Faith
Is Gehinnom Mentioned in the Tanach
Question
My friend asked whether Gehinnom is mentioned in the Tanach, not Rashi or the sages, but in the Tanach itself. Here is his question: Well, this is the last time I will try to explain to you...(quote from a previous topic) I can bring you many quotations that speak about Gehinnom, but not even one from the Torah. According to the Judaism of Moses, there is no life after death, the concept simply does not exist. The best blessing in the Tanach is And I will multiply your seed as the sand on the seashore, and there is no mention whatsoever of life after death. The entry of this idea is dated to the Second Temple period, with the appearance of the Pharisees, who created the Oral Torah and with it the afterlife, in contrast to the Sadducees who were not willing to accept this distortion in the Torah. As is known, the Pharisees won, and big time, as is known, not a little thanks to the Christians, and made belief in life after death a global belief. Besides this, the concept of Gehinnom was brought into Judaism from idol worshipers and idolatry. In the Tanach, Gai-Ben-Hinnom in Jerusalem is mentioned, where Baal worshipers used to bring child sacrifices in Tophet [amid the dreadful sound of drums] in order to muffle the cries of the children being burned alive in the blazing furnace. In the Tanach, belief in one God, in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, denies the existence of life or post-death suffering after death itself!!! The mitzvot of the Torah were given to living people for the sake of establishing a moral and just society, both now and in the future, for us, for our children, and for their descendants forever. You are supposed to receive your reward in this world, and there is no mention of Gehinnom anywhere in the Tanach, no matter what you say, because you have no quotations...
Answer
Hello Elad,
The words "Gan Eden" and "Gehinnom" are intended to illustrate for us the reward and punishment in the World to Come, but it is clear that these cannot be described at all to a human being, not in words and not in descriptions. People from all over the world who have experienced clinical death tell of an experience that cannot even be described in words.
However, the idea of the World to Come, and of reward and punishment, is ancient in Judaism, and also in the Tanach:
Devarim (chapter 30, 15): "See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil, which I command you today to love Hashem your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His mitzvot, statutes, and ordinances".
Concerning Enoch it is said: "And Enoch walked with Hashem, and he was no more, for Hashem took him." In the account of Rachel's death, the departure of the soul is mentioned explicitly: "And it came to pass, as her soul was departing, for she died." The woman with the medium brought Samuel up from his grave, and he prophesied to Saul that he and his sons would fall into the hands of the Philistines: "And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?" Avigail says to David: "And the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Hashem your God; and the souls of your enemies He shall sling out in the hollow of the sling."
In the book of Kohelet it is stated explicitly (chapter 12): "And remember your Creator in the days of your youth... before the silver cord is removed, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, and the wheel is broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to Hashem who gave it. Vanity of vanities, said Kohelet, all is vanity. And moreover, because Kohelet was wise, he still taught the people knowledge... The end of the matter, all having been heard: fear Hashem and keep His mitzvot, for this is the whole man. For Hashem will bring every deed into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether good or evil".
-Daniel
