Avodah Zarah 3a — the Talmud in English

And we answer:

Mar said: The exemption is not for their benefit, but to their detriment, for the intention of the verse is to say: Even though they perform them, they do not receive reward

as one who performs a mitzva, since from now on they are no longer commanded to perform them. Therefore, they have no right in the World to Come to request reward for performing them.

And we object:

And

the gentiles

do not

receive reward for the mitzvot that they perform?

But it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Meir would say: From where

do we learn

that even a gentile who engages in Torah,

is like a kohen gadol? -

The verse says [

Leviticus 18]

“which a person shall perform and live through them.”

“

“The person” is stated, but

kohanim, Levites, and Israelites are not stated.

Therefore, we cannot say that the words of the verse, “and live through them” [which is the reward for engaging in Torah], are intended only for the Children of Israel, but

“the person”

is stated without qualification regarding him, “and live through them,” and it includes gentiles—

You have learned from this that even a gentile who engages in Torah—

he is like a kohen gadol.

That is, there is no distinction in receiving reward for studying Torah between the different types of people.

If so, it is difficult, for we find that the descendants of Noah receive reward for their mitzvot?

And the Gemara explains: What we answered—that they do not receive reward—does not mean that they do not receive reward at all.

Rather, it is to tell you that they do not receive reward for them like

one who is

commanded and performs,

whose reward is greater,

but like one who is not commanded

and performs,

since the Holy One, blessed is He, released the command.

And similarly,

Rabbi Hanina said: Greater is

the reward of a person

who is commanded and performs—

than

the reward of a person

who is not commanded and performs.

Rather,

Rather,

after they do not receive reward for the seven mitzvot, they come with a new claim—

And

thus

say

the gentiles

before the Holy One, blessed is He:

“Master of the Universe! Israel, who accepted it

—the Torah that lies in the lap of the Holy One, blessed is He—

where did they fulfill it?

Surely they too did not fulfill it!

The Holy One, blessed is He, said to them: I testify concerning them that they fulfilled the Torah

in its entirety!

They say before Him: Master of the Universe! Is there

whether

a father testifies concerning his son?!

For it is written [

Exodus 4], that the Holy One, blessed is He, said to Moses:

“My firstborn son is Israel.”

The Holy One, blessed is He, said to them: Let the heavens and the earth testify concerning them—

concerning the Children of Israel—

that they fulfilled the entire Torah!

They say before Him: Master of the Universe! The heavens and the earth

are disqualified from testifying, for they are

interested parties in their testimony,

from fear lest they collapse.

And the Gemara brings the exposition that the entire existence of the heavens and the earth is in the merit of the Torah that Israel fulfills—

As it is stated [

Jeremiah 33], that the Holy One, blessed is He, says:

“If not for My covenant, day and night

[My Torah, concerning which it is said: “And you shall contemplate it day and night”]—

I would not have established the statutes of heaven and earth.”

And

so

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: What is—

what is the explanation of this

that is written [

Genesis 1]:

“And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day,”

with the definite article, whereas concerning the other days of Creation it says “the fifth day,” “the fourth day”—

it teaches that the Holy One, blessed is He, made

a condition

with the work of Creation, and

thus

said: If Israel accepts the Torah—

good; but if not—

I will return you to chaos and desolation.

Therefore, at the conclusion of the work of Creation, “the sixth” is hinted at: the work of Creation remained dependent and suspended until the known “sixth,” the sixth of Sivan, which is the day of the acceptance of the Torah at Sinai.

The Gemara brings a similar exposition, and

this is what

[another version:

“and he said”]

Hezekiah said:

What is—

what is the explanation of this

that is written [

Psalms 76]:

“From heaven You made judgment heard—

the earth feared and was still,”

“You made judgment heard” means the giving of the Torah.

And it is difficult:

If it feared—

why was it still, and if it was still—

why did it fear?

Rather, at first,

before Israel received the Torah—

the earth feared,

fearing lest they not accept the Torah and it return to chaos and desolation;

but in the end,

when they accepted it and said, “We shall do and we shall hear,” \-

it was still.

If so, the nations of the world claim: How can the heavens and the earth testify? Surely they are “interested parties in their testimony”!

The Holy One, blessed is He, said to them:

We do not need another testimony, but

from you,

from among the members of your nations,

let them come and testify concerning Israel that they fulfilled the entire Torah!

Let Nimrod come—

and testify concerning Abraham that he did not worship idolatry,

for Nimrod cast him into the fiery furnace in Ur of the Chaldeans because he refused to worship idolatry.

