Most religions have some version of an afterlife. To many people, it is almost synonymous with religion itself. It is rather strange that Judaism gives only one hint of an afterlife. This is a single phrase in the relatively late book of Daniel: “Many of those who sleep in the dust will awaken, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (12:2). The concept of Heaven is all over the place, but it is an abode for God and the angels, and not a residence for souls after departing life on earth. There was no connection whatsoever between the two in the Bible.

In fact, it is not until the apocryphal work Maccabees II that we can discern a clear belief in an afterlife. Among the many incidents described in this relatively obscure book is a scene involving an unnamed woman and her seven unnamed sons. The tyrannical Syrian-Greek king Antiochus tried to force the seven brothers to eat pig meat, which they adamantly refused. He tortured them one by one, cutting off various limbs, tearing off skin, and burning bodies alive, all right in front of their mother. Each one was offered the same choice, and each one chose to suffer the fate of martyrdom rather than submit. (Maccabees II, 7)

No less than five times in the dramatic dialogues that precede each round of torture, the boys or the mother defend their martyrdom by calling on their faith in the everlasting life that awaits them. They suggest ideas of resurrection of the body and the soul. Whether they would have withstood the torture and submitted to martyrdom without this faith is unclear. Their complete faith in this radical but compelling idea lifts them above the normal concerns of human existence and the natural bonds of life. In particular, the mother, in her words of encouragement to her sons, says:

“I do not know how you appeared in my womb, for it was not I who gave you life and breath, and it was not I who brought into harmony the elements of each. Therefore, the Creator of the world, who formed the human race and arranged the generation of all things, will give you back again life and breath in His mercy, as you now are without regard for your own lives, for the sake of His laws.” (22,23)

These remarkable words from a mother witnessing the torture of her children evoke powerful feelings of both compassion and awe in anyone who reads them. Is her faith merely a crutch, a wild grasp at the flimsiest of straws, or a confirmation of the most fundamental aspect of the loving God’s relationship with His beloved creations? In truth, it is this faith that enables a truly religious person to rise to the occasion in situations that would normally be well beyond his or her capabilities. The very least we can say about such a faith is that it works.

But is there anything more to it than faith? Could it be real? The answer, of course, is that we just don’t know. Nobody can definitely say whether there is or isn’t an afterlife. Perhaps this is why there is no definitive statement about it in the Old Testament. But if it is real, shouldn’t God, the author of the Torah, have let us know this crucial detail about life and death? How could such an essential matter have been left out of the text entirely?

Regardless of the answer to this important question, by the time of the Greek persecution, a concrete belief in the afterlife had arisen. To perform the superhuman feats of martyrdom, a palpable motivation was necessary. A more ultimate system of justice was needed to account for the suffering of those who sacrificed themselves for the will of God. The afterlife was a kind of “reliving” that the Creator of life allowed those who had made this sacrifice for God. Another son says, “I got these (my hands) from heaven, and for the sake of its laws I disregard them, and from it I hope to receive them back again.” It appears that the willingness to deny the permanence of this world results in the creation of a permanent next world.

The notion of sacrifice as a cause for an afterlife gives us a window into what this late-Biblical conception of the afterlife really was. If one expects a reward, then there is no sacrifice. It’s really just a trade-off. So why should such a bargain be worthy of the ultimate reward? If one has no expectation of reward then the sacrifice is genuine, and, somewhat ironically, the reward is justified. In other words, the World to Come is actually a “world” that is created by giving up (part of) one’s own world for the sake of God. Grasping the ultimate purpose in this world creates an everlasting life. It is the universal dream of immortality realized through choosing the eternal over the transient. What could be more just than receiving eternity as a reward for genuine sacrifice?

There is an undeniable comfort in believing that death is not the finality to which the biologists and existentialists doom us all. There is also a feeling of satisfaction in knowing that every deed is answered for in the end. These twin benefits of an afterlife allow many of us to persevere when life threatens to overwhelm us with its difficulties. Focusing on some imagined (or real) eternity certainly gets us over the countless dead ends, the infinite moments of hopelessness, and the endless Sisyphean tasks we find ourselves burdened with.

Heaven needn’t be a mere crutch for those who can’t handle the suffering of this world. It is a concept of profound spiritual depth. It enables us to see beyond the pettiness of a world of instant gratification, to gain a glimpse of our true selves and what we are capable of achieving. Heaven is right there waiting for us, right in the midst of our lives.

Rabbi Gedalia Meyer, a musmach of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim of Queens, has served as rabbi in various communities in the United States and Israel. He currently lives in Maale Adumim, Israel, where he teaches in Yeshivat Birkat Moshe and is in the process of compiling books about Judaism. This article is a sample of his recently launched project, “The Four Questions of Judaism,” which attempts to explore deep questions about Judaism. Read more articles like this one at fourquestionsofjudaism.com and join the new newsletter at fourquestions.substack.com. Questions can be sent to [email protected].