"Jews believe in the immorality of the soul--an immorality whose nature is known only to God--but they no longer accept the literal idea of heaven and hell. There was a time when heaven and hell were accepted in Jewish theology, but even then, rarely as physical entities. A soul tormented with remorse for misdeeds was "in hell"; a soul delighting in a life well lived was "in heaven." The twelfth-century philosopher Maimonides opposed the idea of rewards and punishments for behavior; the reward for virtuous living, he said, is simply the good life itself. (Maimonides makes this point in his later writings. He gives a more literal interpretation of the hereafter in his "Thirteen Principles," written at the age of twenty. Thus, Judaism can be said to have two concepts of the hereafter--on sophisticated and philosophical, the other relatively simple.)"

Religions in America, p.105

DEATH, HEAVEN, AND HELL

Found on The Conversion to Judaism Homepage at: http://www.convert.org/differ.htm

In general, Jewish thinkers have focused on the ways to lead a good life on Earth and improve this
world, leaving concerns about death and beyond until the appropriate time. Judaism has stressed the
natural fact of death and its role in giving life meaning. Of course, issues of death are inevitably
important. The fear of death, concern about the fate of our own soul and those of our loved ones,
ethical concerns that some people die unfairly, all these and many other issues are discussed in Jewish
literature. Since God is seen as ultimately just, the seeming injustice on Earth has propelled many
traditional Jewish thinkers into seeing the afterlife as a way to reflect the ultimate justice of human
existence.

Traditional thinkers considered how individuals would be rewarded or punished after their deaths.
There are a few rare descriptions of life after death. Traditionalists gave the name Gehenna to the place where souls were punished. Many Jewish thinkers noted that since, essentially, God is filled with mercy and love, punishment is not to be considered to be eternal. There are, similarly, many varying
conceptions of paradise, such as that paradise is the place where we finally understand the true concept
of God. It is also possible that there is no separate Heaven and Hell, only lesser or greater distance
from God after death. In addition, punishment might be self-determined on the basis of suffering in kind
the suffering the person brought about. That is, Judaism doesn't have a clear sense of Heaven and Hell,
with different places in Hell for different punishments. Rather, the idea is that God uses the afterlife to
provide ultimate justice and for the wicked to seek some sort of final redemption.

Judaism does not believe people who are Gentiles will automatically go to Hell or that Jews will
automatically go to Heaven on their basis of their belonging to the faith. Rather, individual ethical
behavior is what is most important. Many traditional Jews believe that Judaism provides the best guide
to leading such an ethical life.