This took me two days to write and a lifetime to think about. It began when I was in Charlevoix because I received this question twice on Christmas Eve.

I am in one of the most beautiful places on earth, Charlevoix, Michigan. It is known as Charlevoix the Beautiful. whose tagline is “Once in a blue moon there is a Charlevoix.” It is indeed beautiful and I am lucky that I get to enjoy it. Frequently. It is a place I return to again and again to recharge, watch Lake Michigan sunsets, eat smoked whitefish and spend time with family. Even the cloudy, rainy weather we had this trip was beautiful. Some people say it is paradise. But Paradise is up the road a piece, over the Big Mac bridge in the Upper Peninsula. And Hell, well that’s outside of Ann Arbor. Really. Hell, Michigan. You can buy a bumper sticker there that says, “I’ve been to Hell (Michigan) and back.”

It is almost secular New Year’s and people seem to be reflective. Myself included. Several times in the last week I was asked as a rabbi what do Jews believe happen after we die. Of course, there is no one answer in Judaism. Perhaps one answer would be easier. People want answers. Telling people that there is a range of opinion does not help someone going through a medical crisis trying to find their own answer or the kid on the playground trying to answer his friends.

Nonetheless, here are the “standard” Jewish beliefs:

The concept of a life after death is actually very Jewish. You could say that the Israelites invented it. There are hints about it in the Hebrew Bible. The rabbis talked about Olam Habah, the world to come. They were vague on what that would be like. However, you could lose your place in the world to come if you embarrassed someone in public. Some see the world to come as a higher state of being, whatever that means.

In the Talmud, Olam Habah is referred to this way: “This world is like a lobby before the Olam Ha-Ba. Prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall.” It also says that “This world is like the eve of Shabbat, and the Olam Habah is like Shabbat. He who prepares on the eve of Shabbat will have food to eat on Shabbat.” Abraham Joshua Heschel developed this idea more fully in his book The Sabbath.

“The Sabbath is a reminder of the two worlds–this world and the world to come; it is an example of both worlds. For the Sabbath is joy, holiness, and rest; joy is part of this world; holiness and rest are something of the world to come.”

All Israel has a share in the world to come. However the focus in Judaism seems to be on this world. “Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of receiving a reward; instead, be like servants who serve their master not for the sake of receiving a reward, and let the awe of Heaven “ Pirke Avot 1:3.

But Judaism, even the book Pirke Avot, has more than one opinion. “Rabbi Yaakov would say: This world is comparable to the antechamber before the World to Come. Prepare yourself in the antechamber, so that you may enter the banquet hall. He would also say: A single moment of repentance and good deeds in this world is greater than all of the World to Come. And a single moment of bliss in the World to Come is greater than all of the present world.” (Pirke Avot, Chapter 4) I think we want to believe that our actions for good have some power to change the decree and what our reward maybe. Psalm 92, the Psalm for Shabbat, says that the “foolish cannot understand, that the wicked may spring up like grass and the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.”

Yet, there does seem to be a reward and punishment system. And it would appear you do not have to be Jewish to merit a place in the world to come. It is not like some branches of Christianity where you can only merit heaven if you believe in Jesus. No such litmus test here. Much has been written about righteous gentiles as well as the seven Noahide laws. Keep the Noahide laws if you are not Jewish and you should be fine.

So what is heaven? The place of spiritual reward in Hebrew is often called Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) which was seen as Paradise, a place of spiritual perfection. While the same name as the place where Adam and Eve were, this is a place of spiritual perfection and no separation from G-d. There are many descriptions of what Gan Eden might be like, but we who are still living cannot know. Paradise also Hebrew loan word comes from pardes, an orchard, is also used as an acronym for the levels of Torah study. “Four men entered pardes, Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher and Akiba.  Ben Azzai looked and died; Ben Zoma looked and went mad; Acher destroyed the plants; Akiba entered in peace and departed in peace. (Hagigah 14b, also in Jerusalem Talmud) So the conclusion seems to be that trying to attain pardes can be dangerous. We should be careful. We should remain grounded. We should not do this alone. (Cue the do not attempt this at home music!)

