gEHENNA

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Gehinnom[25] became a figurative name for the place of spiritual purification for the wicked dead in Judaism.[26] According to most Jewish sources, the period of purification or punishment is limited to only 12 months and every Sabbath day is excluded from punishment, while the fires of Gehinnom are banked and its tortures are suspended. For the duration of Shabbat, the spirits who are serving time there are released to roam the earth. At Motza'ei Shabbat, the angel Dumah, who has charge over the souls of the wicked, herds them back for another week of torment.[4] After this the soul will move on to Olam Ha-Ba (the world to come), be destroyed, or continue to exist in a state of consciousness of remorse.[27]

In classic rabbinic sources, Gehinnom occasionally occurs as a place of punishment or destruction of the wicked.[28] Rabbi Joshua ben Levi is said to have wandered through Gehenna, like Dante, under the guidance of the angel Duma. Joshua describes seven chambers of Gehenna, each one presided over by a famous sinner from Jewish history, and populated by deceased sinners suffering brutal punishments.[29] According to another rabbinic story, the ancient Israelite leader Jair once threatened to burn alive those individuals who refused to worship Baal. In response, God sent the angel Nathaniel, who rescued the individuals and declared to Jair that "you will die, and die by fire, a fire in which you will abide forever."[30]

Rabbinic texts contain various answers to the questions of who suffers in Gehenna and for how long. According to the Tosefta, normal sinners are punished in Gehenna for 12 months, after which their souls leave Gehenna and turn into dust; while heretics, those who abandon the community (porshim midarkhei tzibur), and those who cause the masses to sin, suffer in Gehenna eternally.[31] The Talmud states that all who enter Gehenna eventually leave it, except for adulterers, those who humiliate others in public, and those who call others by derogatory names

In classic [[Rabbinical Judaism|rabbinic]] sources, Gehinnom occasionally occurs as a place of punishment or destruction of the wicked.e.g. [[Mishnah]] [[Kiddushin (Talmud)|Kiddushin]] 4.14, [[Pirkei Avot|Avot]] 1.5, 5.19, 20; [[Tosefta]] Berachot 6.15; [[Babylonian Talmud]] [[Rosh Hashanah]] 16b:7a, Berachot 28bThose who committed incest are subject to two curses in the Torah and kareth; Amnon was said to be possibly consigned to the 2nd circle of Gehenna.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehebrewcafe.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=680|title=ASk the Rabbi Query...|website=www.thehebrewcafe.com| date=23 July 2021}}  An account of Joshua Ben Levi reporting from hell tells how in the fourth compartment are ten nations presided by Jeroboam. The angel who punishes them is Maktiel (Matniel). Jeroboam, however, has immunity for he himself had studied the Law, and he cometh from those who had said: "We will do and hearken."[https://sacred-texts.com/journals/jras/1893-15.htm Hebrew visions of Hell and Paradise] Midrash Konen places Ahab in the fifth department of Gehenna, as having the heathen under his charge. Though held up as a warning to sinners, Ahab is also described as displaying noble traits of character (Sanh. 102b; Yer. Sanh. xi. 29b). And according to the description of  7th circle of Gehenna by [[Joshua ben Levi]], who, like Dante, wandered through hell under the guidance of the angel Duma, Absalom still dwells there, having the rebellious heathen in charge; and when the angels with their fiery rods run also against Absalom to smite him like the rest, a heavenly voice says: "Spare Absalom, the son of David, My servant."{{cite book|editor-last=Singer|editor-first=Isidore |chapter=ABSALOM ("The Father of Peace") |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/TheJewishEncyclopediaFunkWagnallVolIAachApocalypticLiterature1901/page/n177/mode/2up|date=1901|title=The Jewish Encyclopedia|publisher= Funk & Wagnall|location=New York and London|volume=1|editor-link=Isidore Singer|p=133}} The successor to Abimelech equalled, if he did not surpass, him in wickedness. Jair erected an altar unto Baal, and on penalty of death he forced the people to prostrate themselves before it. Only seven men remained firm in the true faith, and refused to the last to commit idolatry. Their names were Deuel, Abit Yisreel, Jekuthiel, Shalom, Ashur, Jehonadab, and Shemiel. They said to Jair: "We are mindful of the lessons given us by our teachers and our mother Deborah. 'Take ye heed,' they said, 'that your heart lead you not astray to the right or to the left. Day and night ye shall devote yourselves to the study of the Torah.' Why, then, dost thou seek to corrupt the people of the Lord, saying, 'Baal is God, let us worship him'? If he really is what thou sayest, then let him speak like a god, and we will pay him worship." For the blasphemy they had uttered against Baal, Jair commanded that the seven men be burnt. When his servants were about to carry out his order, God sent the angel Nathaniel, the lord over the fire, and he extinguished the fire though not before the servants of Jair were consumed by it. Not only did the seven men escape the danger of suffering death by fire, but the angel enabled them to flee unnoticed, by striking all the people present with blindness. Then the angel approached Jair, and said to him: "Hear the words of the Lord ere thou diest. I appointed thee as prince over my people, and thou didst break My covenant, seduce My people, and seek to burn My servants with fire, but they were animated and freed by the living, the heavenly fire. As for thee, thou wilt die, and die by fire, a fire in which thou wilt abide forever." Thereupon the angel burnt him with a thousand men, whom he had taken in the act of paying homage to Baal.[https://archive.org/details/legendsofjew...2/mode/2up Legends of the Jews Vol 4 pp.42-43] In the Aggadah, [[Jehoiakim]] is still undergoing punishment for his sins. Although the Babylonian Talmud does not include him among those who have no place in the world to come (cf. Sanh. 103b),[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articl...-jehoiakim Jewish encyclopedia Jehoiakim] the Jerusalem Talmud cites him as an example of one who has forfeited his place in heaven by publicly transgressing the law.[https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/en.../jehoiakim Encyclopedia.com]T

