@sushe – “Why would destruction of the soul be a greater punishment than eternal gehenim?”
If I remember correctly (didn’t read it for 2-3 years), the Ramchal explains that in fact that is the most severe punishment of all. One who gets eternal torture can still hope that at some point it will end. The worst punishment is to simply be gone, completely destroyed, gone.
It’s also a nice example of why revenge is a bad thing. You think of revenge. Now, granted, if I would have gotten the chance to see Hitler alive, I doubt *I* wouldn’t practice the worst possible types of revenge (I won’t describe what since I’d probably get banned for foul language). But still, according to our beliefs, revenge is a bad thing.
Gehinnom as we know it for us (up to a year) is to cleanse our souls from our aveiros, so that afterwards we are clean. It is *not* revenge – it is a just and fair punishment for the aveiros committed in our current lifes. Hashem doesn’t make any Jew go to gehinnom for revenge.
So, why should it be any different for goyim? As the Ramchal says, only the best of the goyim get any sort of olam habo at all (being our assistants and pupils then). The rest of goyim are simply destroyed.
I think I’m pretty much on track here – I’m quite confident of what I’m saying.