Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: notesfiles Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!hao!seismo!cmcl2!csd2!meth From: meth@csd2.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: Afterlife Message-ID: <42700010@csd2.UUCP> Date: Wed, 5-Dec-84 21:34:00 EST Article-I.D.: csd2.42700010 Posted: Wed Dec 5 21:34:00 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 8-Dec-84 06:25:32 EST References: <4166@rocheste.UUCP> Organization: New York University Lines: 44 Nf-ID: #R:rocheste:-416600:csd2:42700010:000:1788 Nf-From: csd2!meth Dec 5 21:34:00 1984 or leyom chamishi leparshas vayishlach, 12 KISLEV 5745 ---------- tim mcdaniel writes : In the text that Christians refer to as "the Old Testament" (I am sorry that I do not know the Jewish term for it), I think that there is a Hebrew term rendered in English as "sheol". Webster's says that it is "an underworld where according to ancient Hebrew belief the dead have a shadowy existence". (Definition 2 is "hell", which is an obvious Christian corruption of the term.) The Oxford English says much the same, without the phrase "ancient Hebrew belief". What is the precise meaning of "sheol" in Hebrew, and how does it relate to the rest of Judaism? Three possibilities: (1) my memory is bad and "sheol" does not occur until the NT; (2) "sheol" is apocrypha (not Apochrypha, of course); (3) Jewish beliefs have changed, maybe??? ---------- the text is called the TANACH. the word "sheol" appears in many places (and in various forms) throughout TANACH. just to mention the first two : bereishis 37:45, 42:38 (bereishis = genesis). the "ARUCH" translates "sheol" as "shem la-aretz tachtiyos". mandelkorn, in his KONKORDANTZIA (concordance), gives the following definitions for the word "sheol" : "kinui live-er shachas" "shachas va-avadon" "mishkan m-sei olam" as i do not feel that i can adequately translate these phrases into english, doing proper justice to the meaning and not mistranslating, i refrain from attempting to translate them here. if anyone else feels that they can translate these phrases PROPERLY, do so if you wish. it appears to me that the definition tim quoted from webster's is a conglomeration of sorts of the various phrases i mentioned. asher meth allegra!cmcl2!csd2!meth meth@nyu-csd2.arpa (on the ARPANET)