After <strong>Elisha ben Abuya</strong> became a heretic, his student Rabbi Meir never stopped trying to bring him back. According to Chagigah 15b, the attempts were heartbreaking—and futile.
Elisha—now called Aher, "the Other"—went from synagogue to synagogue, asking children to recite whatever verse they were studying. Every child quoted a verse about the doom of the wicked. At the last synagogue, a stuttering child recited (Psalms 50:16): "And to the wicked, God says: what is it for you to declare My statutes?" Because of the stutter, it sounded like the child was saying "And to Elisha, God says..." The message felt personal. The door to repentance seemed permanently shut.
When Aher died, the heavenly court issued an extraordinary ruling: he would not be judged, and he would not enter the World to Come. He could not be punished, because his Torah learning protected him. He could not be rewarded, because his sins were too great. He was suspended in limbo.
Rabbi Meir refused to accept this. He declared: "When I die, I will cause smoke to rise from Aher's grave"—a sign that his teacher was being judged in Gehinnom (גהנם), the place of purification. Better to be purified through fire than to be forgotten entirely. And when Rabbi Meir died, smoke did indeed rise from Aher's grave.
But Rabbi Yohanan went further. He said: "Was it a great deed for Rabbi Meir to burn his teacher? Can we not save one of our own?" When Rabbi Yohanan died, the smoke ceased. Aher had been released from Gehinnom and brought into the World to Come.
The daughter of Aher later came to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi begging for food. He was appalled: "Is there still of his seed in the world?" She replied: "Remember his Torah, not his deeds." Fire descended from heaven at that moment—a sign that even God remembered.