It's not a literal afterlife; it's the impact that you make on others that lives on after you die. That can be both good and bad, and the goal is to have more good than bad.

@paul1967 yes i see, yes that is fine. calling it an afterlife will confuse people, you know, since we already have such deeply embedded definitions for that. but you have described one of the major beliefs of judaism, which is that we live on in the memories of those who knew us, not just their memories but in their behavior and the effect you have had on them, not just your family and the families they create but even on strangers, depending on how wide your reach is. we say "we will remember them" and we mean "we will be remembered by them" as well, not only literally remembering the person, but carrying on whatever that person did that was good. i say "we" because culturally i am still jewish even though i am an atheist, i don't throw out the baby with the bathwater!

g