7-3-I-Search-Sarah

=Is There Life After Death?= by: Sarah Mostly my whole life I always have been wondering, what happens to a person when they die. Is there life after death? Have you ever wondered that? My family is a Jewish religious family and we believe that there is an afterlife and the soul still lives when your body dies. Whenever I use to ask people when I was little they would usually say: "of course there is life after death. You have to be good and behave if you want to go to heaven after you die" I usually heard that. Thus, those words always made me wonder about all different views of different religions. What do they believe in? I wanted to find out is that true what I was told when I was little! All I know is that physically our hearts stop moving and our body losses its breath and decades into the earth. There are many different beliefs on what happens to a person when they die. What do you believe? Do you think there is life after death? To find out about what other religions believe when a person dies I went onto the computer and searched in, "is there Life After Death?" they didn't really have what I was looking for. So then I used my Technology teacher's advice (Mrs. Brownstone) and shortened the words. I added the + or the - signs. In the Google Search I typed in Is there Life After Death +Jewish View. And guess what? I found one website that I was looking for. The website is <[|http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/jewish-afterlife-beliefs.htm>.] I was really happy that I found the website. This website was what The Aish Rabbi replies about Jewish Afterlife. He says that, in the Torah as King Solomon said, "The dust will return as it was, and the spirit will return to GOD who gave it." Jewish people believe that heaven is where your soul has the most pleasure and having the feeling of the closeness to GOD. However, not all of the souls get the same experience and pleasure at the same degree. This is because, some people could have done more good deeds on Earth than another person. Thus the person who did more good deeds gets to feel more closer to G-D in heaven than the other person. The rabbi explains, an example like this is when, you are going to a concert. Some tickets are front row seats and others are all the way in the back. Where you are seated is based on the good deeds you have done. For instance, by doing good deeds is by giving charity, or helping someone when they need help, praying etc. As a result, this is what I learned from this website. 
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Besides the fact that I went onto the Internet and did some research, I wanted to interview a person on their perspective about Judaism's view about life after death. (Since I wanted to find out different points of views on life after death from different religions) Since my family is really religious I was thinking who I can interview. Then it came to me, on a bright morning on April 10, 2008. I thought to myself, why don't I just interview my cousin. He goes to yeshiva, (A Jewish school), he lives right next to me so why not?! I told myself. I gave him a call and asked him if I can come over and he said sure. When I came to his house he gave me juice we talked and then we started to work. He asked me, so what do you need to ask me. I told him that I want to find out What Judaism's view on life after death and what your perspective is. He said, that "Generally, I believe that when a person dies their soul goes up to GOD and he weighs the amount of good deeds and bad deeds you did on Earth. All the bad things that you did wrong on Earth you will get punished in hell and all the good things that you did you would get rewarded." I thanked him for spending his time with me and went home.

An hour later, after I interviewed my cousin, I went onto the computer to find out about other religious beliefs about life after death. So, I typed in Is there Life after death +Protestants view. And instantly I found what I've been looking for. If you are wondering what was the website it is <[|http://www.watchtower.org/e/20010715/article_01.htm>.] It explains to you what a Catholic does when a person dies. They leave their doors and windows wide open when a death occurs in their households and an oil lamp is lit, and the casket is placed with the feet of the deceased facing the front door. This is because, they believe, they are helping the spirit to exit. What they also do is that is it customary to cover the mirrors when somebody dies so that no one might peek and see the dead person's spirit. "Sarah it's time to go to eat dinner" My mom told me. I decided that I should just continue my research tomorrow about life after death, and my eyes were getting really tired looking at the computer all day so I decided to go eat dinner and get some more information tomorrow because it was already late.

