Shamayim (Hebrew: שָׁמַיִם šāmayīm, "heavens") is the dwelling place of God and other heavenly beings according to the Bible. It is one of three components of the biblical cosmology. There are two other ones. Eretz (Earth), home of the living, and sheol (the common grave), the realm of the dead—including, according to post Hebrew-Bible literature, the abode of the righteous dead.[1]
The Hebrew word שָׁמַיִם šāmayīm "heavens" is pluralized from Proto-Semitic *šamāy-. This renders שָׁמַיִם šāmayīm a plurale tantum, simultaneously singular and plural. Therefore, "heaven" and "heavens" may both be legitimate translations as determined by context.[citation needed]
There is no consensus on the contents, existence, or substance of what is known in English as "heaven" in Judaism. While some among the Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism do not have an Orthodox belief, the THIRTEEN PRINCIPALS expounded by Maimonides clarify the Orthodox (Torah) Truths. Not only is there Heaven, but it is the only 'place' suitable for 'reward.' Other departments of Heaven include the opposite experience, or Gehenom, expressed by some[who?] as Hell. The verdict of religious dogma is best left[according to whom?] in the hands of practicing members, especially those that have a foundation in belief understanding, not simple deniers. See the rich Biblical literature[which?] for direct and indirect references to the Afterlife, Heaven, Messiah and prophetic promise. This is the basis of the three major worldwide faiths[which?] and their adherence to the belief in Heaven.[citation needed] Many hold references to what would be called "heaven" as allegorical and detail a story or proposition rather than a concrete conclusion or absolute. As such, Jewish thought holds equal or greater value towards other eschatologies such as reincarnation[2][3][4] and more. Rabbinic Judaism generally holds greater value on doing mitzvot during life, rather than focusing on what comes afterward, when one cannot do mitzvot.[citation needed] Nevertheless, Judaism has many opinions on what happens in the afterlife, and the existence of a "heaven" can be one of them, but it is debated as to its contents or manifest.[5] See Mark Twain for another interesting perspective on the Afterlife in his short story "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven".[relevant? ] Nevertheless, as the soul is a G-dly entity, it can never be subject to death. The cleansed soul basks in the glory of the Truth, that never ends!
Exodus 24, Ezekiel 1, Isaiah 6, 2 Chronicles 18 and 1 Kings 22 describe God seated on a throne, with angels surrounding him. Exodus 24:10 describes a pavement made of sapphire or lapis lazuli.[6] Ezekiel 1 describes a throne room made of angels and God's throne being seated on a flying angel. Isaiah 6 describes an altar standing before God's throne. 2 Chronicles 18 and 1 Kings 22 describe angels to the right and the left of God, like prosecutors and defendants to the right and left of a judge in a bet din. Judaism interprets the visions symbolically, rather than as literal descriptions of heaven.[citation needed]
The Biblical Author[who?] pictured the earth as a globe of earth and water, with the heavens above and the underworld below.[7] The raqiya (firmament), a solid inverted bowl above the earth, coloured blue by the cosmic ocean, kept the waters above the earth from flooding the world.[8] From about 300 BCE a newer Greek model largely replaced the idea of a three-tiered cosmos; the newer view saw the earth as a sphere at the centre of a set of seven concentric heavens, one for each visible planet plus the sun and moon, with the realm of God in an eighth and highest heaven, but although several Jewish works[which?] from this period have multiple heavens, as do some New Testament works, none has exactly the formal Greek system.[7]
In the course of the 1st millennium CE, Jewish scholars[which?] developed an elaborate system of Seven Heavens, named:[9][10][11]
Medieval Jewish Merkavah and Heikhaloth literature focused on discussing the details of these heavens, sometimes in connection with traditions relating to Enoch, such as the Third Book of Enoch.[24]
In the 19th century book Legends of the Jews, rabbi Louis Ginzberg compiled Jewish legends found in rabbinic literature. Among the legends are ones about the world to come and the two Gardens of Eden. The world to come is called Paradise, and it is said to have a double gate made of carbuncle that is guarded by 600,000 shining angels.[25]
Seven clouds of glory overshadow Paradise, and under them, in the center of Paradise, stands the tree of life.[25] The tree of life overshadows Paradise too, and it has fifteen thousand different tastes and aromas that winds blow all across Paradise.[25] Under the tree of life are many pairs of canopies, one of stars and the other of sun and moon, while a cloud of glory separates the two. In each pair of canopies sits a rabbinic scholar who explains the Torah to one.[25]
When one enters Paradise, then one is proffered by the archangel Michael to God on the altar of the temple of the heavenly Jerusalem,[26] whereupon one is transfigured into an angel (the ugliest person becomes as beautiful and shining as "the grains of a silver pomegranate upon which fall the rays of the sun").[25] The angels that guard Paradise's gate adorn one in seven clouds of glory, crown one with gems and pearls and gold, place eight myrtles in one's hand, and praise one for being righteous while leading one to a garden of eight hundred roses and myrtles that is watered by many rivers.[25]
In the garden is one's canopy, its beauty according to one's merit, but each canopy has four rivers – milk, honey, wine, and balsam[25] – flowing out from it, and has a golden vine and thirty shining pearls hanging from it.[25] Under each canopy is a table of gems and pearls attended to by sixty angels.[25]
The light of Paradise is the light of the righteous people therein.[25] Each day in Paradise, one wakes up a child and goes to bed an elder to enjoy the pleasures of childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age.[25] In each corner of Paradise is a forest of 800,000 trees, the least among the trees greater than the best herbs and spices,[25] attended to by 800,000 sweetly singing angels.[25]
Paradise is divided into seven paradises, each one 120,000 miles long and wide.[25] Depending on one's merit, one joins one of the paradises: the first is made of glass and cedar and is for converts to Judaism; the second is of silver and cedar and is for penitents; the third is of silver and gold, gems and pearls, and is for the patriarchs, Moses and Aaron, the Israelites that left Egypt and lived in the wilderness, and the kings of Israel; the fourth is of rubies and olive wood and is for the holy and steadfast in faith; the fifth is like the third, except a river flows through it and its bed was woven by Eve and angels, and it is for the Messiah and Elijah; and the sixth and seventh divisions are not described, except that they are respectively for those who died doing a pious act and for those who died from an illness in expiation for Israel's sins.[25]
Beyond Paradise, according to Legends of the Jews, is the higher Gan Eden, where God is enthroned and explains the Torah to its inhabitants.[25] The higher Gan Eden contains three hundred ten worlds and is divided into seven compartments.[25] The compartments are not described, though it is implied that each compartment is greater than the previous one and is joined based on one's merit.[25]
The first compartment is for Jewish martyrs, the second for those who drowned, the third for "Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples," the fourth for those whom the cloud of glory carried off, the fifth for penitents, the sixth for youths who have never sinned; and the seventh for the poor who lived decently and studied the Torah.[25]