Yeah, but are any of them good?
I don’t think there’s much of a distinction between Jew by conversion and Jew by birth. Once your conversion is complete, you’re simply a Jew. If you had kids before your conversion, then yes, they would have to convert, but I don’t believe there are any other distinctions.
Excerpted from Jewish schisms - Wikipedia
I’ve run into this misconception several times on the boards. Let me just say that this statement is not true of Orthodox Judaism, which strongly believes that when you die, you are rewarded/punished in the afterlife. There is a heaven (called Gan Eiden, the Garden of Eden, though it’s not necessarily the literal place where Adam and Eve used to live) and, in Christian terms, a purgatory, known as Gehinnom. According to what I’ve read of Orthodox authorities’ (primarily Nachmanides’) views on this, there is no eternal Hell; people work off their sins in punishment in Gehinnom and then go on to receive whatever reward they deserve in Gan Eiden.
Orthodox Jews believe that it’s proper to maintain an awareness that this world in only temporary and that our focus should be on doing what’s right; ie, what will count when the chips are down in the afterlife.
Because Jewish theologians had not, you know, been dead when they did their writings, and because there’s an emphasis on doing right for right’s sake rather than because you know the exact heaven market value for your good deeds, the details of the afterlife are rather less than fleshed out, and the concept is taught in the abstract, but it is not treated as unimportant.
Interesting. I was not aware of this, though I would point out that for the State of Israel (unlike the people of Israel), who is considered a Jew is a politically contentious issue, as a Jew can legally obtain Israeli citizenship at any time. The question is far from settled. I believe that children of Jewish fathers, while not Jewish by religious strandards, are sometimes considered Jewish for the purposes of citizenship.
How much of that is outside influence from Zoroastrianism and Christianity? From some of my readings, there seemed to be a noticeable leakage of medieval Christian ideas about Heaven and Hell into medieval Judaism in Europe. As far as contemporary practice is concerned, other than vague references to the world to come (Olam Haba), it doesn’t get much attention. I’d boil it down to “the righteous (Tzaddikim) get the best seats”.
I’d just like to point out that this thread is 8 years old, and the OP has apparently been banned.
What is this?