Paradise has two gates made of carbuncle, and sixty myriads of ministering angels guard them. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled by Jerahmeel ben Solomon, Rabbi SAFE0 ben Levi described exactly what happens when a righteous soul arrives.
The angels strip away the burial clothes. They dress the soul in eight garments woven from clouds of glory and place two crowns on its head: one of precious stones and pearls, the other of gold. Eight branches of myrtle are put into its hands. The angels say, "Go and eat your bread with joy." Then they lead the soul to a place surrounded by 800 species of roses and myrtles, where each person receives a canopy proportional to their merits.
Four rivers flow through Paradise. One of oil. One of balsam. One of wine. One of honey. Every canopy is overgrown with a vine of gold from which thirty pearls hang, each shining like the morning star. Sixty angels stand at the head of every righteous person, urging them to eat the honey and drink the wine that has been preserved since the six days of creation. There is no night in Paradise. The light of the righteous shines perpetually.
The souls undergo four transformations daily, one for each watch. In the first watch, the righteous become children and experience the joys of childhood. In the second, they become youths. In the third, adults. In the fourth, elders. Each stage brings its own distinct pleasures.
The Tree of Life stands at the center, overshadowing all of Paradise. It produces 500 distinct flavors, each with a different perfume. Seven clouds of glory hover above it, and the winds carry its scent to every corner of the world. Beneath it sit the scholars, studying Torah under two canopies: one of stars, one of sun and moon.
Seven compartments house the righteous. The first holds the martyrs, like Rabbi Akiva. The second holds those who drowned. The third, Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai and his students. The fifth belongs to the penitents, whose place not even a perfectly righteous person can occupy. The seventh is for the poor who studied Torah despite their poverty. And God sits in their midst, personally teaching them the law.
XVIII. (1) Pi. Joshua, son of Levi, tells, ' Paradise has
two gates of carbuncle, and sixty myriads of ministering
angels keep watch over them. Each of these angels shines
with the lustre of the heavens. When the just man
approaches them they divest him of the clothes in which he
had been buried, and clothe him with eight cloths, woven
out of clouds of glory, and place upon his head two crowns,
one of precious stones and pearls, and the other of gold,
and they place eight myrtles in his hand and praise him,
and say to him, " Go and eat thy bread with joy." And
they lead him to a place full of rivers (waters) surrounded
by 800 species of roses and myrtles. Each one has a
canopy according to his merits, as it is said, " For over all
the glory shall be spread a canopy."
(2) ' And through it flow four rivers, one of oil, the other of
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balsam, the third of wine, and the fourth of honey. Every
canopy is overgrown by a vine of gold, and thirty pearls
hang down from it, each of them shining like the morning
star. (3) In every canopy there is a table of precious stones
and pearls, and sixty angels stand at the head of every
just man, saying unto him, " Go and eat with joy of the
honey, for thou hast worked assiduously in the law," of
which it is said, " And it is sweeter than honey," " and drink
of the wine preserved from the six days of Creation, for
thou hast worked in the law which is compared with the
wine," as it is said, " I would cause thee to drink of spiced
wine." The least fair of them is as beautiful as Joseph
and Johanan, and as the grains of the pomegranate lit
up by the rays of the sun. There is no night, as it is
said, " And the light of the righteous is as the shining
light."
(4) ' And they undergo four transformations according to
the four watches of the day. In the first watch the just is
changed into a child, and he enters the compartment of
children and tastes the joys of childhood. In the second
watch he is changed into a youth, and there he enjoys the
delights of youth. In the third watch he becomes a middle-
aged man and rejoices accordingly. In the fourth watch
he is changed into an old man: he enters the compartment
of the old and enjoys the pleasures of mature age.
(5) ' In Paradise there are eighty myriads of trees in every
corner; the meanest among them choicer than a garden of
spices. In every corner there are sixty myriads of angels
singing with sweet voices, and the tree of life stands in the
middle and overshadoweth the whole of Paradise; and it
has 500 tastes, each different from the others, and the per-
fumes thereof vary likewise. (6) Over it hang seven clouds
of glory, and the winds blow from all the four corners and
waft its many odours from one end of the world to the
other. Underneath sit the scholars and explain the law.
These have each two canopies, one of stars and the other
of sun and moon, and clouds of glory separate one from
the other. Within this is the Eden containing 310 worlds,
as it is said, " That I may cause those that love Me to
inherit Substance " (Prov. viii. 21) [the numerical value of
the Hebrew word (l*'^) Substance is equivalent to 310].
(7) ' Here are the seven compartments of the just. In the
first are the martyrs, as, for instance, E. 'Aqiba and his
companions. In the second, those who were drowned. In
the third, K. Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples. The
fourth group consists of those who were covered by the
cloud of glory. The fifth group is that of the penitents, for
the place occupied by a penitent not even a perfectly just
man can occupy. The sixth group is that of children who
have not yet tasted sin in their lives. The seventh group
is that of the poor, who, notwithstanding their poverty,
studied the law and the Talmud, and had followed a moral
life. Of these speaks the verse, " For all that put their
trust in Thee rejoice, and they shout for ever for joy.'
(8) ' And God Almighty sitteth in their midst, and
expounds to them the law, as it is said, " Mine eyes shall be
upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me."
And God hath not yet fully unveiled the glory which
awaiteth the pious in the world to come, as it is said, " The
eye hath not seen, 0 God, beside Thee, that which Thou
workest for him that waiteth for Him." '
