Torah Study Blog

In the Book of Job, Job describes what will happen upon his death: “Before I depart – never to return – For the land of deepest gloom; A land whose light is darkness, All gloom and disarray, Whose light is like darkness.” (Job 10:21-22)

Scholars believe the Book of Job was written in the 6th century BCE. But the concept of dying and going to a land of gloom, never to return, has been around a lot longer than that. There is a Neo-Assyrian myth dated to at least 1200 BCE that states that when the goddess Ishtar dies, she will go “To the Netherworld, the Land of No Return... to the dark house... to the house which none leaves who enters, to the road where the traffic is one- way, to the house, whose dwellers thirst for light, where dust is their food, clay their bread.”

These images are based upon reality. When someone dies, their body is put underground and they do not come back. It is not an angelic afterlife. It is dark. It is final.

However, it does not seem to be a state of isolation. Isaiah 14 tells about a king who thought he would sit on high after death. But, instead, “Sheol below was astir To greet your coming – Rousing for you the shades (afterlife beings) Of all earth’s chieftains, Raising from their thrones All the kings of the nation. All speak up and say to you, So you have been stricken as we were, You have become like us!”

Ezekiel, a contemporary of Isaiah, says of a slain band of enemy warriors: “Their graves set in the farthest recesses of the Pit, all her company are round about her tomb, all of them slain, fallen by the sword – they who struck terror in the land of the living. (Ezekiel 32:23) The saying, “There is a special place in hell reserved for you/him/them..” has roots in this passage.

Our loved ones who died also have a place in the living world. They may have passed out of this world, but sometimes we think we hear their voices or we dream about them. They are still part of our consciousness. As part of this, our ancestors used to feed their departed loved ones. At excavation sites in Northern Samaria graves have been found that have receptacles for offerings to the dead, and we know that this is a practice the Jews also participated in. Deuteronomy 26 outlines the 10% tithes that that people are required to bring to the Temple, but those tithes cannot include food already declared for the dead.

It does not say anywhere in the Torah that offering food to the dead is forbidden, only that you cannot offer that same food at the Temple. Therefore, it was a practice done with enough regularity that the Torah made clear rules about it.

So, we know that in the afterworld it is cold and uncomfortable. But there are other people there. Heck, you may even see your parents. And there is a sense of community. And, people will bring you snacks!

These stories all come from human imagination and they address the universal fear of the unknown. One of our Torah Study attendees pointed out that in Christianity Jesus Christ was dead for 3 days and then returned and gave his gospel to his followers. Interestingly, nothing is recorded of his days of death, which could have served as an eyewitness account.

There are stories in the Bible about how God will visit the, “iniquity of father upon children, upon third and fourth generations.” (Numbers 14:18) But people could look around themselves and see that sometimes evil people got away with horrible acts and nothing bad happened to them, or to their children. Alternately, they saw that some very good people had horrible luck.

If you believe in justice, then things need to be fair on earth. The Prophet Jeremiah refutes the conventional wisdom and, instead, says everyone will suffer because of his or her own sins. Not that the suffering will be passed down. And, in Ecclesiastes, also referred to as Koheleth, there is a sense that both the righteous and the wicked are going to die. But, whatever God gave you that is good, he had good reason to give to you. Enjoy it while you can.

We will explore this more next week.

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misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter