In Jewish tradition, the traditional maximum period of punishment in Gehinnom for most souls is twelve months. This teaching appears in rabbinic discussions of the afterlife and helps explain why some Jewish mourning practices are limited to a year.
Gehinnom, also spelled Gehenna, takes its name from the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem. Biblical texts associate that valley with practices condemned by the Israelite prophets. Rabbinic Judaism later developed Gehinnom as a place or process of judgment and purification after death.
The teaching is not a simple universal rule for every person. Rabbinic sources describe exceptions, including especially wicked figures who may face a different judgment. Gehinnom is therefore often compared with purgatory, but the concepts are not identical. Jewish thought also places strong emphasis on repentance, ethical conduct, and the world to come rather than on a single standardized map of the afterlife.