Challenging Nature - III

In Chapter 3, Silver continues to discuss spiritual realities as physical entities. He takes verses in the Torah literally, when it is clear that they are metaphorical. For example, when the Torah describes Hashem as blowing the נשמת חיים in the nostrils of Adam, our Sages do not understand this as literally blowing air. Actually, they define it as imbuing man with the ability to speak. a trait which distinguishes man from other creatures. In the same vein, any discussion of the weight of the soul is meaningless from a Jewish perspective.

He then embarks on a discussion about the literal meaning and location of heaven and hell. In all fairness as you survey Jewish sources there are definitely those who consider the Garden of Eden to be a real place here on earth. I would submit that most modern day educated rabbis would dismiss this notion. Similarly, with regards to heaven and hell there is much discussion as to whether or not these are places where the physical body is present. The truth is, we don't know what things will look like at times and dimensions that are beyond that of our experience. The Rambam explains that anything written on these topics is at best educated speculation.

Personally, I would tend to follow the opinions that these are "places" of spiritual, rather than physical reward and punishment. Again, being as that is the case, searching for them in the physical plane and using science as the tool is a vain effort.