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I read a lot in the Jewish and even Christian community that we will have to give an account to God one day. How will this be done? Is there a whole process, or a protocol to be followed? Will the accusation arise and will the person have time to respond, giving their version and counter-argument? For what laymen imagine is that it will be equal to a criminal's record and the penalty will be applied immediately, in case of having nothing, you have a free pass to paradise. What is the actual status of this?

Thales
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  • Hi Thales, I would love to provide some sources on this but I don't have time at the moment. The general picture is that after death one is taken before a Heavenly Court, and this is the world of Truth, so there won't be need for a response (although one will "sign" that they did x and did y". The actions themselves, along with your intentions, mitigating circumstances and other excuses will all be perfectly self-evident and undistorted. One's entire life will be reviewed in meticulous detail. The angels and accusers created by their actions will be able to cover every aspect of the case. – Rabbi Kaii Nov 15 '22 at 16:12
  • An important thing to assess on this topic is the basis of such a judgment, will it be based on whether the person is a Jew or a Gentile? Will the charge be based on the jurisdiction to which that person was a part, whether commandments of the Torah or seven commandments of bnei noach? Or will they be judged apart from that in a code of conduct that we may not even have a clue about? – Thales Nov 15 '22 at 16:43
  • It will be a perfectly fair judgement (or lean towards mercy), a Jew will be held to the 613, a Gentile to the 7. To what extent was a person was expected to do better will be perfectly measured too. There will be no unfair surprises, except perhaps the idea that a Gentile might be held accountable for the sins he tried to do but wasn't able for circumstances outside his control. – Rabbi Kaii Nov 15 '22 at 16:46
  • The Gemara says that there are going to be asked several questions when arriving at the heavenly qourt: When a man is brought before the [heavenly] court he is asked: "Were you trustworthy in business? Did you set time for Torah [study]? Did you try to have kids? Did you hope for the Messiah? Did you argue intelligently? Did you understand things based on other things?" - Shabbat 31a – Shmuel Nov 15 '22 at 16:48
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    Note that @Shmuel's answer is Jew-specific. – Rabbi Kaii Nov 15 '22 at 16:50
  • Absolutely. The Gemara also notes that the judgement of G-d cannot be bribes, as can be with a king of flesh. So the court will show everything you did, in perfect honesty, as Rabbi Kaii explains. – Shmuel Nov 15 '22 at 16:51
  • And will there be punishments for every act? For example, for a lesser sin a lesser penalty and a greater sin a greater penalty, or will there be a single penalty based on all acts? Is there that myth from the ancient Egyptian religion of weighing the acts of the dead in a scale and depending on where it is heavier the person is judged? For example, will people who have done good most of their lives be punished regardless? – Thales Nov 15 '22 at 16:59
  • @Thales This is not very clear. We are aware of general categories of what can happen once the verdict is made, and they are quite esoteric concepts, but be aware that everything will be 100% fair and complete, whether it be a single, perfectly measured atonement, or a multi-faceted atonement. I use the word atonement, because punish sounds punitive and we don't really believe in that. – Rabbi Kaii Nov 15 '22 at 17:03

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