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Where is Gehenom located? After Korach and his followers got swallowed up by the Earth, they fell right outside the gates of Gehenom, and are (presumably) till this day yelling משה אמת ותורתו אמת (Baba Batra 74a).

I also heard a story about an Israeli soldier who found a hole that lead deep into the Earth (in either the Negev or Sinai desert) and heard the said phrase, understanding it to be from Korach and his followers. These sources seems to imply that Gehenom is seen as physical place inside the Earth. Do some people actually hold that Gehenom is inside and a part of the Earth?

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  • Pretty sure Gehenom was a real place where people were buried in the past. As far as people being standard there, I don’t think thats verifiable. Perhaps it is a parable.
    – Turk Hill
    Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 11:54
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    You mean גיא בן הינום, where child sacrifices happened?
    – KapinKrunch
    Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 11:58
  • No, because Jews never sacrificed humans. We don’t believe in it.
    – Turk Hill
    Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 12:06
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    @Turk Jews doing things Judaism doesn't believe in has indeed never happened. Ever.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 12:17
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    What are you guys arguing about? Gey ben Hinom was a place outside Yerushalyem where off the derech pagan יהודים sacrificed their kids to their foolish idols , and of course not in accordance with the Torah. Also @Turk how do you know what Avraham Avinu (עליו השלום) thought?
    – KapinKrunch
    Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 22:58

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The Gemara in Eiruvin 19a brings from Rav Yirmiyahu Ben Elazar who explains that there are 3 different entrances to gehenom. One entrance is located in the desert which swallowed up Korach and his family. The second location is in the sea,and the 3rd location is in Jerusalem.

The gemara then asks is there really only 3 openings? Dont we say that gehenom is in the valley of Ven Hinom and smoke rises between two date palm trees? The gemara answers that this entrance may be the entrance in Jerusalem and there would be no contradiction to the number 3.

From the reading of the gemara it seems that gehenom is very possibly inside the earth since Korach got swallowed up into the earth ,and the gemara says that is the entrance to gehenom of the desert.

In the Sefer Bais Yisroel Hashalem 8:pg.250 that near har hazeisim there is a house of worship of the Notzrim which stands right on top of the entrance of gehenom.

In Masheches Tamid 32 it brings from Tanna Devei Eliyahu who says that gehenom is in the sky,and some say it is beyond the mountain of darkness.

The Zohar Terumah 150 writes that there are 7 openings to gehenom.

All info can be found in Sefer Shaar Reuvein pg.427.

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  • So are we presuming it's an actual physical location within the earth as opposed to a location on a supernatural plane like heaven for instance?
    – Ephraim77
    Commented Sep 13, 2019 at 16:00
  • So the Russian "Church of Mary Magdalene" is directly on top of Gehinom??
    – KapinKrunch
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 3:29
  • @KapinKrunch , I remember thinking of that as possibility ,but who knows.
    – sam
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 3:36
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Heaven and hell are literally on earth in this world.

...הַגַּן־עֵדֶן וְהַגֵּיהִנֹּם הֵם בְּזֶה הָעוֹלָם מַמָּשׁ
Gan Eden and Geyhinom are on this world mamash (tangibly)...

     --Likutei Moharan #22, beg. of last paragraph[1]

[1] https://www.sefaria.org/Likutei_Moharan.22.21.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en

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  • Can you eleborate more on this subject
    – KapinKrunch
    Commented May 13, 2020 at 7:46
  • For example "Whoever gets angry, all kinds of Gehinnom rule over him," R"L (Nedarim 22a). But one who abandons the world to a sufficient extent, delving in only Avodath Hashem in prayer, hitbodedut (private conversation-contemplation-time with H`, best done in nature where people don't go), settling his Daat considering what is the True Purpose, learning (some halakhah daily and especially books of the Zohar H"K etc.), mitzvot, friends Shabbatot chagim, etc. -- can feel Gan Eden here. If he feels it here and it's real what difference "where."
    – Nissim Nanach
    Commented May 14, 2020 at 15:34
  • Interesting. I remember R' Nachman also said something similarly about ותחזינה עינינו בשובך לציון ברחמים. but gehenom is still a real place where reshaim and others are severly punished (in many cases, this lasts for eternity R"L)
    – KapinKrunch
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 3:25
  • You're right re it's also a real place; see the rest of that ref. in LM #22 where he z"l says: but it's impossible to get there due to the extreme cold in the north and south. In other discussions he's addressing the aspect of suffering in this world and in that regard Gehinom is right here on earth, plus embarrassment is even worse and even in the Future "every tzaddik will be singed [embarrassed] by this fellow's [greater] chuppah" (discussed there).
    – Nissim Nanach
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 13:35
  • See also LM Part 2 #119 -- ...הִנֵּה הַכֹּל אוֹמְרִים, שֶׁיֵּשׁ עוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְעוֹלָם הַבָּא. וְהִנֵּה עוֹלָם הַבָּא – אָנוּ מַאֲמִינִים שֶׁיֵּשׁ עוֹלָם הַבָּא, אֶפְשָׁר יֵשׁ גַּם עוֹלָם הַזֶּה גַּם־כֵּן בְּאֵיזֶה עוֹלָם, כִּי בְּכָאן נִרְאֶה שֶׁהוּא הַגֵּיהִנֹּם, כִּי כֻלָּם מְלֵאִים יִסּוּרִים גְּדוֹלִים תָּמִיד. We should ask does this world really exist, because here it looks like hell! sefaria.org/…
    – Nissim Nanach
    Commented May 15, 2020 at 13:35

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