The next day I went to school and I was talking with my friend Kyra during technology and we were talking about what I am researching about and she told me that her grandfather is a priest and that I can also interview him and ask him what is Protestants, view on life after death. She gave me his e-mail address and I interviewed him. The question that I asked Jay Cook Michael Allen (Kyra's grandfather) was, what do Protestants, believe about the end of life? This is what he said, "We cannot speak of the end of life in terms of facts. We can only speak in terms of poetic visions. Now, let me take you back to the first century of the Common Era, the period that saw the birth of Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. Rabbinic Jews believed in the resurrection of the dead. They did so out of a kind of human necessity. In the previous hundred or more years Jews combating the various conquerors of Israel had die in combat. Was that the end for them, their survivors asked? Is that all there is? Does evil win out in the end? Or does G-d vindicate his people? So, resurrection for them meant the vindication of the martyrs, and the eventual triumph of justice, mercy, and peace in the world. They believed that on the last day the martyrs and all faithful Jews would be raised from the dead into a new world of justice and peace. For Christian the resurrection of Jesus has the same meaning. Here was this beloved man, beautiful, caring, who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, set free the captives, healed the sick, which raised all their hopes and dreams for better life free from Roman tyranny. And the Roman Empire executed him as a criminal, a revolutionary. On the day of his execution, the world comes to an end for the followers of Jesus." He said that "generally" what I am trying to say is that when you die your soul goes either to hell or heaven. They believe that when the whole world ends Jesus will do a final judgment about whether you will go to heaven or hell." I thanked him very much. After doing all of this research I decided that I was done and I know can answer my own question!

The following day I was talking to my sister about my I-Search paper and she said that she has a very good book about life after death. It is called __Old Souls__ by Tom Shroder. Thus I read a little bit of the book. It was extremely fascinating and cool and also a bit scary. It was talking about how people reincarnated and life after death that they reincarnated. For example, there was this story about when, this woman, Hannah Mansour who died after heart surgery in a Virginia hospital, and this infant Suzanne Ghanem claim that she remembering the life of a Hannah Mansour. Also, before Hannah had the surgery she tried to reach her daughter and tell her that she was going into major surgery, she tried calling her but failed. However, when Suzanne Ghnem was just an infant, before she can even speak her the first thing she did was pick up the phone and start saying her daughter's name, Leila. Also, when Suzanne was seven years she went to Hannah's husband and she said that I am your wife, why did you marry another woman? As a result, this book is talking about reincarnation. How, when a person dies, they can reincarnate and go into a different person's body! After doing all of this research and interviewing people on finding out other religious beliefs about life after death I have learned a lot. I was really impressed and fascinated to hear all of these different religious beliefs on the subject, is there life after death? I learned so many things that I never new before. I never knew what these religions actually believe in. For instance, it was impressing about what Catholics do when a person dies. They cover all their windows and their mirrors etc. Also Judaism, it says how our soul goes to heaven or to hell and GOD weighs the amount of good and bad things you did and then he decides weather you go to heaven or hell. And also, I especially was really fascinated about the part about reincarnation! I never knew that! After doing all of this research I have finally answered my question. Basically, I have learned that most religions believe that after you die your soul/spirit either goes to heaven or to hell depending on how you acted on Earth. (If you did good deeds or bad) I was really glad that I have answered my question about what I have been wondering my whole life. Now, whenever someone asks me a question about life after death I would know what to say and give him or her the correct answer! I am really proud of myself that I have answered my question I have been wondering my whole life!
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**Works Cited**
"Afterlife-Wkipedia,the Free Encyclopedia." __Wikipedia__. 9 Apr. 2008 <[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_after_death#Judaism>.]

"Jewish After LIfe Beliefs." <[|http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/jewish-afterlife-beliefs.htm>.]

"Is There Life After Death?- Jehovah's Witnesss Official Website." <[|http://www.watchtower.org/e/20010715/article_01.htm>.]

Shroder, Tom. __Old Souls__. Rockefeller Center: Tom Shroder, 1999. 13-253.

Michalow, Solomon. Interview by telephone.

Allen, Jay Cook Michael. Interview by e-mail.