Rosh Hashanah 17a (יז.) — the Talmud in English

And they chirp.

They cry out and weep from their afflictions for one hour,

and they ascend.

As it is stated

[Zechariah 13]:

“And I will bring the

[group]

third into the fire, and I will refine them as one refines silver, and I will test them as one tests gold.

He,

the intermediate person who descended to Gehenna,

“will call in My name, and I will answer him.”

And concerning them,

the intermediate people,

Hannah said

in her prayer [I Samuel 2]:

“The Lord kills and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and

afterward

raises up”

[He brings them up].

Beit Hillel say:

The intermediate people do not descend to Gehenna even for one hour. As it is stated:

“And abundant in kindness,”

the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is abundant in kindness,

inclines

the pan of the scales

toward kindness.

And concerning them David said

the psalm [Psalms 116]:

“I love, for the Lord hears my voice.”

It is stated there: “The cords of death encompassed me,” for the intermediate person has half sins and the cords of death encompass him.

And concerning them,

those intermediate people,

David said

the continuation of

the entire passage,

as it is stated there:

“I became poor

when I was poor in mitzvot; then

and He saved me,”

for the Holy One, blessed be He, saves me by inclining the scale toward kindness.

And the beraita details several types of wicked people and their future judgment:

a.

Sinners of Israel

who sinned

with their bodies

[below it will be explained which sins are meant],

and

likewise

sinners of the nations of the world

who sinned

with their bodies—

they

descend to Gehenna and are judged there for twelve months.

And

after twelve months their bodies are consumed, their souls are burned, and the wind scatters them,

scattering their ashes,

and they become dust beneath the soles of the feet of

the

righteous.

As it is stated

[Malachi 3]:

“And you shall trample the wicked

you shall crush and pulverize the wicked,

for they shall be ashes beneath the soles of your feet.”

b.

But the heretics,

the Sadducees and Boethusians, who distorted the intent of the verses for the worse;

and the informers,

those who inform against Israel and deliver their money to gentiles;

and the Epicureans,

those who treat Torah scholars with contempt;

and the people

who denied the Torah,

who say that the Torah is not from Heaven;

and

the people

who denied the resurrection of the dead;

and

the people

who separated themselves from the ways of the community,

from the ways of Israel [see Rashi regarding the textual version];

and

the people

who instilled their terror in the land of the living,

as will be explained below what this refers to;

and

the people

who sinned and caused the masses to sin, such as Jeroboam son of Nebat and his associates,

who prevented Israel from ascending to the Temple and caused them to engage in idolatry—

all these

descend to Gehenna and are judged there for generations upon generations.

As it is stated

[Isaiah 66]:

“And they shall go out

[the nations who will come to bow before the Lord in the future; they will leave Jerusalem for the Valley of Jehoshaphat]

and look upon the corpses of the people who rebelled against Me.

For their worm shall not die [ever], and their fire shall not be quenched [ever], and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

For even when the punishment of

Gehenna ends

for these wicked people, only the punishment of Gehenna itself ends,

but

if

they,

they themselves,

do not end,

but continue to weaken from their afflictions.

As it is stated

[Psalms 49]:

“And their form,

and their form is destined

to wear away

the

Sheol.”

And why are they punished

so severely?

Because they stretched out their hands against the Abode.

For through their sins they caused the Temple to be destroyed, as

is stated

at the end of the verse: “And their form shall wear away Sheol

from the Abode for him.”

And “Abode” means only the Temple.

As it is stated

[I Kings 8], in Solomon’s words at the dedication of the Temple:

“I have surely built a house of abode for You.”

And concerning them,

all these wicked people,

Hannah said

in her song [I Samuel 2]:

“The Lord, those who contend with Him shall be broken

[they shall fear]

.”

For these wicked people are the adversaries of the Holy One, blessed be He, since they caused the Temple to be destroyed. And concerning them it is stated earlier in the verse: “But the wicked shall be silent in darkness.”

Rabbi Yitzḥak bar Avin said: And their faces

of those wicked people

resemble the bottom of a pot,

which is black from the fire.

