What Happens After I Die?: Jewish Views of Life After Death

by Rifat Sonsino, Daniel B. Syme

"This book offers a description and analysis of six classic Jewish views of the concept of death as nothingness; a belief in a descent to Sheol . . . where the dead are supposed to dwell; the concept of resurrection in an afterlife . . .; faith in the immortality of the soul; a belief in reincarnation; and the concept of attaining immortality through deeds of value performed in life".--AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD.

Genres: Judaism, Jewish

147 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Beatrice Maron Schaeffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my Grandma Mickey passed away (almost five and a half years ago now), my sister connected with our Rabbi and Cantor over the topic of death. They pointed her towards this book, which I don’t think she read in its entirety back then (understandably)…but, when it came time for her to choose our family book club’s next read last month, she suddenly landed back on it. And I’m very glad she did.

True to what the book suggests, and as one myself, Reform Jews don’t really believe in one “right” way of thinking about life after death (or if there even is such a thing). And, as someone who doesn’t think frequently about death in general, it wasn’t until reading this book—and learning about all the ways past and present Jews have thought about the topic—that I really started to think seriously about what my own beliefs surrounding death and life are. In some odd way, I think the overview this book presents made me feel more connected than I have in a while with my Reform roots. I’ll have to unpack that sometime. But, until then, I am looking forward to my book club meeting tomorrow and discussing why we, the finite beings we are, “consciously or unconsciously, possess a profound desire to be infinite.”