Editing Meaning of life (section)

====Judaism====
In the [[Judaism|Judaic]] worldview, the meaning of life is to elevate the physical world ('Olam HaZeh') and prepare it for the world to come ('[[Jewish eschatology|Olam HaBa]]'), the [[Jewish messianism|messianic era]]. This is called [[Tikkun Olam]] ("Fixing the World"). Olam HaBa can also mean the spiritual afterlife, and there is debate concerning the eschatological order. However, Judaism is not focused on personal salvation, but on communal (between man and man) and individual (between man and God) spiritualised actions in this world.

Judaism's most important feature is the worship of a single, incomprehensible, [[transcendence (religion)|transcendent]], one, indivisible, [[God in Judaism|absolute Being]], who created and governs the universe. Closeness with the God of Israel is through a study of His [[Torah]], and adherence to its [[mitzvot]] (divine laws). In traditional Judaism, God established a special [[Covenant (Israel)|covenant]] with a people, the people of Israel, at [[Mount Sinai]], giving the [[613 mitzvot|Jewish commandments]]. Torah comprises the written [[Pentateuch]] and the transcribed [[Oral Torah|oral tradition]], further developed through the generations. The Jewish people are intended as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation"<ref>[[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 19:6.</ref> and a "[[Light Unto the Nations|light to the Nations]]", influencing the other peoples to keep their own religio-ethical [[Seven Laws of Noah]]. The messianic era is seen as the perfection of this dual path to God.

Jewish observances involve ethical and ritual, affirmative, and prohibitive injunctions. Modern [[Jewish denominations]] differ over the nature, relevance, and emphases of mitzvot. [[Jewish philosophy]] emphasises that God is not affected or benefited, but the individual and society benefit by drawing close to God. The rationalist [[Maimonides]] sees the ethical and ritual divine commandments as a necessary, but insufficient preparation for philosophical understanding of God, with its love and awe.<ref>''Maimonides' Confrontation with Mysticism'', Menachem Kellner, Littman Library. Particularly the parable of the King's Palace in divine worship, in the [[Guide for the Perplexed]].</ref> Among fundamental [[Jewish ethics|values]] in the Torah are pursuit of justice, compassion, peace, kindness, hard work, prosperity, humility, and education.<ref name="Cohn-Sherbok">{{Cite book |author=Dan Cohn-Sherbok |title=Judaism: History, Belief, and Practice |publisher=Routledge |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-415-23661-4}}</ref><ref name="Heschel">{{Cite book |author=Abraham Joshua Heschel |title=Heavenly Torah: As Refracted Through the Generations |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-8264-0802-0}}</ref> The world to come,<ref name="Shuchat">{{Cite book |author=Wilfred Shuchat |title=The Garden of Eden & the Struggle to Be Human: According to the Midrash Rabbah |publisher=Devora Publishing |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-932687-31-6}}</ref> prepared in the present, elevates man to an everlasting connection with God.<ref name="Braham">{{Cite book |author=Randolph L. Braham |title=Contemporary Views on the Holocaust |publisher=Springer |date=1983 |isbn=978-0-89838-141-2}}</ref> [[Simeon the Just|Simeon the Righteous]] says, "The world stands on three things: on Torah, on worship, and on acts of loving kindness." The [[Siddur|prayer book]] relates, "Blessed is our God who created us for his honor ... and planted within us everlasting life." Of this context, the [[Talmud]] states, "Everything that God does is for the good." including suffering.

The Jewish mystical [[Kabbalah]] gives complementary esoteric meanings of life. As well as Judaism providing an [[Divine immanence|immanent]] relationship with God (personal [[theism]]), in Kabbalah, the spiritual and physical creation is a paradoxical manifestation of the immanent aspects of God's Being ([[panentheism]]), related to the [[Shekhinah]] (Divine feminine). Jewish observance unites the [[sephirot]] (Divine attributes) on high, restoring harmony to creation. In [[Lurianic Kabbalah]], the meaning of life is the messianic rectification of the shattered sparks of God's persona, exiled in physical existence (the [[Kelipot]] shells), through the actions of Jewish observance.<ref>''Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction'', Joseph Dan, Oxford University Press, Chapter "Early modern era: Safed spirituality".</ref> Through this, in [[Hasidic Judaism]] the ultimate essential "desire" of God is the revelation of the Omnipresent Divine essence through materiality, achieved by a man from within his limited physical realm when the body will give life to the soul.<ref>Habad intellectual Hasidic thought: source text [[Tanya (Judaism)|Tanya]] I: 36, 49; secondary text ''Heaven on Earth'', Faitel Levin, Kehot publications.</ref>