The levels of Torah study are peshat, the simple, plain meaning of the text, remez, hints of the deep allegorical, hidden, symbolic meaning, deresh, from to inquire or seek, like Rebecca did when she went to l’derosh, seek out the oracle, or the process of midrash and sod, the secret, mystical meaning of the text. Taken together they are paradise.

But what happens to all those wicked? All those who are not righteous? Most of us are some combination of good and bad. Judaism has its own version of purgatory. Not like Christian versions of Hell, with fire and brimstone or Dante’s Inferno with differing levels. The Hebrew for this is Gehinnom (Gehenna in Yiddish) or She’ol. Again based on a actual place name, this is the valley outside of the ancient walled city of Jerusalem that the goat Azazel was sent into. Again, what happens in Gehinnom is not clear. It could be that every time we sin we create our own demon and those demons come back to haunt us. It could be like a film of our lives, that we can see the action of our lives objectively and can experience remorse. Apparently no one stays in Gehinnom for more than 12 months, and then we ascend to olam habah. That is the reason why we only say Kaddish for a parent for 11 months since no one wants to assume that their own parent would take the full 12 months of purgatory.

Jews also have developed beliefs about reincarnation and resurrection. This surprises many Jews. Resurrection is explained in the Book of Ezekiel when he talks about breathing new life into those dry bones. It is codified in Rambam’s 13 Articles of Faith, and acted upon every time there is a terrorist bombing in Israel and such care is taken to collect all the remains for proper burial.

Many Jews are equally surprised to learn that the belief in reincarnation exists in Judaism too. This revolving of souls through a series of successive lives is called gilgulim. Rambam talked about this too when he hints that gilgulim is the secret to understanding the deep mysteries of yibum, the arcane commandment that a brother of a childless, deceased man must marry the widow. He uses Genesis 38:8 and the story of Judah and his sons and their attitudes toward Tamar. That feels like a stretch to me. What is important to note is that it exists in the tradition.

Reform Jews really struggled with the whole notion of life after death. I remember when my father died, my mother pulled the rabbi aside and begged that he explain that Jews don’t believe in heaven. For her, and for many Reform Jews, the more rational “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” made more sense. We live on in the memories of the people that come after us. For me, personally, that doesn’t seem like quite enough. So I told that rabbi to amend his comments to say that “Some Jews don’t believe in the afterlife.”

The very first piece of Talmud I learned still resonates. The rabbis of the Talmud had it right. We should repent one day before our death. But the next question is key. How do we know when we will die? So the rabbis answered their own question, we should repent every day.

For me I think this makes the most sense. We should live each day as though it were our last. We should repent when we need to repent.

Perhaps Ron Wolfson had it right. Based on the Talmud and Reb Zuziya, there are seven questions we will be asked in heaven:

• Were you honest?
• Did you leave a legacy?
• Did you devote time to study?
• Did you have hope in your heart?
• Did you get your priorities straight?
• Did you see G-d’s Alps, i.e., Did you enjoy your life on earth?
• Were you the best you could be?

I think I can answer each of them. Not perfectly and not consistently. They are a good benchmark. We should strive to be honest. We should leave a legacy, whether that is children, a book, an enterprise or making this world a better place. We should be cognizant of what it means to be a good person—to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our G-d. We should fulfill the mitzvot in ways that our meaningful to us, not because we are seeking reward in the world to come but because they are the right thing to do and they enrich our lives now. We should experience Shabbat and Torah study because they are a foretaste of the world to come. We should live life to its fullest. We should make this world a better place. We have been given a glorious opportunity for which we should be thankful. And then once we die, and we all will at some point. Then, and only then will we truly know.

Meanwhile for me, I have been lucky enough to see the Alps. Charlevoix and Leland may be heaven. and Paradise is in the Upper Peninsula. Much more to ponder. Happy (secular) New Year.