Avodah Zarah 3b (ג:) — the Talmud in English

And we answer: This is not a complaint,

because Israel

in this world

also, at times

sometimes it happens

that the season of Tammuz extends

their season of Tammuz is prolonged, meaning the days of heat,

until the festival

the festival of Sukkot,

and it becomes for them

the dwelling in the sukka

a distress,

and nevertheless they fulfill the mitzva of sukka.

And we object: Do Israel actually fulfill the mitzva of dwelling in the sukka during the hot days, when the sun is scorching?

But Rava said

that one who

is suffering

is exempt from the sukka.

And do the Children of Israel likewise leave the sukka because of the heat?

And we answer: There is a great distinction between Israel and the nations of the world. For a Jew,

although

despite the fact that one who is suffering

is exempt

from the sukka and leaves it, nevertheless,

do they kick it?

Do Israel kick and disdain the mitzva, wishing to cast off and sever themselves from the mitzvot?! On the contrary, they leave in distress, whereas the nations of the world kick the sole mitzva given to them and do not withstand the trial even for a single hour.

Immediately

when the nations of the world do this,

the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and laughs at them,

as it were—

As it is stated

in that psalm,

“He who sits in the heavens will laugh; the Lord will mock them,”

over Israel’s success in judgment.

Rabbi Yitzhak said: There is no laughter before the Holy One, blessed be He

except on that day alone.

This concludes the statement of Rabbi Hanina bar Pappa, and some say, Rabbi Shemaya, describing the Day of Judgment in the future.

There are those

among the students

who teach

who taught

this

statement

of Rabbi Yitzhak: “There is no laughter before the Holy One, blessed be He except on that day alone,”

with regard to

another beraita.

As it was taught: Rabbi Yosei says: In the future, idolaters will come and convert.

Before Rabbi Yosei finishes his statement, we object:

But do we accept converts from them?!

Will we accept converts from them in the future?!—

But it was taught

we have learned:

We do not accept converts in the messianic era

[and this is derived from what the prophet Isaiah said [54]: “The stranger who dwells with you shall fall upon you.” That is to say, only one who dwelled with Israel during their exile will fall and join them at the time of their redemption and deliverance. Other converts, however, do not convert out of recognition of the truth, but because they wish to receive reward among Israel].

Similarly

we find that

they did not accept converts either in the days of David or in the days of Solomon,

when the House of Israel dwelled securely on its land, each man under his vine and each man under his fig tree.

And we answer: Indeed, we do not accept them—

rather, they became dragged-along converts,

who converted of their own accord and came to convert when they saw Israel’s greatness.

Rabbi Yosei continues his statement: In the future, idolaters will come and convert,

and place tefillin on their heads, tefillin on their arms, ritual fringes on their garments, and a mezuzah on their doorways.

When they see the war of Gog and Magog

which the prophet Ezekiel [chapter 38] prophesied, saying that they would come to the Land of Israel to conquer it in the future, after Israel had settled on its land, —

they say

[the version of the Rashash is:

they say,

meaning the dragged-along converts]

to them,

to Gog and Magog:

Why have you come?

They say to him

[the version of the Rashash is:

to them]

Gog and Magog:

“Against the Lord and against His anointed,”

to wage war against them!

As it is stated

there:

“Why do the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vanity? The kings of the earth stand firm, and rulers conspire together, against the Lord and against His anointed.”

When the dragged-along converts see this, they think that Gog and Magog will defeat Israel, abandon the people of Israel, and regret their conversion,

and each one severs himself from his mitzva and goes away.

As it is stated

there:

“Let us sever their bonds and cast off their cords from us”—

and these are the mitzvot, which they had only just begun to fulfill.

And the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and laughs

at their foolishness,

as it is stated

there:

“He who sits in the heavens will laugh; the Lord will mock them.”

With regard to this statement of Rabbi Yosei,

Rabbi Yitzhak said: The Holy One, blessed be He, has laughter only on that day.

The Gemara challenges Rabbi Yitzhak, who said that the Holy One, blessed be He, has no laughter—

That is not so,

for is the matter really not so?

For

indeed

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: The day consists of twelve hours,

and of these

three

hours

the first—

the Holy One, blessed be He, sits,

as it were,

and engages in Torah.

Three hours

the second—

the Holy One, blessed be He,

sits

on the throne of judgment

and judges the entire world.

