(א) כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא, שנאמר (ישעיה ס, כא) ועמך כלם צדיקים לעולם יירשו ארץ נצר מטעי מעשה ידי להתפאר. ואלו שאין להם חלק לעולם הבא. האומר אין תחית המתים מן התורה, ואין תורה מן השמים, ואפיקורוס. רבי עקיבא אומר, אף הקורא בספרים החיצונים, והלוחש על המכה, ואומר (שמות טו, כו) כל המחלה אשר שמתי במצרים לא אשים עליך כי אני ה' רפאך. אבא שאול אומר, אף ההוגה את השם באותיותיו.
(1) All Jews have a share in the World to Come, as it says, (Isaiah 60:21), “Thy people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.” These have no share in the World to Come: One who says that [the belief of] resurrection of the dead is not from the Torah, [one who says that] that the Torah is not from Heaven, and an Apikoros. Rabbi Akiva says: also one who reads outside books, and one who whispers [an incantation] over a wound, saying, (Exodus 15:26) “I will bring none of these diseases upon thee that I brought upon the Egyptians for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Abba Shaul says, also one who utters the Divine name as it is spelled.
(טז) רַבִּי יַעֲקֹב אוֹמֵר, הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה דּוֹמֶה לִפְרוֹזְדוֹר בִּפְנֵי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. הַתְקֵן עַצְמְךָ בַפְּרוֹזְדוֹר, כְּדֵי שֶׁתִּכָּנֵס לַטְּרַקְלִין:
(16) Rabbi Yaakov says: This world is like a hallway before the world to come. Fix yourself in the hallway so you may enter the drawing room.
(יז) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, יָפָה שָׁעָה אַחַת בִּתְשׁוּבָה וּמַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה, מִכָּל חַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. וְיָפָה שָׁעָה אַחַת שֶׁל קוֹרַת רוּחַ בָּעוֹלָם הַבָּא, מִכָּל חַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה:
(17) He [R' Yaakov] would say: One hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than all the time in the world to come. And one hour of pleasure in the world to come is better than all the time in this world.
The Sages taught: The area of the land of Egypt is four hundred parasangs [parsa] by four hundred parasangs. And this is one sixtieth the size of Cush, and Cush itself is one sixtieth the size of the rest of the world. And the world is one sixtieth of the Garden, and the Garden is one sixtieth of Eden, and Eden is one sixtieth of Gehenna. You find that the entire world is like a pot cover for Gehenna, as Eden, which is far larger than the rest of the world, is only one sixtieth the size of Gehenna. And some say: Gehenna has no measure. And some say that Eden has no measure.
There are five things which are one-sixtieth. They are: Fire, honey, Shabbat, sleep, and a dream. Our fire is one-sixtieth of the fire of Gehenna; honey is one-sixtieth of manna; Shabbat is one-sixtieth of the World-to-Come; sleep is one-sixtieth of death; and a dream is one-sixtieth of prophecy.
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: These are people who are considered important [yekarim] in this world and unimportant [kefuyim] in the World-to-Come. This is like the incident involving Rav Yosef, son of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who became ill and was about to die. When he returned to good health, his father said to him: What did you see? He said to him: I saw an inverted world. Those above were below, while those below were above. He said to him: My son, you have seen a clear world. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked: And where are we, the Torah scholars, there? Rav Yosef responded: Just as we are regarded here, so are we regarded there.
Rav used to say: The World-to-Come is not like this world.
In the World-to-Come there is no eating, no drinking, no procreation, no business negotiations, no jealousy, no hatred, and no competition.
Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the splendour of the Divine Presence, as it is stated:
“And they beheld God, and they ate and drank” (Exodus 24:11), meaning that beholding God’s countenance is tantamount to eating and drinking.
Rabbi Abbahu said: Everything people say before the deceased, they know, until the tomb is sealed with the top-stone. Rabbi Ḥiyya and Rabbi Shimon, son of Rabbi, disagreed with regard to the meaning of this. One of them said that the deceased is aware until the tomb is sealed with the top-stone (Tosafot). And one of them said that it is until the flesh decomposes. The one who said that it is until the flesh decomposes can support his position based on that which is written in the following verse: “But his flesh grieves for him, and his soul mourns over him” (Job 14:22). The one who said that the deceased is aware only until the tomb is sealed with the top-stone can support his view based on that which is written in a different verse: “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The Sages taught with regard to the verse: “And the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). In other words, give it to God as God gave it to you; just as it was given to you in purity, you too should return it in purity. There is a parable of a king of flesh and blood who distributed royal garments to his servants. The wise ones folded them and placed them in a box [kufsa] to protect them, whereas the foolish ones went and worked in them. After a period of time the king requested that his garments be returned to him. The wise ones returned them to him pressed, as they were when the servants received them, and the foolish ones returned them dirty. The king was happy to greet the wise ones and angry to greet the foolish ones. With regard to the wise ones he said: My garments shall be given back to the storehouse, and let them go to their homes in peace. And with regard to the foolish ones he said: My garments shall be given to the launderer, and they, the fools, will be locked up in prison. The Holy Blessed One also acts in this way...
