Heaven & Hell 1 Heaven & Hell 2  Heaven & Hell 1 In Jewish thought, Heaven-Paradise-Gan Eden is seen as a place/state where one experiences oneself devoid of ego, aggression, and resentment--the purity of the transcendence. Conversely, hell is viewed as a place/state where one experiences the tension of knowing the need to relinquish the tenacious bound with the ego, yet all the while holding on to the status quo and not giving it up. Hell is where a soul that has become entrenched and immersed in materialistic gain and pleasure, experiences the pain of ripping away, ultimately so that it, too, can experience the pleasure of basking in Infinite's light. The future is seen as progression of the present. The so-called afterlife is life sans the body and its preoccupation with perpetuating its existence. The question, "what will become of us," is an extension of the existentialist question: who are we. Everything that exists here exists there in the afterlife, only there it is in an infinite matter. As a wise man once said, "The punishment in hell is that you have for eternity that which you thought you wanted on earth." If one caused illusionary pleasures in this lifetime, he will continue to do so in the afterlife. A Chassidic tale tells of a wealthy miser who dies and is immediately ushered into a majestic looking palace filed with gold and silver. The angels, who accompany him, inform him that this is his place for eternity. Whatever his heart desire he gets. One day he desires a perfect spouse, and the spouse materializes, the next day he desires white horses with a golden carriage and that, too, materializes. Each day he conjures up another fantasy and each day they immediately materialize. Slowly he beings to run out of things to ask, what's worse he begins to become bored with his lot. One day he asks the supervising angel if could get a look at the other side, if he can see what is going on in hell. Blankly the angel looks at this poor man and tells him that he is standing right in the middle of hell. Yet, Judaism does not believe in "eternal condemnation." Hell, for lack of a better word, is not a permanent condition, and no soul becomes permanently trapped in that state; rather, it is a learning station, a process in which a soul eventually graduates. When a human being passes on and leaves the physical body, he or she assumes a non-corporeal essence, which consists of their emotions and thoughts. Commensurate to their level of integration during their lifetime is their astral body. The fate of a person who has lived a disharmonies and disaligned life has come to be know as Gehenom-hell. Understandably, hell is not a place somewhere up there, or down below; rather, hell is a state where the soul is not yet able to reach heaven. It is where the soul, operating in a disunited and disingenuous manner, is unable to receive the light of G-d and is thus blinded. Consequently, in the place of beholding the light and basking in its majestic splendor, the soul feels in complete disarray. Heaven is where the soul is aware of its Oneness with its Source; hell is where the soul experiences a distance and alienation from this unity. The Zohar teaches "When a soul is about to leave this earthly realm, the Shechinah appears itself, and the soul goes out in joy and love to meet the Shechinah. If the soul is meritorious, then the soul cleaves onto the Shechinah; if not, the Shechinah departs, and the soul is left alone." The word for hell in Hebrew is Gehenom, which stems from the word Gai Henom (the valley of Henom). In biblical times, just outside Jerusalem, there was this valley where pagan Canaanites offered human sacrifice. Later on during King David's rule, these alters were destroyed, and soon afterwards, it became a dumping ground where waste was burned. It is thus biblically used as a metaphor for a place were the soul cleanses itself. Classic Jewish sources speak of a cleansing of fire and purification through ice. Fire fights fire and ice erases coldness. Clearly, these are metaphors; there is no fire or ice in a world unrelated to the physical. Fire represents passion; ice indifference. In the journey through life one can opt to either be passionate for the spiritual or the material, and thus, accordingly, be either indifferent to the material or indifferent to the spiritual. Once the energy that sustains physical existence has been used up and the soul journeys on, in order to reach a genuine integration with the Oneness of the Infinite, it also needs to be in a state of oneness. A 17th century Kabbalist, R. Naphtali Hirtz Bacharach, equates Gehenom with a sponge. It sucks up all negativity and thus allows the soul to enter Gan Eden. It enables the soul to operate in a state of purity, oneness and total integration with the Infinite light. It is empowering and true, that when we deeply desire a glimpse into that universe, a world of infinite vision and delight, we need only live life today in an integrated and harmonious way and, as such, experience the future within the present. We have the power to see a world bathed in the infinite if we but expand our vision and cleanse ourselves and our doors of our perception.   