When He sees that the world has been found liable for annihilation—

He rises from the throne of judgment and sits on the throne of mercy .

Three hours

the third—

He sits and provides sustenance,

allotting them the sources of their livelihood,

for the entire world, from the horns of the wild oxen

[a large animal]

to the eggs of lice

[a very small creeping creature]. That is to say, from the greatest to the smallest.

Three hours

the fourth—

He sits and plays with the Leviathan, as it is stated

[Psalms 104]:

“This Leviathan that You formed to play with.”

This indicates that the Holy One, blessed be He, laughs every day?

And we answer:

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzhak said: With His creatures,

the Leviathan, the Holy One, blessed be He,

plays. And

if

over His creatures,

over the sins of His creatures,

He laughs only on that day .

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzhak answered that the Holy One, blessed be He, plays with His creatures. Rav Aḥa then asks him: Indeed, this is so while the Temple exists and there is laughter before Him; but from the day the Temple was destroyed, when there is no laughter before Him, what does the Holy One, blessed be He, do during the fourth three-hour period instead of playing with the Leviathan?

Rav Aḥa said to Rav Naḥman bar Yitzhak:

Indeed,

from the day the Temple was destroyed, there is no laughter before the Holy One, blessed be He—

Before he completes his question, the Gemara discusses it:

And from where do we know

from where do we know

that there is no laughter

before the Holy One, blessed be He, from the day the Temple was destroyed—

If you say

that it is derived

from

the verse

that is written

[Isaiah 22]: The prophet Isaiah, in his prophecy concerning the destruction of the Temple, says:

“And the Lord, God of Hosts, called on that day for weeping and mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth,”

and from this we learn that there has been no laughter before the Holy One, blessed be He, since the day the Temple was destroyed—

There is no proof from this verse, because—

Perhaps

it is possible that only

on that day

on the day the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed be He, called for weeping and mourning,

and no more,

and afterward there was no further weeping and mourning before Him?

Rather,

perhaps you will say that we learn it from this verse,

as it is written

[Psalms 137], where the Children of Israel said in their exile in Babylonia: “How shall we sing the song of the Lord on foreign soil?

If I forget you, Jerusalem—

may my right hand forget its skill! May my tongue cleave to my palate—

if I do not remember you!”

Here too there is no proof from this verse, because—

Perhaps,

it is possible that only

forgetfulness is absent,

that Jerusalem is not forgotten, but

there is laughter, at least,

before Him?

Rather,

we learn it

from here,

from this verse [Isaiah 42], where the Holy One, blessed be He, says:

“I have been silent from of old; I have kept still

[for many days I have been silent and quiet concerning the destruction of the Temple],

I have restrained Myself

[I have strengthened Myself to suppress My anger].” This shows that the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry and silent over the destruction of the Temple, and certainly does not laugh.

And now, when He does not play with the Leviathan, Rav Aḥa asks:

In

the three hours

of the fourth period—

what does He do?

And we conclude:

He sits and teaches Torah to the children of the house of Rabban

the

Torah.

That is, the souls of the Children of Israel who died while they were young and did not have time to study Torah in this world.

As it is stated [Isaiah 28]:

“Whom shall He teach knowledge, and whom shall He make understand the message?—

Those weaned from milk, taken from the breasts.”

And we expound:

To whom shall He teach

the Holy One, blessed be He,

knowledge, and whom shall He make understand the message?—

Those weaned from milk,

who were weaned from their mother’s milk, meaning those who died while they were young,

and those taken from the breasts,

who were taken from their mother’s breasts and removed to their eternal world.

The Gemara discusses:

But initially,

before this, while the Temple existed,

who taught them Torah, since at that time the Holy One, blessed be He, sat and played with His creatures?

Torah? For at that time the Holy One, blessed be He, was sitting and playing with His creatures.

If you wish, say: Metatron

[whose name is like the name of his Master].

And if you wish, say: He did both.

The Holy One, blessed be He, does both: He teaches children and plays with His creatures.

The Gemara discusses:

Thus far we have learned what the Holy One, blessed be He, engages in during the daytime, but

at night,

during the nighttime hours,

what does He do?

If you wish, say

that at night He engages

in something similar to the daytime

in what He engages during the day. The night, too, is divided into four periods, each of three hours.

