USA - 38% of Jews Believe in Life After Death
Only 38% of American Jews believe in an afterlife, far fewer than in Israel, according to a new study of spiritual practices around the world.
About half of American Jews, and nearly two-thirds of Israeli Jews, said animals can have spirits. A much smaller fraction of Israeli Jews said spirits could be found in objects or in nature, beliefs that are not central to traditional Judaism.
Unlike in some Christian denominations where a belief in the afterlife is an organizing idea, Judaism has no single doctrine about what happens after death. Still, the idea that ultimately the dead will be resurrected by God is a core aspect of classical rabbinic theology embraced by Orthodox Jews, who make up a larger share of Jews in Israel than in the United States.
Jews did rate higher when it comes to key Jewish practices and beliefs.
[The] study found that 62% of Israeli Jews, and 49% of American Jews, perform religious fasts—the central observance of Yom Kippur. In the United States, the observance is more common among Muslims (80%), for whom fasting during the holy month of Ramadan is a key ritual. Among American Christians, 27% fast.
-www.jta.org, 7 May 2025
Arno's Commentary
When reading the article on the Jewish Telegraphic Agency website, one is reminded of Acts 23:8: “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.”
The Sadducees only recognized the writings of Moses; they denied the existence of angels, and did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus spoke to the Sadducees’ assumption: “And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:34-36).
The apostle Paul reemphasizes the reality of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14: “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” Resurrection is preceded by death. The Christian understanding follows the statement in the Bible: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). There is a resurrection, there is an afterlife, and there is a judgment.
Animals do not have a spirit; they consist of soul and body. Only to man God has given a spirit.
When reading the first chapters of Creation (Genesis 1–2), we notice the distinct difference between animals and man: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27). Chapter 2, verse 7 emphasizes, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” God’s breath is His spirit, given to man only.
Yet Ecclesiastes 3:21 states, “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” The JPS Tanakh (1985) reads: “Who knows if a man’s lifebreath does rise upward and if a beast’s breath does sink down into the earth?” Note the distinct difference, “lifebreath” and “breath.”
At this point, it is important to reference 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Note the succession: spirit, soul, and body. The spirit is eternal; the soul and the body are temporary, dwelling within our flesh.
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
