Sheol

Sheol is an ancient idea of a shadowy realm of the dead. It can be understood as a waiting place before resurrection or judgement, rather than as a place where the righteous are rewarded and the wicked punished.

Sheol is the realm of the dead in the Hebrew Bible, often portrayed as a shadowy existence. It is not simply another name for a heaven of reward or a hell of punishment, nor should it be confused with later teachings about purification in Gehinnom. These different terms show why Jewish afterlife beliefs cannot be reduced to a single, fixed description of where every person goes.