Jewish eschatology
In Judaism, the main textual source for the belief in the end of days and accompanying events is the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible.
[2] The Hebrew Bible reflects the belief of the Israelites in an arguably Hades-like afterworld, where both the righteous (see Samuel) and the sinners continue their existence in a miserable manner.
While all classical rabbinic sources discuss the afterlife, Medieval scholars dispute the nature of existence in the "End of Days" after the Messianic Age.
At various points in the afterlife journey, the soul may encounter: Hibbut ha-kever, the pains and experiences of the physico-spiritual dissolution or reconfiguration within the grave; Dumah, the angel in charge of funerary matters; Satan as the angel of death or other equally grim figure; the Kaf ha-Kela, the ensnarement or confinement of the stripped-down soul within various ghostly material reallocations (devised for the purpose of cleansing a soul of contamination but not severe enough to warrant Gehinnom, see Tanya Chapter 8)); Gehinnom (pure purgatory); and Gan Eden (heavenly respite or paradise, a purified state).
As compiled by Louis Ginzberg in the book Legends of the Jews, these include the world to come, which is called Paradise and said to have a double gate made of carbuncle guarded by 600,000 shining angels.
[13] One is transfigured into an angel, with the ugliest person becoming as beautiful and shining as "the grains of a silver pomegranate upon which fall the rays of the sun".
[12] Each day in Paradise, one wakes up a child and goes to bed an elder to enjoy the pleasures of childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age.
[12] Depending on one's merit, a soul is assigned to one of these sections of Paradise: the first is made of glass and cedar and is for converts to Judaism; the second is of silver and cedar and is for penitents; the third is of silver, gold, gems and pearls, and is for the Patriarchs, Moses and Aaron, the Israelites that left Egypt and lived in the wilderness, and the kings of Israel; the fourth is of rubies and olive wood and is for the holy and steadfast in faith; the fifth is like the third, except a river flows through it and its bed was woven by Eve and the angels, and it is for the Messiah and Elijah; and the sixth and seventh divisions are not described, except that they are respectively for those who died doing pious acts and those who died from illness in expiation for Israel's sins.
[12] The first compartment is for Jewish martyrs, the second for those who drowned, the third for "Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai and his disciples", the fourth for those whom the cloud of glory carried off, the fifth for penitents, the sixth for youths who have never sinned, and the seventh for the poor who lived decently and studied the Torah.
[12] An early explicit mention of resurrection in Hebrew texts is the Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones in the Book of Ezekiel, dated somewhere around 539 BCE.
Alan Segal argues that this narrative was intended as a metaphor for national rebirth, promising the Jews' return to Israel and reconstruction of the Temple, not as a description of personal resurrection.
Alan Segal interprets Daniel as writing that with the coming of the Archangel Michael, misery would beset the world, and only those whose names were in a divine book would be resurrected.
[7] During the Rabbinic period, beginning in the late first century and carrying on to the present, the works of Daniel were included into the Hebrew Bible, signaling the adoption of Jewish resurrection into the officially sacred texts.
[23] Irving Greenberg, representing an Open Orthodox viewpoint, describes the afterlife as a central Jewish teaching, deriving from the belief in reward and punishment.
Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism affirm belief in the afterlife, though they downplay the theological implications in favor of emphasizing the importance of the "here and now", as opposed to reward and punishment.
In the Talmudic era the title Mashiach or מלך המשיח, Méleḵ ha-Mašíaḥ literally means "the anointed King".
The Messiah is to be a human leader, physically descended from the Davidic line, who will rule and unite the people of Israel[27] and will usher in the Messianic Age[28] of global and universal peace.
[note 1] Throughout their history Jews have compared these passages (and others) to contemporary events in search of signs of the Messiah's imminent arrival, continuing into present times.
[1] Maimonides' commentary to tractate Sanhedrin stresses a relatively naturalistic interpretation of the Messiah, de-emphasizing miraculous elements.
Some authorities in Orthodox Judaism believe that this era will lead to supernatural events culminating in a bodily resurrection of the dead.
While it retains traditional references to a personal redeemer and prayers for the restoration of the Davidic line in the liturgy, Conservative Jews are more inclined to accept the idea of a Messianic Era: We do not know when the Messiah will come, nor whether he will be a charismatic human figure or is a symbol of the redemption of mankind from the evils of the world.
