 Hi, this is Ruth Guggenheim with GPS for the Jewish Soul and we're here today with Rabbi Heim Landau from Jews for Judaism East. It's so nice to have you back again. Oh, it's lovely to be here. I hope you've been enjoying your week. It's been very nice, thank you. Well, that's great because you know what I wanted to talk about today? What Jews believe when it comes to heaven and hell? An alum ha'ba the world to come or g'henim? And I was wondering if you could help us through this discussion? Well, you know, we've spoken a few times in the past about that we would have a relationship with God and that's really our task during our lifetime is to develop that relationship and become people who have the ability to relate to God. That's really what heaven and hell are all about. It's nothing more than what is the finished product of the relationship that we've developed because when our existence in this temporal world comes to an end, that's what we're really going to come face to face with God. And there are going to be certain parts of our being that we've managed to create a person who can relate to God and maybe the other parts of our being that can't relate to God. Now think about it for a minute when you're in a relationship with another person and maybe there's a certain part of the relationship that really worked very well and when you're engaged in those things everything is just great. And then there's other parts of your relationship that don't quite work so well and when those things come up it's kind of like all uncomfortable and you're not happy. So that's kind of like heaven and hell. Let's retract that for a second. What does the concept of Gehenna purgatory really mean for Jews? It's not like this fire and brimstone. It's not like we're going to burn in hell, is it? Gehenna means being in a state of discomfort because of where your relationship with God is holding. So is there a way as in Judaism, is there a way for us to get out of is this discomfort level a temporary place until we improve that relationship with God? I've always heard for instance that when our loved ones pass away and we say the Kaddish we say it for 11 months not 12 because 12 months would be the full period in Gehenna and purgatory. So we want to hope that our loved one is not going to be there the full 12 months. So does that mean that we're given the opportunity to repair that relationship after we pass on and then we can go to the world to come? Well I think the best way to understand it is that even after we pass on even if that relationship with God isn't quite in the place of perfection and complete comfort that we would like but still just being there in God's presence is a very healing place to be and therefore over time even those parts that we weren't able to perfect on our own just being in that space it will naturally start to improve and to heal. So we as Jews believe that our soul is forever it's eternal our soul? Yes we definitely believe that. Do you think about it for a minute in the scientific world there's a law of the conservation of energy and matter which means that everything in the world never ceases to exist every bit of matter that exists today is going to exist as long as the universe does it may be energy at some days it may be matter it's never going away the same thing is true in the spiritual world as well nothing goes to waste everything that's there is there for all eternity. You know Chai what you're saying is just it makes me feel good because you know obviously all of us question what will be at the end of our days the end of our loved ones you know will we cease to exist will we see them in the world to come in just what you said today really it feels good it makes me feel at peace that I think if all of us feel that our souls and the souls of our loved ones are there forever we can go from this stage the physical stage to the next world with peace of mind and we can let go we can know that we're only letting go on a physical level when we say goodbye to someone we love but they'll always be there in the world to come thank you it was so nice having you on again today Chai thank you very much for joining us today I'm the GPS for the Jewish soul see you next time