43. We learned that the wicked in Gehenom all go up through certain compartments and that there are many openings to Gehenom. All the openings correspond to the openings in the Garden of Eden. When the wicked are taken out after receiving their punishments, they open the gates and put them outside. All the gates bear names corresponding to those in the Garden of Eden, and each and every gate IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN is called by a name corresponding to the RESPECTIVE gate in Gehenom. The gates in the Garden of Eden are known, gate for gate, WHICH MEANS, UPON SEEING THE KIND OF GATE IN GEHENOM, ONE IS ABLE TO KNOW THROUGH IT THE OPPOSING GATE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, WHAT KIND OF GATE IT IS.
44. The last compartment in Gehenom is the lowest. That compartment is DOUBLE, a compartment over a compartment, and is called, "A land of gloom (Heb. efatah)" (Iyov 10:22). What is gloom? It is as in, "Foursquare it shall be" (Shemot 28:16), which is 'if' in Aramaic. Here too, efatah means double. That COMPARTMENT is called the bottom of Sheol. Sheol is one UPPER compartment and the bottom is the lower compartment. Therefore it is called the lower land of gloom, and ALSO called Avadon. Hence it is written, "Sheol and Avadon" (Mishlei 27:20), WHICH ARE THE DOUBLE COMPARTMENTS, ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER. Not all compartments are double, and not all are gloomy, THAT IS, THEY ARE NOT CALLED "A LAND OF GLOOM," except for this one.
45. And we learned that whoever descends to Avadon, that is called bottom, never rises. That MAN is called a man who was destroyed and lost to all worlds. And we learned that to that place are lowered those men who despised saying Amen. Such a man is punished in Gehenom for the many Amen's that were lost to him, that he did not consider, and he is lowered to the lowest compartment, which has no opening, and he is lost and never rises from there. Hence it is written, "As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more" (Iyov 7:9). HE STATES, But no; it is written, "out of the belly of Sheol I cried and You did hear..." (Yonah 2:3), AND HE ROSE FROM THERE. It is also written, "He brings down to Sheol and brings up" (I Shmuel 2:6). AND HE ANSWERS, but this is Sheol FROM WHICH ONE ASCENDS, and there is the bottom FROM WHERE ONE DOES NOT RISE. We explained that this refers to one who repented BY DOING PENANCE, and there to one who did not.
46. Rabbi Yosi said, as for the words, "For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and have hewn them out cisterns..." (Yirmeyah 2:13), "they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters" is by not wanting to sanctify the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, with Amen. What is his punishment? It is as is written, "and have hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns," by going to Gehenom one level after another until they reach Avadon that is called bottom. If he sanctifies the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, by meditating properly on Amen, he rises, level after level, to have delight in the World to Come, that ever flows and does not cease. This is the meaning of, "for Hashem preserves the faithful, and plentifully repays him who acts haughtily" (Tehilim 31:24).