The Jewish conception of what happens after death cannot be reduced to a few simple rules and the religion's ambiguity about the question is remarkably different from the approach taken by most other religions. There is "no single biblical view of the afterlife" and the answers that were provided in the rabbinic phase of Judaism, and since that time, have also varied among different communities of believers (Sonsino & Syme 12). Two ideas emerge from the Biblical picture of death. First, it is the life-affirming nature of God that is emphasized. There is little interest in the problem of the afterlife and "the ultimate purpose is to 'sanctify' life here on earth" (Sonsino & Syme 12). Second, death does not consist of the disappearance of the individual entity and people move on, in some way, to another plane of existence. This is reflected in the biblical references to, for example, being "gathered to [one's] kin" after death (Gen. 25:8, 17).
Death takes place either because the natural end of life is reached or because of sin. An untimely death was considered a punishment for sin, while a long life was considered a reward for having behaved correctly. Death was also considered to be final -- without a question of return to the earth. But even if people could not be said to live again the Israelites did not accept the idea of complete dissolution of the individual and the references to the existence of Sheol, a place in which the dead dwell, are quite common in the Scriptures. Sheol was seen as a place of shadows because it was not life itself (reflecting the heavy Jewish emphasis on the value of 'this' life) yet it was not seen as a place of punishment as everyone, "without regard to moral character," goes to Sheol after death, as several Scriptural passages indicate (Ezek. 32:18-31; Job 3:17-19).
Clearly there was a certain amount of conflict between the finality of death and the refusal of the belief that the indiv...