Are there any questions regarding the beliefs or customs of Judaism that people are curious about?

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What do Jewish people believe in regards to life after death?

Do you believe in heaven?

I have read that you do not believe in hell is that correct ?

Do Jewish people believe in original sin ?

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Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do ~Rumi

In your ceremonies, what is the reason for the bread and wine ?

Peace

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Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do ~Rumi

the afterlife isn't really delt with a whole lot in Judaism.
Far more of the faith is geared to focus on this life, as a rabbi once said:
"The living can no more understand the Olam Haba (the World to Come), than a blind man can understand color"

There are ideas and thoughts of what might await us, there is also a belief in reincarnation that can be found in Judaism as well.

there is a concept of heaven-type thing, the Olam Haba as well as Gan Eden (depending on what and who you read)
there is a purgatory/hell type place in Jewish folklore and mysticism called Ghahenem (i think thats how it's spelled) but it is not a place of eternal ****ation, it is a place for the vast majority of humanity to be purified in order to stand in the presense of HaShem.

the max time it is believed that one can reside there is 12 months.

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nope. we are responsible for our own sins in our own life, not the sins of those before us.

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the bread and wine come from our talmud, the Oral Torah.

The Bread, often used in meals for holidays and shabbat, usually number 2 in each meal.
the reason for this is to replicate the double portion of Manna that was given to the israelites on Erev Shabbat, since the Manna would not fall on Shabbat itself.

The wine is something that in many faiths is used in holy rituals and so, for example on shabbat, we say a blessing over wine to commemorate both creation and the exodus from egypt.
it also represents, i believe, the concept of one's "cup over flowing" that is often refered to in scripture. That G-d blesses us so much that we can not contain His blessings in anything.

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Jewscout,

Thanks for the replies.

Those are things I always wondered about.

Peace

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Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do ~Rumi

no prob i love 2 share!

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Jewscout,

Do you happen to know why Judaism and Christianity are kinda sorta married to each other (Judeo-Christianity)? I think I can think of 3 to 5 core reasons why one might think these two religions would oppose each other, yet instead, they seem like "best friends."

Likewise, why does it seem like Judaism doesn't embrace Islam? I do wonder why Islam doesn't embrace Judaism, but perhaps that's not a question you feel up to answering. Personally, Islam seems much closer to Judaism than Christianity, and I'm just wondering from the traditional Judaic ideology why Christianity and why not Islam?

Also, has there ever been a divine revelation received through humanity after the Torah that traditional Judaism has embraced as divine?

to historically call Judaism and Christianity "best friends" is inaccurate.
only in recent decades have the 2 faiths come together, mostly from the hard work of, ironically, the Catholic Church, who in hindsight saw what they had not only allowed in the Holocaust but throughout its history. They changed nearly 2000 years of church docterine and that has gone a long way to reconcile the relationship between the 2 faiths.

Why are they seeming married to one another? Perhaps because Christianity includes tanach in its on scripture. Thats really the only reason i can think of.

Theologically speaking there are vast differences between the 2 faiths. Yes there are many similarities but those can be just as easily made between Christianity and Buddhism as well. Theologically the 2 faiths are very different, especially when it comes to Paul whose teachings predominate the vast majority of christian sects.
Jesus, in the work and sermons that are attributed to him in the Gospels, spends about 75% of his time teaching many core Jewish values, values that i have no doubt his own rabbi taught him, and his rabbi before him.

however the 2 faiths are vastly different which is why they are 2 different faiths and not one.

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