Image: A flowering cholla cactus. Photo by Kenneth Redmond on pixabay.com.
An old Ashkenazi gentleman once said to me, “I don’t know what happens when we die. Some say we go to heaven with the pearly gates. Some say it’s a big yeshivah up there. But me, I think it’s just this life and then, you know, the worms. So we better do our best in this life, since it’s all we’ve got.”
In truth, there’s no single Jewish idea about the afterlife. I have always like this man’s description of the puzzle, though, because it seems to hit all the main points of a typical Jewish worldview:
- Life is full of mystery.
- Some say this, others say that.
- But yes, I have an opinion, which is not a rosy one.
- The important thing is to live a good life.
