satan” isn’t as important aspect of Kabbalah (or most of Judaism for that matter), the “Other Side” of God, the darkness, exists as a consequence of creation, the expression of darkness/light is influenced by human actions.What dose Judaism teach about the immaterial, i.e., the angels, spirits, and souls?