THE JEWISH BELIEF IN AN AFTER-LII E
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sia,—In the article on " Children and Religion," which you published in the Spectator dated November lot, Mrs. A. Williams-Ellis incidentally refers to Judaism as a religion that does not offer the hope of everlasting life.
That may be said about the Judaism of the Bible ; though even there a few passages may refer to an after-life, and one, in the Book of Daniel, definitely mentions resurrection. But in post-Biblical Judaism, the belief in an after-life receives frequent expression. There is the famous passage in the Wisdom of Solomon beginning with "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God."
The belief in both the resurrection of the body and an after-life holds an important place in Rabbinic Judaism. In Liberal Judaism, we prefer to speak of the hope for personal immortality rather than the belief in it, out of a desire to avoid any appearance of dogmatism.
In general, however, it may be said that in Judaism the after-life has received relatively less emphasis, and this life relatively more than in some other religions, but both this life and the next receive a high valuation in Jewish teaching-and thought.—I am, Sir, &c.,
28 St. John's ;Food RoadiN,W. 8. . Isit.qm I. MArri..pc.,
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