Ghost Encounters

[Pandora]

In Judaism, we do believe in the concept of עולם הבא, pronounced Olam HaBah, which means the World to Come.
As the name implies, this is the afterlife. As far as the idea of ghosts goes, Judaism believes in the spirit, or soul, being eternal and that even after death, the soul carries on in the afterlife.

When someone dies, there is an intense 7 day mourning period following the funeral called Shiva, which comes from the Hebrew word, שבע, pronounced Sheva, which means seven. During that time, it is said that part of the departed's soul lingers in the house of mourning, and there is a custom to cover all the mirrors in the house so that the spirit will not see itself. It is customary to do Torah learning on behalf of the departed person during the Shiva period and during the anniversary of the person's death, known as a Yortzeit. Whenever some words of Torah or good deed is done in the name of the departed individual, it is said that the נשמה, pronounced Neshama, has an עליה, pronounced Aliyah. This basically means that the person's soul rises, not from the dead, but in Olam HaBah.

As far as in person encounters go, those would usually occur in dreams, which I suppose isn't in person. There are a few stories in my family of people dreaming about dead relatives who give them a message of comfort.

I believe strongly we can communicate with the dead in dreams, but it's not really a dream, just a reminiscent memory. I had friend that died and I dreamed with her constantly, and it was strange, it was not like a normal dream, we talked and we did the same things we used to do.
In the dream I thought "actually she didn't die because I'm talking here with her as before."
I think Judaism is really fascinating and is among the few religions that I particularly can take seriously. Because many others have their doctrines and original sources modified.
Just one question, Judaism takes into account reincarnation, or isn't intrinsic in the doctrine?

 

[Maniacal Engineer]

I believe strongly we can communicate with the dead in dreams, but it's not really a dream, just a reminiscent memory. I had friend that died and I dreamed with her constantly, and it was strange, it was not like a normal dream, we talked and we did the same things we used to do.
In the dream I thought "actually she didn't die because I'm talking here with her as before."
I think Judaism is really fascinating and is among the few religions that I particularly can take seriously. Because many others have their doctrines and original sources modified.
Just one question, Judaism takes into account reincarnation, or isn't intrinsic in the doctrine?

That's a good example of such an encounter as I described in my previous post.
Here's another from my family history. When my grandmother (my father's mother) was in rehab after a particularly bad bout with congestive heart failure, both she and my father had similar dreams on the same night. In the dream, they both met my grandmother's mother, but she appeared to be younger than she had been when she passed away. She told both my grandma and my father not to worry and that she would take care of my grandmother.
A few nights later, my grandmother died peacefully in her sleep after a very nice last day.

Judaism has quite a lot of history to it, and we do cherish our stories and original sources very much, at least within Orthodox Judaism. Now, as far as your question goes, as with anything in Judaism, it's complicated.
There is a concept in Judaism called "Gilgul" (can't type it out in Hebrew, since my laptop doesn't have a Hebrew keyboard), which loosely translates into cycle or circle. Some Jews believe that when someone dies and their mission in life is incomplete, they will get a reincarnation and be allowed to continue their work. However, for us, Olam HaBah is the ultimate reward, and, as such, Gilgul is not desirable.
...at least for some Jews.