mlsoft, the whole concept of spending the "after life" in hell or heaven is really foreign to original Judaism (though some of these concepts did rub on later Judaic thinking from Christianity). Hebrew, there are four words for "Hell", Azazel, Gehinom (actually in biblical Hebrew "Gai Ben Hinom" shortened in modern hebrew to gehinom), Tofet and Sheol. The first three are actually description of places near Jerusalem (deep valley south of Jerusalem), and Gehinom and Tofet are usually "connected", Tofet is actually a fire in which pagans were burning their sons in sacrifice, and there were "tofets" in Gai Ben Hinom (Jermayah commented on that deviation of some kings (particularly the Northern Kingdom post Solomon) from Moses' teachings). Only the word Sheol, could have some connotation as an abstract place of suffering, but necessarily post death. It is used most often in poetry (like in Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes). The equivalent of "heaven" (were the "righteous" one end up), is "the Garden of Eden", but I do not remember anywhere in the Old Testament that a "promise" is made of an after life in the Garden of Eden.
In classical Judaism, atonement for sins is not just a cleansing in preparation for an eventual after life, it is a periodic cleansing at least once a year, and it has to do more with atonement for sin committed against fellow men that against the all mighty. There might be one pre Christianity equivalent though, and it is the traditional pre death call of a Jew "Shema Israel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Ehad" (namely, the "call" to monotheism, "Listen Israel, My Lord is our God, My Lord is one." That could be equivalent to acceptance of the trinity as one's "Lord".
Zeev
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