Understanding the Afterlife: Punishment and Redemption

Rabbi Yehuda said to Rabbi Yitzchak: The punishment for the wicked in Gehinnom lasts twelve months - six months in fire and six months in cold water, like snow...

After twelve months, when the wicked have been purged in Gehinnom, Hashem lifts them from Gehinnom after they have been purified there. Then they sit by the gates of Gehinnom, watching those entering, and they plead for mercy on their behalf. Having experienced the severity of Gehinnom's punishment, they feel compassion. By pleading for mercy to lessen others' punishment, Hashem, in turn, has mercy on them and brings them to a place where they continue their purification, enabling them to enter Gan Eden.

(Zohar, Vayera 108, Metok Midvash p. 546)

Souls Unfit for Gehinnom

The truly wicked, whose sins are too vast for Gehinnom, wander in the air of the void world until they atone enough to be eligible for reincarnation.

Afterward, their souls descend to this world again, entering a body to purify themselves anew. If they lead a righteous life, adhere to Torah, and rectify their deeds, they won’t need reincarnation. Failing this, they reincarnate for a third time, inhabiting a body in this world...

If, heaven forbid, they remain unrighteous after three lifetimes without self-correction, their souls are cut off, as in "that soul shall utterly be cut off" [Numbers 15:31].

Therefore, one must be cautious to improve their actions, lest sins necessitate another return to the world. We have evidence from Nadav and Avihu: those who die without children need reincarnation, as written in the Zohar (Acharei Mot 57a), they reincarnated as Pinchas. Being incomplete without a wife, as man and woman together form one whole, they reincarnated for completion. Additional evidence comes from the concept of Yibbum (levirate marriage), ensuring one's lineage isn’t cut off. Children from a Yibbum act as the deceased's progeny, preventing further reincarnation unless needed.

(Zohar Chadash, Ki Tetse 72b: Vol. 2, Metok Midvash p. 659-661)

Complete and Partial Wickedness

Not all wicked people are alike - some are completely wicked, others only partially.

It explains: A partially wicked person has elements of holiness and impurity within them.

Both have mixed within them, hence it is said, as in [Ecclesiastes 8:10] "I have seen the wicked buried and arriving..."

Their inner impurity and evil overpower the holiness and good, burying it and ruling over them, causing them to reincarnate to purify themselves from impurity, refining the good and holiness within, "and from a holy place they shall depart" as their roots stem from holiness.

It doesn’t refer to completely wicked, for a completely wicked person has no share in holiness at all.

(Zohar Chadash, Tikunim 134, Metok Midvash p. 531)

The Honor in Bringing Others Closer

[A person engaged in bringing others closer to spirituality, earns greater rewards than one who gives charity.] They are given seventy keys unlocking all treasures of the Creator. Then, Hashem blesses... [this person] with the same seven blessings given to Abraham [our ancestor], when correcting the souls of the wicked, as it is said "the souls they made in Haran" "I will make you a great nation and bless you." [With these keys,] they enter seventy hidden worlds where no one else has access to uncover secrets... reserved only for those who mend the souls of the wicked. [The holy Zohar proclaims]: If people knew the benefit and merit of redeeming the wicked, they would pursue them tirelessly, just as one chases after life.

(Zohar, Terumah 129, Metok Midvash p. 37-38)