Just Wondering: Where do Jews go when we die?
24
February
I stop random people wearing yarmulke’s and ask them. “where do Jews believe we go when we die?” Most responses are “What do you mean?”.
I get more specific ask…. I was born Jewish and one of the most fundamental questions I never seemed to have gotten an answer to is “Where am I going when I die?” “Do we come back to earth? Do we go to heaven? Is there Hell? Pergatory? Someplace/something else? “Do I get judged by God when I get there?” “Does the term ashes-to-ashes have anything to do with it?” “Does our spirit live on?” “Do we get reborn?”
I get the most vague “it is open to interpretation” answer every time. To me it is clear-cut. If you believe in God, then don’t you have to know what God has in store for us? It also leads to other questions about death such as “Why pine caskets? Why can’t you be buried in a Jewish cemetery with tattoos? Why do we bury our dead fast?
I am just wondering…. cause I’m seeing a slightly longer road behind me than in front of me. 
You have many questions and I will try to answer what I know.
We do a simply pine casket because the dead do not know or care in what container their body is housed. The body loses all holiness at death and becomes a simple shell of what once held our soul. Also, we use something that is easily broken down by the elements because we believe that the sooner the body is returned to dust, the sooner the deceased will be at rest.
It is not true that one who has a tattoo cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetary! (Think of those with numbers on their arms from the Holocaust.) We do not believe in tattoos in life but in death it does not matter as far as burial goes.
We bury our dead quickly because we believe that the dead suffer until they are at rest (this relates back to why we use an easily degradable coffin, to bring rest quickly.
Now the big question: Where do we go when we die. Well, obviously, the body is buried. Our soul is part of G-d and since G-d is eternal, so is our soul. That part of us returns to Him. If a person was good in the eyes of G-d, he /she is admitted to heaven immediately. If one sinned during one’s life, heaven is delayed for at most one year (except in the case of suicide) at which point even a sinner is admitted to heaven.
I hope this was helpful.