by Leila Leah Bronner
Hardcover, 206 pages
ISBN 13: 978-965-524-047-4
publication: 2011
What happens when we die?
Does the soul die with the body?
Is there a possibility of life after
death? Throughout human history,
every civilization – and probably
every individual – has asked these
questions. In this fascinating and
accessible volume, Dr. Leila Leah
Bronner explores Judaism’s teachings
about the afterlife.
Journey to Heaven invites readers
to rediscover some of the
basic tenets of Jewish belief
concerning the hereafter, resurrection,
immortality, judgment, messianism,
and the World to Come.
Starting with the Bible’s references
to Sheol and allusions to resurrection,
this comprehensive survey
explores immortality and bodily
resurrection in Second Temple
literature; the Mishnah’s discussions
of olam ha-ba, the World to
Come, and how to merit entering
it; and the Talmud’s depictions
of Gan Eden (paradise), Gehinnom
(hell), and the soul’s journey
through these metaphysical landscapes.
Bronner also explores the
views of medieval scholars such
as Maimonides and Nahmanides,
Jewish mystical teachings about reincarnation,
and modern views of
faith and belief. A separate chapter
is devoted to views of the Messiah
over the course of Jewish history.
Bronner demonstrates that the
afterlife is indeed a vital part of Judaism,
as she reveals how generations
of Jews, from biblical times
to the present, have grappled with
its core ideas and beliefs about the
hereafter.
About the author:
Leila Leah Bronner is a noted scholar who formerly
served as Professor of Bible and Jewish History at Witwatersrand
University in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has also been a visiting scholar at Harvard University,
Bar Ilan University in Israel, and Yeshiva University’s Institute of Adult Studies
in New York. She is the author of numerous books, including Eve to Esther: Rabbinic Reconstructions
of Biblical Women, Stories of Elijah and Elisha, Sects and Separatism
During the Second Jewish Commonwealth, Biblical Personalities
and Archaeology, and Stories of Biblical Mothers: Maternal Power
in the Hebrew Bible. Dr. Bronner lives with her husband in Los Angeles,
where she devotes much of her time to teaching and writing.
Praise for Journey to Heaven:
“Is it bodily resurrection or immortality of the soul, reincarnation or transmigration?
Leila Bronner has written a fascinating analysis of the afterlife in Judaism, tracing
its mysteries from earliest biblical texts…to post-Holocaust views…. Adding her
own creative insights and sociological analyses to the mix, she presents a highly
readable, erudite exposition that brings clarity, knowledge—and life—to an elusive,
oft-neglected concept in Judaism.”
–Blu Greenberg
author of On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition
“Conversant with Jewish writings throughout the ages, Dr. Bronner is a gifted writer
with an uncanny ability to trace the major Jewish beliefs in an afterlife through the
ages, recognize nuances and tensions, and present the reader with lucid formulations.
The ideas of bodily resurrection, immortality of the soul, reincarnation, the World
to Come, and the Messiah have continuously suffused Judaism and are still with us.
A fascinating book.”
–Professor Bezalel Porten
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“In her compelling and widely encompassing Journey to Heaven, Bronner succeeds
in elucidating an area in which many angels feared to tread. With scholarship and
commitment, she has provided an historical textual study of the ideas concerning
the afterlife…. Since death touches each of us throughout our lives and eventually
brings every one of us into its domain, there can be no topic of greater interest
and significance. Bronner is to be congratulated for giving us the challenge and the
comfort of the fruits of her scholarship.”
–Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Chief Rabbi of Efrat
“It is commonly assumed that there is no discussion of the afterlife in the Bible.
But in Journey to Heaven, Bronner makes a powerful case for a myriad of biblical
allusions to the World to Come. She also provides, in a clear and methodical manner,
examples of how the geography of heaven grew ever more extensive in subsequent
stages of post-biblical Jewish literature. She makes it is possible to observe the mythic
development of heaven, demonstrating a Jewish fascination with the hereafter
throughout Jewish history.”
–Howard Schwartz
author of Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism
“Journey to Heaven is that rare book that combines academic rigor and spiritual
sensitivity. A deeply learned and uplifting book on the question of our ultimate
destiny.”
–Rabbi David Wolpe
Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, author of Why Faith Matters
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