Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz, in his book Does the Soul Survive? A Jewish Journey to Belief in the afterlife, Past Lives and Living with Purpose, cites the pioneering work of Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross where, after collecting 20,000 anecdotes of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) from around the globe, she noted several elements of these stories that forced her to reassess her skepticism about the paranormal. These include, “Tales of out-of-body experiences that provided inexplicable capacities of awareness, such as a blind man who described the color and pattern of the operating physician’s tie; Startling similarities in near-death experiences, both cross-culturally and across a range of ages. These accounts consistently included talk of being greeted into a light by deceased loved ones; and in the context of car accidents, in some instances the beloved greeter had died only moments before, unbeknownst to the person who later described the encounter that had occurred while he or she lay unconscious in a separate room” (p. 12). He further explains that in the 1980s Kubler-Ross “largely dedicated herself to working with dying children. She said that in her experience, not a single child saw her mother or father during a near-death experience unless the parent had already died” (p. 16).

A study by the National Institute of Heath shows that NDEs are reported by about 17% of those who nearly die.

Rav Dovber Pinson in his 2015 book The Jewish Book of Life After Life states, "Near-Death Experiences appear to have no relationship with one's religious affiliation or lack thereof. The frequency of these experiences is proportionately the same across cultures, occurring independent of whether on is devout, spiritual, agnostic, atheistic or materialist. Age, race, gender or social status also seems to make no difference in a person's susceptibility to such experiences" (p. 82).

Judaism has always upheld a concept of life after death—however, the details of what is taught about this afterlife existence has changed over time. Below is a brief outline of terms and concepts as they surfaced during civilizational periods of Jewish history:

Sheol—an underground place of punishment for the wicked. By the final centuries of the Biblical period, it came to be seen as a temporary home for the righteous where they awaited the eventual coming of the Messiah.

T’chiyat hameitim/Resurrection of the Dead—idea that, in the End of Days/time of the Messiah, God will resurrect the bodies/souls of the dead

Sheol or Gehenna comes to be seen as the realm for the wicked; Paradise or Heaven (an entirely new concept) becomes the realm of the righteous.

"In Alexandrian Judaism the doctrine of an eternal, individual immortality becomes increasingly popular, replacing the notion of the physical resurrection of the dead" (Raphael, Jewish Views of the Afterlife, p. 90).

The Rabbinic Period (Teachings on the afterlife in this period are never organized into a consistent whole; there are many contradictory and ambiguous ideas.)

Olam Haba—this term is sometimes used to refer to the postmortem realm where individuals go immediately after death, and sometimes it is used to refer to messianic times.

Malakh hamavet/Angel of Death—Personification of death. (In later Rabbinic Period, given the name Samael. Sometimes the words Satan, Samael, malakh hamavet and yetzer hara are used interchangeably.)

Gehenna—While in Apocryphal literature, Gehenna and Sheol are used interchangeably, in Rabbinic Lit, Gehenna is the realm of postmortem punishment. Most texts suggest it is a temporary place where a soul goes through purification for 12 months.

Gan Eden—While this term is used in Torah, it is not used as a postmortem concept until the Rabbinic period and means paradise for the righteous.

The Medieval Period

Hibbut Hakever—pangs of the grave; built upon the Rabbinic belief that immediately after death both body and soul go through a process of physical torment

Gehenna—descriptions of Gehenna during this period were quite terrible. They were based on the doctrine of an eye for an eye and detail punishment in very graphic terms

Gan Eden—descriptions of Gan Eden during this period include seven realms of the righteous, seven realms specifically for women, and vivid images of gardens and ornate walls.

Medieval philosophers attempted to integrate Rabbinic teachings on Olam HaBa with philosophical ideas about the essence of soul, demonstrating a rationalistic concern with the metaphysics of the soul and few depictions of postmortem realms.
Kabbalists inherited from the medieval philosophers a 3-part understanding of the soul: nefesh (vegetative soul/from birth), ruakh (animal soul/secondary) and neshamah (intellectual soul/awakened by Torah study). To these they added hayyah and yhidah and said that every aspect of soul goes through different experiences on the afterlife journey.

Kabbalah is rife with depictions of the dying process itself which include, as death approaches, visions of deceased relatives, angels and guides, visions of Adam, the Shekhinah (as a formless radiant image), and the Angel of Death. One is said to experience life-review and, as the soul departs the body, pangs of the grave.

Guf Haduk—a translucent spiritual body in which all souls are garbed. The spiritual body and the physical body are one before, during, and after life but are manifested on different planes at different times.

Gilgul—reincarnation (translates as "wheel" or "revolution")

Ibburim—evolved souls that could temporarily enter alongside the soul of a person as a spiritual guide or teacher either to aid the living soul or for some rectification of the deceased’s soul.

Ibbur ra’ah (later known as dybbuks in Yiddish culture), understood as possession by the spirit of one who had not yet reincarnated.

Hassidic Tales

Hasidic stories indicate how deeply the notion of immortality and life after death was integrated into the life experience and teachings of the Hasidism. The Hasidim taught of life-review immediately after death and judgement by a heavenly tribunal. These tales depict Gehenna as a place of purification for one’s sins. GanEden is understood as a state of consciousness rather than a physical locale and is not a final resting place. For the Hasidim, the soul survives bodily death and often remains in contact with the living through dreams or spirit visitations.