The Tractate of Gehenna

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Masekhet gehinom (The Tractate of Gehenna), Chapter 1, 2 (selections)

7th to 9th Century

Chapter 1

Rabbi Yohanan began his homily with the verse Passing through the valley of weeping, they make it a valley of springs (Psalms 84:6). 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…

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This midrashic work, The Tractate of Gehenna (Masekhet gehinom), takes its readers on a tour of the afterlife and lists the penalties imposed for various sins. Describing Gehenna, it details the different types of punishment meted out according to particular sins. Often, it is the specific parts of the body that sinned that are punished, in keeping with the rabbinic doctrine that reward and punishment are matched to actions. Manuscript versions of this text vary considerably.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Homiletical Works

7th to 12th Century

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