Do Jews believe in an afterlife? I've never gotten a clear answer to this question.

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The underworld is called Sheol in the Hebrew Bible. There are varied descriptions, some believe it to be segmented and your experience will differ based on your Earthly life. Others hold that it offers the same nonpunitive, yet still universally dismal experience for everyone.

I don’t want to speak for Jews, but the impression I get is that most of them just don’t think about the immediate afterlife, and rather focus their efforts on defining “the world to come.”

The world to come is God’s final ‘fixing’ of the world of humanity. Jews that practiced during life and the otherwise righteous will be brought back from Sheol to participate in paradise. I imagine most will experience Sheol as a long dream, not a place worth really thinking about much.