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At Gehenna's gate Joshua ben Levi saw (ib. I. 148, cf. Exodus Rabba, § 40) persons hung up by their noses, others by their hands some by their tongues, some by their eyelids and feet, women by their breasts. At one place men were devoured by worms that die not: at another, coals of fire burnt up their inner parts. Some ate dust that broke their teeth- they had lived on stolen goods; and others were cast from flames into ice, and back again. Each sin had its own chastising angel, the three deadly sins mentioned being adultery, insulting a fellow-man in public, and the name of God. All the faces were black, and in the very midst of their suffering the Jewish sinners would declare God to be a just Judge, and be rescued after twelve months, while the heathen, failing to do so, would have their punishment renewed every six months. From Friday eve to the close of Sabbath, however, the fires of Gehenna are cooled down, and they themselves find a cooling place between two mountains of snow. Gan Eden he describes (II. 92) as a city with two gates of carbuncle, above which sixty myriads of angels, with faces like the firmament. stand with crowns of gold and precious stones, and with myrtle-wreaths in their hands, to welcome each righteous man as he enters, and lead him to his tent, where wine and honey from the world's beginning are spread before him on costly tables. (K. Kohler, “The Pre-Talmudic Haggada. II. C. The Apocalypse of Abraham and its Kindred,” The Jewish Quarterly Review 7, no. 4 [July 1895]: 595-96, italics in original)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1449967?seq=17 P.597

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, a prominent scholar of Jewish law during the era of the Amoraim (approx. 230–250 CE), is associated with a vivid description of Gehenna (Gehinnom), a concept in Jewish tradition referring to a place of purification or punishment after death.
His account, recorded in a work called "Massecheth Gan Eden," recounts a visit he made to both Paradise and Gehenna, accompanied by the Angel of Death.
Description of Gehenna by Rabbi Joshua ben Levi
Seven Chambers: Gehenna is described as having seven chambers, each presided over by a famous sinner from Jewish history.
Fiery Lions: Fiery lions guard the entrances to Gehenna, devouring those who fall in, who are then recreated in their previous form.
Measurements: Rabbi Joshua ben Levi measured one part of Gehenna to be 100 miles long and 50 miles wide.
Punishment: Deceased sinners within Gehenna suffer brutal punishments.
Angels of Punishment: Specific angels are tasked with chastising the wicked, such as Kushiel who supervises the punishment of ten nations, including Absalom.
Temporary Punishment: The chastisement and burning occur seven times each day and three times each night, after which the sinners emerge from the fire as if nothing had happened.
Exemptions and Observations: Some individuals, like Absalom, are not directly chastised or burned but are punished by observing the suffering of others, according to Sefaria.
Gehenna and repentance
Despite the detailed and graphic description of punishments in Gehenna, Rabbi Joshua ben Levi's teachings emphasize the importance of repentance (teshuvah). He taught that repentance was a divine gift allowing sinners to amend their ways, and even at the very gates of Gehenna, one could repent. He also highlighted the power of repentance by mentioning the episode of the Golden Calf, where even great sin could be forgiven through genuine repentance.
Different names of Gehenna
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi also enumerated seven names for Gehenna, each illustrating a different aspect of this concept, :
Sheol (שאול)
Avadon (אבדון)
Be'er Shaḥat (באר שחת)
Bor Shaon (בור שאון)
Tit HaYaven (טיט היון)
Tzalmavet (צלמות)
Eretz HaTaḥtit (ארץ התחתית)
These different names and Rabbi Joshua ben Levi's detailed descriptions underscore the various ways in which Gehenna was conceptualized in Jewish tradition.
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SEE ALSO
https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-g...20punished.