thread: 2007-01-10 : Some questions about worship
On 2007-01-16, Sydney Freedberg wrote:
As I understand it, that's been a fairly mainstream concept in Judaism ever since the 1st Century AD's Pharisees, who gave rise to the medieval rabbinical tradition. (The Sadducees mentioned in the Gospels, by contrast, are apparently the priestly caste that had no patience for new-fangled, non-canonical ideas like the immortality of the soul, and who got wiped out when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD). I don't think it's anywhere near as central to Judaism as it is to Christianity and Islam, but as I understand the ideas that "after I die, if I'm good, my soul will go to Heaven" and that "one day the Messiah will come and put the world aright" are commonly held by religious Jews.
