In much of Western religious thought, the dominant answer to this question has been shaped by Christianity: that eternal life means a soul’s reward in heaven, the hope of resurrection, and everlasting joy in the presence of God. This vision, comforting as may be, is not the focus of the Hebrew Bible — the very foundation from which Christianity emerged.
In Jewish tradition, the biblical and rabbinic imagination is preoccupied with this world, and what we leave behind in it. While notions of Olam HaBa (the world to come) and resurrection do appear in rabbinic literature, the Torah is silent about what happens after death. In the rest of the Hebrew Bible, there are only a few references to a resurrection and an afterlife. In later literature like Daniel (12:2) the prophets tend to connect eternal life to the national restoration and collective destiny of Israel, and not an individual’s post-mortem reward.
The main concern of the Hebrew Scriptures with the future is the continuity of the covenant community, the land of Israel, and the promise of a...
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