In a few words the Alter Rebbe describes the meaning of hell

We all know that hell is not a punishment, for God is only good, and at the same time the Talmud describes the fires of hell being thousands of times hotter than the sun – sounds to me a bit of an oxymoron

However the Alter Rebbe explains that within us we have desires for negative things

What if, every time you tasted say a piece of pork, you got an electric shock? suddenly not only would you not desire pork, you would actually abhor it!