«Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a profound and comprehensive guide to the multiplicity of Jewish perspectives on death, the soul, and eternal life. The book includes Jewish perspectives on heaven and hell, ancestors and the underworld, reincarnation and resurrection. A cornucopia of primary sources and commentary illuminate the development of a variety of Jewish beliefs about the afterlife, spanning centuries of Jewish history. Raphael’s book is both well-organized and sensitive to the power of this topic. There is no other book like this—it is a treasure.»

Rabbi Jill Hammer, director, Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion

«Simcha Raphael envisioned this profound and beautiful book as a ‘traveler’s guide to the afterlife’ as he searches through four thousand years of cultural history for texts and teachings of the Jewish sages about death and the meaning of life. He describes in a totally fascinating way how the Zohar, the key collection of texts of the mystical Kabbalah, originating historically in thirteenth-century Spain, contains detailed descriptions of the after-death journey of the soul. Perhaps surprising to modern readers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, these texts contain a detailed phenomenology of deathbed visions, the kinds of ethical choices and challenges the soul may expect to confront on this journey, and visionary guidance in anticipation of the hereafter and a new incarnation to come.»

Ralph Metzner, professor emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies and author of The

«While many modern Jews may not realize it, Judaism has an extensive mythology about the afterlife. Simcha Raphaell has devoted himself to exploring the geography, traditions, and rituals of heaven-and-hell-related Jewish myth found in the Bible, the Talmud, and many rabbinic, kabbalistic and Hasidic texts. Jewish Views of the Afterlife, now in its third expanded edition, is the most extensive in English to describe these realms of the afterlife, and a revelation to those unaware of these traditions. They include the biblical heaven, where God and the angels reside, and the biblical sheol, the first references to a biblical afterlife. There also are extensive talmudic and kabbalistic references to the fate of righteous souls in heaven and frightening details about the fate of those sentenced to Gehenna, Jewish hell. This new edition presents a fascinating exploration of images of afterlife and the world beyond in Yiddish literature. Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a masterpiece of scholarship, worthy reading for everyone curious about these once widely known Jewish traditions.»

Howard Schwartz, Author of Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

«…Raphael’s book adds a Jewish voice to the cacophony of other traditions that avow that life continues. It clearly shows that Jewish belief in life after death and many elements of the near-death experience is older and deeper than contemporary doubt.»

Beverly Brodsky, The Journal of Near-Death Studies