And if you wish, say:

the Holy One, blessed be He,

rides

at night

upon His light cherub and sails through eighteen thousand worlds—

As it is stated

[Psalms 68]:

“The chariots of God are myriads—

thousands of altered ones.”

And we expound:

Do not read “shanan”— \-

but rather, “that are not.”

That is, the myriads are lacking two thousand, making eighteen thousand.

And if you wish, say:

the Holy One, blessed be He,

sits

at night

and hears song from the Holy Creatures

of the sacred chayot—

As it is stated

[Psalms 42]:

“By day the Lord commands His kindness—

and at night, His song is with me.”

And we expound: By day the Lord commands His kindness, meaning that He judges the world, provides sustenance for His creatures, and teaches Torah to the children of the house of Rabban; whereas at night, the song is “His” from the chayot, and “with me,” with King David, who occupied himself throughout the night with songs, praises, and Torah.

In continuation of the subject, the Gemara brings a statement of Rabbi Levi:

Rav Levi said: Anyone who interrupts

who stops

his Torah study and engages in idle conversation

of no purpose—

they feed him coals of broom

[a type of wood whose coal is extremely hot]—

As it is stated

[Job 30]:

“They pluck saltwort among the bushes, and the root of broom is their food.”

And we expound: “They pluck saltwort,” removing themselves from engagement in Torah, which is “moist speech” [words of substance that gladden the heart], “among the bushes,” in order to speak idle words—“the root of broom is their food,” their bread will be the root of broom.

Reish Lakish said: Anyone who engages in Torah at night, the Holy One, blessed be He, draws a thread of grace over him,

granting him favor in the eyes of people,

during the day.

As it is stated

[there],

“By day the Lord commands His kindness, and at night

His song is with me.”

And we expound:

Why does the Lord command His kindness during the day,

and what is this thread of grace?—

Because at night His song

the song of Torah is

with me.

There are those who say,

there is one who transmitted this teaching in a different version:

Reish Lakish said: Anyone who engages in Torah in this world, which is likened to night, the Holy One, blessed be He, draws a thread of grace over him in the World to Come, which is likened to day. As it is stated: “By day the Lord commands His kindness, and at night His song is with me.”

The Gemara brings another statement concerning the importance of Torah study and the disgrace of those who interrupt it.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: What

is the meaning of

that which is written

[Habakkuk 1]:

“You make man like the fish of the sea, like creeping creatures that have no ruler over them”—

Why are human beings likened to the fish of the sea?

To tell you: Just as the fish in the sea, once they come up onto dry land—

they immediately die, so too human beings, once they withdraw from words of Torah and from the mitzvot—

immediately

die.

Alternatively:

Why are human beings likened to the fish of the sea? To tell you:

Just as the fish in the sea, once the sun beats down upon them

the heat of the sun—

immediately die, so too human beings, once the sun beats down upon them—

immediately die.

And the explanation is:

If you wish, say,

if you wish, interpret this statement as referring to natural death

in this world; and if you wish, say: In the World to Come.

And the Gemara explains:

If you wish, say: In this world, as

in the manner

that

said

Rabbi Hanina—

For Rabbi Hanina said: Everything,

all events, ailments, and pains that befall a person, are

in the hands of Heaven,

by decree from Heaven, and a person cannot keep them away from himself—

except chills and fevers,

cold and heat, meaning illnesses caused by catching cold or excessive heating, which a person brings upon himself and from which he could have guarded himself.

As it is stated

[Proverbs 22]:

“There are chills and snares on a crooked path;

he who guards his soul will keep far from them,”

indicating that it is possible to keep away from them.

And this is the explanation of Rav Yehuda’s statement in the name of Shmuel: Once the sun grew hot over people, and they could have protected themselves from it but did not, they immediately died.

Alternatively, it refers to the World to Come,

its meaning is

as Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish [said].

As Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: There is no Gehinnom in the future,

the wicked will not be judged in Gehinnom,

but

by this judgment:

the Holy One, blessed be He, removes the sun from its sheath [

This is a metaphor, as though the sun had a sheath, and on a scorching day the Holy One, blessed be He, removes it from its sheath],

and intensifies its heat,

making the sun’s heat exceedingly intense.

The wicked—

are judged by it

by the sun,

and

whereas

the righteous are healed by it —