“Rabbi Elazar ha-kappar used to say, ‘Those that have been born will die; those that have died will come to life again; those that have come to life again will be judged.’ He said so in order that he himself might bear in mind, and tell others, and that it might become generally known, that God, who has formed and created man’s heart and understands all his doings, is the Judge, the Witness, and the Prosecutor; He before whom there is no wrong, no forgetfulness, no partiality, and no bribery, will one day judge. Let thy imagination not persuade thee that the grave is a refuge for thee. For without thy consent hast thou been born, and without thy consent wilt thou die, and without thy consent thou art brought to life again to account for thy deeds before the King of kings, blessed be He” (Aboth iv. 22). The immediate enjoyment of the reward is, however, not excluded. We read in the Law, “Do this and thy days will be long;” and the Mishnah teaches, “These are the good acts, the fruit of which man enjoys in this life, whilst the full reward awaits him in the world to come: honouring father and mother, the practice of charity, peace-making between man and man, and above all the study of the Law” (Mishnah, Peah. i. 1). The faithful Israelite is not discouraged at the sight of the successes of the wicked; on the contrary, he believes: “If to those who break the Divine laws such kindness is shown by God, what must be His goodness to those who obey Him!” (Midrash Yalkut on Isaiah viii. 1). As regards the troubles of the good, our Sages teach that the good will receive their reward “in proportion to their suffering.” Yet pious men do not seek trouble and pain merely for the prospect of future compensation; on the contrary, they avail themselves of every possible means to secure relief, and would even renounce in their agony all compensation in the future world, in order to secure release from pain in the present (Babyl. Talm. Berachoth, 5a). As the life of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden was free from care and trouble, and such a life was the ideal of human hopes and wishes, the Garden-Eden, ‏גן עדן‎ (lit., “the garden of pleasure”), became the symbol of man’s happiness in its perfection, such as will fall to the share of the good and the righteous. On the other hand, the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, was a place of horror and disgust; a place where at one time children were burnt to Moloch, and where later the refuse of the city was cast. Dwelling in the valley of Hinnom (‏גיהנום‎) became the symbol of the punishment to be inflicted on the wicked. Gan-eden or Paradise, and Gehinnom or Hell, are thus mere figures to express our idea of the existence of a future retribution, and must not be taken literally as names of certain places. The detailed descriptions of Paradise and hell as given in books both profane and religious are nothing but the offspring of man’s imagination.