אמר רבי יוחנן: כל מי שהוא יגע בתורה בעולם הזה, לעולם הבא אין מניחין אותו לישון, אלא מוליכין אותו לבית מדרשו של שם ושל עבר, ושל אברהם יצחק ויעקב ומשה ואהרן. עד היכן? עד, (שמואל ב' ז') ועשיתי לך שם גדול כשם הגדולים אשר בארץ.
Rabbi Yochanan said: Everyone who exerted themselves in Torah study in this world, in the world-to-come will not be set down to sleep, but rather will be led to the Beit Midrash of Shem and Eber, and of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and Aaron. From where do we know this? From (II Samuel 7: 9) "...I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest people on earth."
Abaye disagrees with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, who said: There is no Gehenna in the World-to-Come. Rather, the Holy Blessed One will remove the sun from its sheath [minartika], and the righteous will be healed by it and the wicked will be punished by it....
...הַבֵּינוֹנִים אִם הָיָה בִּכְלַל מֶחֱצָה עֲוֹנוֹת שֶׁלָּהֶן שֶׁלֹּא הֵנִיחַ תְּפִלִּין מֵעוֹלָם דָּנִין אוֹתוֹ כְּפִי חֶטְאוֹ וְיֵשׁ לוֹ חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. וְכֵן כָּל הָרְשָׁעִים שֶׁעֲוֹנוֹתֵיהֶן מְרֻבִּים דָּנִין אוֹתָן כְּפִי חֲטָאֵיהֶם וְיֵשׁ לָהֶן חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא שֶׁכָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשׁ לָהֶם חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁחָטְאוּ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיה ס כא) "וְעַמֵּךְ כֻּלָּם צַדִּיקִים לְעוֹלָם יִירְשׁוּ אָרֶץ". אֶרֶץ זוֹ מָשָׁל כְּלוֹמַר אֶרֶץ הַחַיִּים וְהוּא הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. וְכֵן חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם יֵשׁ לָהֶם חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא:
... The intermediary category, if there be among the half of their transgressions such sins as never having put on tefillin, each one is judged according to his transgressions, but has a share in the World to Come. Even so are the wicked whose vices are more than their virtues judged according to their transgressions but have a share in the World to Come; for all Israel have a share in the World to Come, even as it is said: "Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever" (Is. 60. 21). So, too, do the righteous of the nations of the world have a share in the World to Come.
[Kabbalists taught that] after death, the nefesh [bodily life force] stays with the body in the grave. Then, in a process that lasts from three to seven days, the soul extricates itself from the body. The more attached the nefesh was to the physical world, the more difficult and painful this separation [known as Hibbut Ha-Kever, the pains of the grave]... The nefesh shuttles between the grave and its previous home, mourning the death of its body... while the body resolves itself into dust...
The ruach [spirit, associated with intellect and morals]... is consigned to Gehinom after death... [Some teachings] suggest that the ruchot of [ethical and spiritual individuals] are spared the ordeal of Gehinom entirely... The stint in Gehinom is finite [usually no more than twelve months] unless one was terribly wicked... [After purification the ruach] ascends to the Lower Garden of Eden, [where it is cleansed and clothed in a heavenly "vestment" and is] able to enjoy... the divine emanation.
...The neshamah [the highest spiritual element of the soul, focused on Torah and divinity], being wholly good, does not need to be punished. It ascends directly to the Higher Garden of Eden, which is believed to be... [where] it came from originally. It never comes down to earth again... The Higher Garden is organized into study circles in which the soul delights itself with learning about the nature of God.
...There is one final destination for the soul.... [known as] tzeror ha-hayim [the bundle or knot of life], .... a place superior to the Higher Garden as well as a kind of divine clearinghouse for souls where they are assigned their next incarnations.
...The number of reincarnations for the purpose of purging sin is generally limited to three, based on a kabbalistic reading of Job... [Some] believed that if the soul [continued] its evil ways after three reincarnations, it would be condemned to Gehenna. Others... thought that a soul could not migrate to a new incarnation until it had been... purified... Those who believed that righteous souls also were reincarnated assigned those souls to Gan Eden for reward before they found new homes.
[This conceptualization relies in part on the Kabbalistic belief, especially in Lurianic Kabbalah, that the soul is actual an amalgam of several levels or kinds of soul, the lowest of which is common to all life, the highest of which is only attained or given to human beings-- perhaps not even all human beings. Later conceptualizations don't tend to rest on the idea of the various parts of the soul going in different directions-- they became usually thought of as more indivisible. Also the notion that a person might only have three or so gilgulim became more infrequent, and it became more common to theorize a larger but more fluid number of gilgulim.
Then came the Holy Blessed One and slaughtered the angel of death, who slaughtered the butcher, who slaughtered the bull, that drank the water, that extinguished the fire, that burnt the stick, that hit the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the kid that my father bought for two coins, one kid, one kid.