Commentary for Nedarim 78:6
תשובה דכתיב (תהלים צ, ב) בטרם הרים יולדו ותחולל וגו' (תהלים צ, ג) תשב אנוש עד דכא וגו'
is already created, 'tis well: if not, let the Lord create it. But that is not so, for it was taught: Seven things were created before the world, viz., The Torah, repentance, the Garden of Eden, Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, and the name of the Messiah. The Torah, for it is written, The Lord possessed me [sc. the Torah] in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Prov. VIII, 22. ');"><sup>6</sup></span>
Ran on Nedarim
Seven items were created before the world was created -- meaning, that they entered the (God's) thought process to be created before the world was created, because the world can't stand without them. As it is stated elsewhere, that the thought of the people of Israel preceded all (in God's thoughts). And it is self-evident that the world was not created without there being a Gehinom for the wicked (an eventual place of judgement for their wickedness in this physical lifetime).
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