Let Laban come—

and testify concerning Jacob that he was not suspected of theft,

as it is stated [Genesis 31]: “He searched and did not find,” and Jacob said to him, “For when you searched through all my vessels—what did you find among all the vessels of your household?” Even small vessels, which a groom living in his father-in-law’s house [and especially for a long period of twenty years] is accustomed to take with him—a small vessel [unintentionally].

Let Potiphar’s wife come—

and testify concerning Joseph that he was not suspected of the offense

of a married woman.

Up to this point, the discussion concerns our forefathers until the giving of the Torah, who did not transgress the prohibitions of idolatry, theft, and forbidden sexual relations, which are among the mitzvot of the descendants of Noah.

Let Nebuchadnezzar come,

king of Babylonia—

and testify concerning Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah that they did not bow to the image.

Let Darius come—

and testify concerning Daniel that he did not abolish

prayer.

Let Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, and Eliphaz the Temanite come

[and Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite],

the friends of Job—

and let them testify concerning Israel that they fulfilled the entire Torah.

As it is stated [

in that same verse]:

“Let them present their witnesses and be vindicated,”

and the author of the statement holds that its explanation is that the gentiles themselves will testify concerning Israel. And see on the previous page. And the conclusion of the verse is: “Let them hear and say: True!”

But now the nations of the world come with a new claim.

The nations of the world said

before Him:

“Master of the Universe! Give us

the Torah

from the beginning

now—

and we will perform it.”

The Holy One, blessed is He, said to them: Fools of the world! Whoever labored on the eve of Shabbat will eat on Shabbat.

This is a parable: Whoever fulfilled Torah and mitzvot in this world eats his reward in the World to Come. But

whoever did not labor on the eve of Shabbat, from where will he eat on Shabbat?! -

Nevertheless, even so,

although reward is not due to you,

I have one easy mitzva, and sukka is its name,

[It will be explained later why it is called “an easy mitzva”]

go and perform it,

and we will see whether you fulfill it.

And we object:

Can you really say so,

how can you say that in the World to Come there is the possibility of fulfilling mitzvot? -

But

surely

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said:

It is stated in the Torah [Deuteronomy 7]: “And you shall know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, keeping the covenant and the kindness with those who love Him and those who keep His mitzvot, for a thousand generations. And He repays those who hate Him to his face, to destroy him; He will not delay for one who hates Him—to his face He repays him. And you shall observe the mitzva and the statutes and the judgments

that I command you today, to perform them.”

And we expound:

“Today,”

in this world, is the place and the time

“to perform them,”

for the performance of the mitzvot, for which one receives reward.

“And not tomorrow,”

in the World to Come,

“to perform them.”

through accusation or coercion,

“Today” to perform them—

but not today to receive their reward.

The reward of the mitzvot is given in the World to Come, and not here.

If so, it is difficult: How is the mitzva of sukka given to them in the World to Come?

And we answer:

Rather,

although it is impossible to fulfill mitzvot in the World to Come, nevertheless He tests them with the mitzva of sukka, because

the Holy One, blessed is He, does not come with a claim

of accusation and force

against His creatures [

that is, although the Holy One, blessed is He, defeated them and they have no right to receive reward, nevertheless, so that they should not say that an injustice was done to them, He tests them].

And why does he call it

the mitzva of sukka

“an easy mitzva”?—

Because there is no

absence

of financial loss in it,

there is no monetary expense in fulfilling it.

Immediately,

when the Holy One, blessed is He, says this to them,

each and every one

of the nations

takes

wood

and goes and makes a sukka on the roof of his house,

for that was their custom.

And the Holy One, blessed is He, brings out upon them

the

sun,

that is, with great heat, like the heat of the sun

during the season of Tammuz,

which is the season of heat.

And each and every one kicks his sukka and leaves,

it.

And it is expounded from what

is stated [

Psalms 2]: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples contemplate vanity? The kings of the earth stand firm, and rulers conspire together against the Lord and against His anointed.” And this psalm was said about the Day of Judgment in the future.

And it is said there that the gentiles and the nations say:

“Let us tear off their bonds and cast away their cords from us,”

the “bonds” and the “cords” that the gentiles tear off and cast away are the mitzva of sukka, which they kick and leave on the Day of Judgment.

And we ask: Does the Holy One, blessed is He, bring out upon them the sun?!

But

surely

you said: The Holy One, blessed is He, does not come with a claim against His creatures,

so why does He now come upon them with force and accusation?