WAITING

M. M. NINAN
possibility seems to have been place in there to encourage sinners to repent, since it also says
that the Holy One will forgive those who repent.)
R. Moses ben Israel Isserles of Cracow (1525-1572) limited the length of time we can mourn
for our parents to 11 months, since he did not want to assume that anyone’s parents got the
maximum 12 month punishment in Gehenna. Notice that the maximum of 12 months is
assumed. This "demonstrates the extent to which beliefs about the state of the soul in the
afterlife influenced Jewish community death practices. To this day, Kaddish [the mourner's
prayer] for a parent is recited for only eleven months." (P306, Raphael).
As you can see, the majority of Medieval Jewish Rabbis did NOT believe that "Hell" was
forever. That view was a minority view.
Thus ends my answer to your (i.e., D.S.'s) statement about MOST Jews in the middle ages
believing that people go to "Hell" forever. It is simply not true; you have been given incomplete
information by Mr. Shane. (Note: this is the end of the correspondence with D.S.--he actually
tried to revive this discussion after a 6 month break, referring again to something Rabbi K said.
I wrote Rabbi K, and he sent me an e-mail that basically said what this does. DS simply wants
Judaism to believe something other than what it does, but he does not define Judaism and
never will).
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