>>>Tamar, you do realize you're having this discussion with a person that absolutely believes that you, me, and all other non-believers are going to be spending an inordinate amount of time in Club Hell? See Message #1138466.
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>>Yep, but I've decided to treat the person with respect, although I find his view of the world repugnant. Also, I'm pretty sure he's not the only one around here who thinks I'm going to hell because I don't believe in his god. If I decided who to converse with based on where they think I'm spending eternity or whether they like my politics, I'd severely limit my options.
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>>Aside from that, since I rarely have the opportunity to discuss this stuff in person with someone of such staunch and fundamentalist beliefs, this is an opportunity for me to try to understand what makes these people tick.
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>>Tamar
>
>Tamar,
>
>I'm not familiar enough with your faith either...do you believe in a Hell? If so, who goes there and why?


Some Jews believe in an afterlife. I don't. The afterlife isn't really a big part of Judaism, which is a very pragmatic religion, focused mostly on the real world.

Here's a link to one discussion on the subject: http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm. As you can see from the mentions of "one school of thought" and so forth, there's no one Jewish answer to the question.

What is clear across Judaism is the idea that what we do in our lives lives on after us, so doing good is a primary value.

Tamar