Chabad class offers Jewish perspective on afterlife
By Enid Weiss
Feb. 29, 2008

Popular culture is saturated with images of heaven, ghostly visitations, and other representations of life after death.

But those depictions do not necessarily paint a Jewish picture of what happens to the soul, or neshama in Hebrew, after the body dies.

Rabbi Boruch Chazanow, director of Chabad of Western Monmouth County, will explore the Jewish perspective on the afterlife in a three-part course at the Monmouth County Library headquarters in Manalapan. Classes will be held March 10, March 17, and March 24 from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m.

Chazanow said he'll answer questions like, What is the neshama? Where does the soul exist? What are heaven and hell? Do the departed communicate with us? Is death a punishment? Does Judaism believe in reincarnation?

"The subject is somewhat of a mystery," Chazanow said in an interview with The Jewish State. "How do you relate to something we can't grasp? We can't explain why someone dies, but we can give comfort, we can explain what happens when the soul separates from the body."

Many people misunderstand spiritual terms, Chazanow said. They transfer their concepts of physical terms to spiritual terms, he said.

For example, when people think of a soul "rising up or ascending" to heaven they mistakenly think of God and dead souls in the sky. But the idea of higher or lower in spiritual terms has nothing to do with physical height. Higher spirituality means closer to the truth, Chazanow explained.

"The course will examine our spiritual connection, giving us an understanding of our neshama during life and after life," Rabbi Levi Wolosow, educational director of Chabad of Western Monmouth County said in a statement."I recognized the need for this class after visiting many houses of mourning, prepared with prayer books, low chairs, and printouts of the Kaddish (mourner's prayer) and discovering that people want more than the ritual provides.†They want to know 'why'? Why does saying Kaddish for a whole year help?†What happens to the souls of their loved ones who have died, and how can they still connect with them?"

In a telephone interview with The Jewish State Rabbi Levi Wolosow expanded on his earlier statement. Wolosow said he noticed that the ritual of reciting Kaddish is so important to people that even Jewish who don't normally attend synagogue regularly will go to say Kaddish.

Wolosow also talked about the way Jews look at the concept of reincarnation.

"It's how you define the term," Wolosow said. "Judaism tells us that very infrequently does a brand new soul come down to our earth -- we are pretty much all old souls."

Wolosow said the class will explain about reincarnation in more detail.

Chazanow added, "I think once people understand the concepts, the rituals also will make sense. It's a powerful class. These are essential questions no matter what's going on around you."

The course and other educational opportunities the western Monmouth Chabad offers are part of the Benjamin Rosenberg Center for Jewish Studies, established in memory of the late former mayor of Manalapan.

There is no fee for the course, but registration is requested.†Please call (732) 972-3687 or sign up at chabadclasses.org.