After death, one stands in judgment before God for his actions during his lifetime. When the soul passes from the world, it does not know where it is being taken. But if the person had yearned for God in this world, he will be given the opportunity to ascend toward Him as a result.

At the time of his death a person does not know where he will come to:

When the time comes to be taken from this world, every individual approaches the heavenly King [to be judged]. This is as it is written: “The time for David to die approached” (I Kings 2:1); “The time for Israel to die approached” (Genesis 47:28). For when a person is in this world he does not notice or pay attention to where he stands; rather, every day he thinks it is as if he is walking on emptiness. For, when a soul departs this world it does not know along which path it is being led, for not all souls are admitted to the path leading upward to where light shines from the highest souls. For along [the path] one followed in this world, so he will continue after he leaves it.

One who yearns for God merits that his soul is drawn toward God even after his death:

Come and see: If a person is drawn toward the Holy One, blessed be He, and his desire in this world is for Him, then afterward, when he departs from it, he is drawn toward Him and he is granted a way to ascend, along the same path that he wished to be drawn every day in this world. (Zohar 1:99a–b)

Further reading: For the story of the tree of knowledge, the source of death in the world, see A Concise Guide to the Torah, p. 8.