Heaven and Hell
Many religions believe that after death people are judged and either rewarded or punished based on the life that they led on Earth. Join Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman as he explores the Jewish ideas on this concept.
Heaven and Hell: Heaven and Hell
Hello Everyone,
Heaven and Hell are two very evocative concepts. However it seems to me that in the Jewish tradition (at least as far as I have experienced it) Heaven and Hell do not figure very prominently in Jewish teaching. In yeshivot where Mussar (which is usually translated as “ethics” even though Mussar covers much more than ethics) is taught I don’t think that much time is spent discussing Heaven and Hell.
Why is this so? I don’t really have an answer to this question but I have a few ideas and we will discuss this in these classes.
Heaven and Hell: Heaven and Hell
Hello Everyone,
Last week we began our discussion about Heaven and Hell ( we focused on Hell). We saw that the Ramban in his שער הגמול took great care to repeat the graphic descriptions of Hell found in the Midrashic literature. He viewed these descriptions to be fundamental to our understanding of Hashem’s judgment. The Rambam felt so strongly about this point that he took pains to explain why the Rambam omitted the description of Hell in his description of Hashem’s judgment.
Today we will see that not only the Rambam but his great predecessor Rav Sadiah Gaon did not describe Hell-גיהנם- in any detail. I think that when we study their writings we will understand their comprehension of eternal punishment and eternal reward.
Heaven and Hell: Heaven and Hell
In today’s final class we will study the Rambam’s teaching on Heaven.
Heaven and Hell: Heaven and Hell
In the first three sessions we have studied the ideas regarding the reward (Heaven) and punishment (Hell) that await us after our death. Clearly heaven id desirable. The question that several Poskim were asked to address is whether one’s place in heaven is transferable? Is heaven a sort of spiritual piece of real estate where plots of land can be purchased and sold?
That is the subject for this evening’s session.
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman graduated from Yeshiva University in 1980 and the dental school of Columbia University in 1985. In 1989 he began studying and teaching at Yeshivat Hamivtar and now studies and teaches at Yeshivat Machanaim in Efrat. He has rabbinic ordination from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.