My review of Simcha Raphael’s talk on "Jewish Views of the Afterlife"

[davidfcooper]

Simcha Raphael’s talk on "Jewish Views of the Afterlife"

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Comments

[luckycee.livejournal.com]

I prefer your parents' explanation. But I'll bet the stories are pretty good, like the Bal Shem Tov stories.

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

My parents' explanation makes the most sense to me. Some of the stories probably are pretty good, but others may be sex-phobic such as the ones in which people hang by their body parts.

[richardf8]

Is Jewish Views of the Afterlife his book?

Do you have contact info for him?

Would he be a suitable scholar for a reform community?

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

Yes, Simcha Raphael (http://www.simcharaphael.com/index.html) is the author of Jewish Views of the Afterlife (http://www.simcharaphael.com/soam-jva1.html). Click on "Contact Info" on his website. He is associated with the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He might be a suitable guest scholar for a Reform community if that community is more Jewish renewal than say, classical Reform.

[richardf8]

Thanks. I might pick up the book to review. Our adult ed. committee has a Donor who wants to do a Death/Afterlife scholar. She originally wanted Dovber Pinson for the lecturer, but after reading his book, I concluded that he was too attached to the Kabbalistic view of the afterlife, and only one Kabbalistic view of the afterlife. And Major Flake-O. Right now, I'm looking at Daniel Syme and Rifat Sonsino's What Happens after I Die?, and it seems very . . . Academic.

My congregation has streaks of classical Reform, Contemporary Reform, and Renewal running through it. At first glance, his book looks like a good middle ground between Flake-O and Scholarly.

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

Glad I could help.

[jonchiz67.livejournal.com]

Good article. Interesting. Thanks.

I think you implied, although didn't state directly, that contemporary Jews aren't supposed to take these ideas literally. Is that correct? Or does it vary depending on which branch of Judaism?

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

We're all free to chose to believe or not believe what ever makes sense to us. A story doesn't have to be true to be meaningful. But those who do take these ideas literally tend to be Haredi. Norman Lamm's statement is typical of Modern Orthodoxy and those non-Orthodox who believe in an afterlife but not in any specific details.