Jews believe in one God, who created the world. Jews believe that they have a special relationship with God because of covenants they have made with him, which began with God’s promise to Abraham.
When the early Jewish scriptures were written, many Jews believed that when they died, people descended to a dark place called SheolIn early Judaism, a place of darkness. In later tradition, a place of purification or waiting..
As Jewish teachings developed, the ideas of Gan EdenThe garden of Eden, used by Jews to mean heaven or paradise. and GehennaIn Judaism, Hell. emerged. Gan Eden represents paradise, or Heaven, for those who have lived according to God’s law, while Gehenna developed as a place of punishment, or Hell, for those who had lived immoral lives.
Sheol came to be thought of as a place of waiting, where a person’s soul could either be purified and sent on to Gan Eden or sent for punishment in Gehenna.
While many Jews accept the idea that there will be punishment or reward in an afterlifeLife after death., not all Jews believe this. There are no clear teachings on what exactly either Heaven or Hell are like.
Judaism teaches that the most important thing is how a person lives their life on earth - what happens after death should be left to God. The MishnahLiterally ‘teaching’, the first document of rabbinic Judaism, assumed to have been written down from the oral tradition about AD200. contains the following: Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of receiving a reward. (Ethics of the Fathers 1:3)
Jews understand this to mean that good deeds should be done for their own sake, not in the hope of receiving a reward.
