Two bands of angels stand at the gates of Gehinnom (גהינום) and call out one word: "Come! Come!" According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled by Jerahmeel ben Solomon, Rabbi Eliezer explained that these angels are the "two daughters of the leech" mentioned in (Proverbs 30:15). The name Gehinnom itself means "Valley of Wailing" because the sound of its screaming traverses the entire world from end to end.
Gehinnom has three gates. One gate opens at the sea, referenced by Jonah when he cried from the belly of Sheol. One gate opens in the wilderness, alluded to when Korah and his followers went down alive into the earth (Numbers 16:33). The third gate stands in Jerusalem itself, as Isaiah wrote: "The Lord, whose fire is in Zion and His furnace in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 31:9).
Five different kinds of fire burn there. One devours and absorbs. Another absorbs but does not devour. A third neither devours nor absorbs. And there is fire that devours other fire. The coals are the size of mountains. Rivers of pitch and sulphur flow and seethe.
The angels of destruction seize the sinner and hurl them toward the flame. Gehinnom opens its mouth wide and swallows them whole. But this fate only befalls someone who has not performed even a single act of mercy that might tip the scales. The person who has studied Torah and endured suffering is saved, as David wrote: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff comfort me" (Psalms 23:4). The rod is suffering. The staff is Torah.
XIV. (1) Who can stand before its might, who can with-
stand the fury of its wrath ? E. Abahu opened his homily
with the verse: ' Aluqah has two daughters called Hab,
Hab.' E. Eliezer says that these are the two bands of
angels that stand at the gates of Gehinnom and say, ' Come !
come !' Why is it called Gehinnom (Valley of Wailing) ?
Because the voice of its wailing traverses the world from
one end to the other. And why is it called ' Tofteh '
(Enticer) ? Because all enter therein enticed by their evil
inclination.
(2) E. Johanan began his homily with the verse, ' Passing
through the valley of weeping, they make it a valley of
springs.' This means to say that the sinner confesses, just
as the leper confesses; and he says: ' I have committed
such and such a transgression in that place, on that day,
in the presence of So-and-so, in that society.'
(3) Hell has three gates: one at the sea, the other in the
wilderness, and the third in the inhabited part of the world.
That at the sea is alluded to in Jonah: ' Out of the belly
of Sheol cried I, and thou heardest my voice.' That of the
wilderness is alluded to in Numbers: * So they and all that
appertained to them went down alive unto Sheol.' And
that in the inhabited portion of the world in Isaiah:
' Saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and His furnace in
Jerusalem.'
(4) Five different kinds of fires are in hell: one devours
and absorbs, another absorbs and does not devour, while
another, again, neither devours nor absorbs. There is
further fire devouring fire. (5) There are coals big as
mountains, and coals big as hills, and coals huge like unto
the Dead Sea, and coals like huge stones. There are rivers
of pitch and sulphur flowing and fuming and seething.
(6) The punishment of the sinner is thus: The angels of
destruction throw him to the flame of hell; this opens its
mouth wide and swallows him, as it is said, ' Therefore
Sheol hath enlarged her desire and opened her mouth
without measure, and their glory and their multitude and
their pomp, and he that rejoices among them, descends into
it.' This all happens to him who has not done one single
pious act which would incline the balance towards mercy;
(7) whilst that man who possesses many virtues and good
actions and learning, and who has suffered much, he is
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saved from hell, as it is said, ' Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for
Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff shall comfort
me.' 'Thy rod' means the suffering, and 'Thy staff'
signifies the law.
(8) E. Johanan began: ' The eyes of the wicked shall fail,
and refuge is perished from them, and their hope shall be
the giving up of the ghost.' That means, a body which is
never destroyed, and whose soul enters a fire which is never
extinguished; of these speaks also the verse, ' For their
worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.'
