gEHENNA

[COmentator]

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.