Heaven & Hell 2 Once in a small town in Poland, there lived a wealthy learned and pious man by the name of Reb Yankel. In this town, other than Reb Yankel, all the townsmen were poor. One day, this Reb Yankel sent out a proclamation inviting all the leaders of the community to a feast, promising a feast worthy of paradise. That evening, as the leaders arrived, they were escorted into the living room where they saw the table set delightfully with magnificent cutlery set for each guest. The butler than showed the quests to their seats. While they are sitting anxiously in their place at the table, the butler enters the room and hands Reb Yankel a bowl of hot soup. Strangely, he offers no soup to the guests. Eating his soup, Reb Yankel lifts his head and says 'Oh, what a delicious soup. I am sure my friends, you have never tasted such a tasty soup. When he finished his soup he was brought a full-course meal. Once again the guest weren't served, and once again as he was eating, Reb Yankel kept on remarking on how delicious the food was. Finally, one of the guest could contain himself no longer, and he burst out: 'Reb Yankel have you invited us here to mock us?' 'The invitation,' he continued, 'promised a feast worthy of Paradise, and here, not only did we not get to partake in the feast, but worse, we have to suffer through watching you eat.' Reb Yankel smiled. 'Indeed,' he said, 'this meal is truly worthy of Paradise. Do you know what Paradise is? Do you think that it is a restaurant where you come to eat? Paradise is a place, a state, where people love each other enough so that they can take pleasure in another persons' happiness. In paradise, we are content watching our fellow man's success. There, not only are we not envious, what's more we even feel happy for them. Now that you have all understood the Paradise part of the feast, dinner can be served. Enjoy.' The distinction is quite clear. Heaven is where it is me and you; hell is me or you. Hell is where, and for that matter when, we cannot stand seeing another human being's pleasure; heaven, on the other hand, is where and when we are mature enough to realize that another person's enjoyment does not come at the expense of our own misery. The other persons' success does not come in the place of our own failure. In the afterlife, the Baal Shem Tov once stated, the first thing they do to the person is take their hands and encase them in a locked metal sleeve so that they cannot bend their arms. Then, they are given a ridiculously long utensil and told that it is theirs to attain whatever they desire. Above the souls hang great quantities of food and delights; however, because of their bounded hands they cannot bring these enjoyments to their own mouths. In hell, the souls are emaciated and starving. Being that their hands cannot bend and their utensils are too long to feed themselves, they starve. In heaven, on the other hand, it is truly paradise. The souls are smiling and enjoying the various delights. In heaven each soul uses their own fork to feed the soul sitting across the room. While paradise-Gan Eden is a spiritual space where one experiences oneself devoid of ego, aggression, and resentment, the purity of the transcendence, the opposite is a condition where one experiences the tension of knowing the need to relinquish the tenacious bound with the ego, yet all the while holding on to the status quo and not giving it up. Hell is where a soul that has become entrenched and immersed in materialistic gain and pleasure, experiences the pain of ripping away. When a human being passes on, and leaves his physical body, he assumes a non-corporeal essence, which consists of his emotions and thoughts, otherwise known as an astral body. In accordance to one's measure of integration during life is the astral body. The fate of a person, who has lived a disharmonious and disaligned life, has come to be known as Gehenom-hell. It is where the soul, operating in a disunited and disingenuous manner, is unable to receive the light of G-d, and is thus blinded. Consequently, in the place of beholding the light and basking in its majestic splendor the soul feels as it is operating in a state of complete disarray. Heaven is where the soul is aware of its oneness with its Source, while the converse is to experience distance and alienation. Ultimately, the purpose of this process is so that all souls can experience the pleasure of basking in the Infinite's light and return to their Source.