Atheist Bible Study 1: Genesis

[Bucky Ball]

The Sadducee of Roman Judah did deny the existent of an afterlife. Ancient Judaism was practical in nature and there was no determined dogma on the afterlife. Much later it was developed and argued over - reference chabad.org . However we are talking about part of the soul that transcends death. The nefesh does go to the grave with the body in ancient belief. However, there is a level to souls in kabbalistic belief. I suggest you reference Yechida. 

I did provide references INCLUDING 3 psalms ... you just ignored my references.
Assertion, no reference. Dismissed. The references I provided PROVE your (still) un-referenced concept that the "nefesh" going to the grave is false. 
The "breath" WAS "LIFE itself". There was no breath when life was absent. There was no "soul" equivalent and no scholar says there was. There was no concept of *individual* immortality, ... and why is that ? Because culturally they were (still) (in the period being discussed ... GENESIS) a tribal society and the concept of "individualism" had not arisen in the West yet. Immortality (pre-Exile) consisted in FAMILY continuation, (the production of MALE heirs). The study of how and why individualism arose is a HUGE field in cultural history .. which you obviously know nothing about. After the Exile, when the traditional family groups and lines were disrupted, and individualism arose, THEN a form of immortality arose ("exaltation") but only for those with hero status. This is discussed by Ehrman in the book I referenced above. 
The ideas (which you are MIS-characterizing) are essential to understanding ALL of the Bible, especially the OT, and you are ignorant of the most basic concepts in Hebrew thought, their relative time periods, the CHANGES and how and why the different concepts arose.

Kabbalistic belief is totally irrelevant to this period. Human thought CHANGES through the ages, and is dependent (totally) on prevailing culture.
Definition of kabbalah :
1 : a medieval and modern system of Jewish theosophy, mysticism, and thaumaturgy marked by belief in creation through emanation and a cipher method of interpreting Scripture.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40021203?se...b_contents

No one said the Jews didn't believe in a messiah ... nice try. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messianism#Judaism
Some did .. many did not. The concept arose POST-Exile. The role of a messiah was NEVER to "save from sin" The messiah was to re-establish ON EARTH, the kingdom of Israel, and lead that kingdom. Even the followers of Jesus thought THAT definition was what he was about ... (he never once said he was going to "atone for sin") ... "Then they gathered around him and asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1:6
"Rabbinic Judaism and current Orthodox Judaism hold that the messiah will be an anointed one, descended from his father through the Davidic line of King David, who will gather the Jews back into the Land of Israel and usher in an era of peace."
-Wiki
Nothing about salvation. Nothing.

Talking to a rabbi .... LOL
You posted NO REFERENCES to support your assertions. THAT is a part of what "study" is ... sorry if what your traditional "Sunday School" level of study lead to was basically ignorance of the complex nature of Hebrew history. Of course you (as most) "want nothing to do with it" ... it would challenge ALL the basic foundations of the cult that Christians invented when they CHANGED how Jews understood things, (and STILL understand things).

For an understanding of what the Hebrew concept of sin and evil are, read Martin Buber's (Jewish scholar and philosopher) "Good and Evil" (Part II).
It's nothing like what Christians turned it in to, It came from the Babylonian concept of Chaos, (and in that tradition, Buber explains how Jews read the Garden myth, in Genesis, which makes perfect sense.) Many many of the concepts the Judean priests (in Exile) wrote into the first 4 books of the Bible came straight from Babylonian mythology, as did their god Yahweh Sabaoth. which they were exposed to in Exile. They (actually Ezra) then presented the Torah of Moses (as recounted in the Book of Nehemiah) to the people in the fall festival. Before that, the "Bible" was unknown in human history.