Rabbi Joshua ben Levi wanted to see Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death). The Messiah refused. "It is not fitting for the righteous to see it," he said, "for there are no righteous people in hell." But Rabbi Joshua pressed the matter, and eventually the angel Qipod escorted him to the fiery gates. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, what he found was a system of seven compartments, each more terrible than the last.
The first compartment measured one mile in length and breadth, filled with open pits containing lions made of fire. Two brooks ran through it, when the wicked fell in, the fire-lions standing above cast them back into the flames. When the Messiah accompanied Rabbi Joshua to the gates, the wicked saw his light and rejoiced, crying, "This one will bring us out of this fire!"
The second compartment held nations of the world with Absalom presiding over them. The nations argued among themselves, "If we sinned because we rejected the Torah, what sin did you commit?" They challenged Absalom: "Your ancestors accepted the Torah. Why are you punished?" He answered simply: "Because I did not listen to my father." The punishing angel Qushiel struck the wicked with a rod of fire, cast them into flames, and burned them, seven times daily and three times nightly. But Absalom himself was spared each time, because he descended from those who declared at Sinai, "We shall do, and we shall hear."
This pattern repeated through all seven compartments. Korah in the third, Jeroboam in the fourth, Ahab in the fifth, Micah in the sixth, and Elisha ben Abuya in the seventh. Each Israelite sinner was rescued from the worst punishments by the merit of their ancestors' covenant at Sinai. The darkness filling these compartments was the primordial darkness that existed before creation. So thick that no soul could see another.
XXI. (1) ' After this I implored him and said, " Do
thou show me Gehinnom, which I desire to behold." But
he would not allow me. And I said unto him, "Why
wilt thou not let me see it?" To which the Messiah
answered and said, "It is not meet for the righteous to see
it, for there are no righteous people in hell." (2) I then
forthwith sent to the angel Qipud that he might measure
hell from beginning to end; but he was not able to do so,
because at that time E. Ishmael, E. Shim'on, son of Gamliel,
and ten other pious men were put to death. I tried, but
could not succeed. (3) After this, I went to the angel
Qip5d, who went with me until I came before the fire at the
gates of hell. The Messiah (also) went wdth me, and when
the wicked in hell saw the light of the Messiah, they rejoiced
and said, " This one will bring us forth from this fire." They
showed me then a compartment in hell, which I entered,
and, going round it, I measured it.' (4) R. Joshua said,
' When I measured the first compartment of hell, I found
it to be one mile in length and breadth, and behold, there
were many open pits in which were lions, and the lions
were of fire. There were also two brooks, and when the
wicked people fall therein, they are swallowed up, and
lions of fire standing above cast them into the fire.
(5) When I measured the second, I found it as the first,
and I asked the same questions as I asked about the first,
and they made the same reply. There were in it some of
the nations of the world, presided over by Absalom, and
one nation says to the other, " If we have sinned, it is be-
cause we did not wish to accept the law; but you, wdiat sin
have you committed?" And they reply, "We have com-
mitted the same sin as you." And they say to Absalom,
" If thou hast not listened, thy ancestors have done so.
And why hast thou then been punished in such a manner?"
" Because," he replied, " I did not listen to the exhorta-
tions of my father." (6) An angel stands with a rod of
fire, and this angel that smites them is named Qushiel.
He orders the other angels to throw them down and to
burn them, and one by one they are brought in, and after
smiting them, they are cast upon the fire and burned
until all the people have been consumed. After this,
Absalom is brought in to.be smitten, when a voice is heard
to say, " Do not smite him nor burn him because he is one
of the sons of those whom I love, who said on Mount Sinai,
' We shall do, and w^e shall hear.' " After they have
finished smiting and burning the wicked these emerge from
the fire just as if they had not been burnt; they are then
smitten again, and again thrust into the fire, and this is
repeated seven times every day and three times every
46 [XXI. 7
night. But Absalom is saved from all this because he is
one of the sons of David. (7) The third compartment
contains seven nations of the world, who are judged in the
same manner, and Korah and his company are with them.
The name of him who smites them is Shabtil (b^ton::^). But
Korah and his company are saved from all this, because
they exclaimed on Mount Sinai, "We shall do, and we shall
hear." (8) The fourth compartment contains four nations
of the world, with Jeroboam to preside over them, and the
one who smites them is named Maktiel. But Jeroboam is
delivered from all these punishments, because he descended
from those who exclaimed, "We shall do, and we shall
hearken." (9) In the fifth house they are judged likewise.
It contains seven nations, with Ahab among them, and he
who smites them is named Hushiel. But Ahab is delivered
from all this, because his ancestors said on Mount Sinai,
" We shall do, and we shall hearken." (10) The sixth house,
containing ten nations of the world, is judged likewise, and
Micah is among them, and the angel who smites them is
named Parhiel. But Micah is rescued from all this,
because his ancestors also exclaimed on Mount Sinai, "We
shall do, and we shall hear." (11) The seventh compartment
contains six nations of the world, which are judged in the
same manner, and among them is EHsha ben Abuya; and so
in all the compartments. But one cannot see the other on
account of the darkness, for the darkness that existed
before the creation of the world is now there.'