And Rava said: And they,

those wicked people, are

the very finest of the fine sons of Meḥoza,

among the most pampered and well-fed people of Meḥoza [Rava’s city],

and they will be called,

and they are destined to be called

“the sons of Gehenna.”

And the Gemara explains the words of the aforementioned beraita:

The Master said

in the beraita:

Beit Hillel say:

The intermediate people do not descend to Gehenna even for one hour. As it is stated:

“And abundant in kindness,”

the Holy One, blessed be He,

inclines

the judgment

toward kindness,

and does not bring them down to Gehenna at all.

And we raise an objection:

But it is written

[Zechariah 13]:

“And I will bring the

[group]

third into the fire.”

And Beit Shammai interpreted the verse as referring to the intermediate people!

Thus it is explicitly stated in the verse that the intermediate people are judged in the fire of Gehenna!

And we answer: According to Beit Hillel,

there,

that verse speaks

of sinners of Israel with their bodies,

and not of the intermediate people.

And we raise an objection:

But you said

in the beraita that sinners of Israel with their bodies

do not have

they have no

remedy at all, for they become ashes beneath the soles of the feet of the righteous. Yet this verse says, “I will refine them as one refines silver,” implying that their afflictions will cleanse their sins and they will emerge from Gehenna!

And we answer:

When we say that they do not have a remedy,

all that we said—that they have no remedy—was speaking only

of

sinners of Israel with their bodies who have

a majority of sins

[more sins than merits].

But

here,

in this verse, it is speaking of people who have

half sins and half merits, and among them there is also

and included among the half of sins is also

the sin of “sinners of Israel with their bodies.”

And although those people have half merits, their judgment differs from that of the other intermediate people, and

it is not sufficient for him,

they are not atoned for as long as

he does not,

until the verse is fulfilled for them:

“And I will bring the third into the fire,”

that they descend to Gehenna for one hour.

But

if not,

if there is no sin of “sinners of Israel with their bodies” among that half of sins, then it is stated:

“And abundant in kindness,”

for the Holy One, blessed be He,

inclines

their judgment

toward kindness,

and they do not descend to Gehenna at all.

And concerning them David said, “I love, for the Lord hears.”

Rava expounded: What is the meaning of that which is written, “I love, for the Lord hears”—

Thus

the Assembly of Israel said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe! When am I beloved before You?

When You hear

my

voice of supplication.

“I became poor, and He saved me”—

even though I am poor in mitzvot,

nevertheless

it is fitting for me that You save me.

We learned in a beraita: Sinners of the children of Israel with their bodies.

And we inquire about it:

Sinners of the children of Israel with their bodies—

what does this mean,

who are they?

Rav said:

This refers to

a skull that has never put on phylacteries.

A person who never put phylacteries on his head, not even

once.

Sinners of the nations of the world with their bodies

[as we learned in the beraita]—what are they?

Rav said: Through sexual transgression—

through licentiousness.

And those who instilled their terror in the land of the living—

who are they?

Rav Ḥisda said: This is a communal leader who imposes excessive fear upon the community,

more than necessary,

not for the sake of Heaven.

And since we have spoken of a communal leader who imposes excessive fear upon the community not for the sake of Heaven, the Gemara adds and discusses his matter:

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: Any communal leader who imposes excessive fear upon the community not for the sake of Heaven will not see a son who is a Torah scholar.

As it is stated

[Job 37]:

“Therefore people fear him

[if people fear him, then]

he does not see any

[sons]

who are wise of heart.”

We learned in a beraita:

Beit Hillel say: “And abundant in kindness,”

the Holy One, blessed be He,

inclines

the judgment of the intermediate people

toward kindness.

And we inquire about it:

How does He act!?

How does the Holy One, blessed be He, incline the judgment toward kindness?

Rabbi Eliezer says: He suppresses it,

He presses the pan of the scales of merits downward and tips the scales in favor.

As it is stated: “He will again have compassion upon us; He will suppress our iniquities.”

Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina said: He lifts,

He raises the pan of the scale of liability upward and tips the scales in favor.

As it is stated: “Bearing iniquity and passing over transgression.”

And how does the Holy One, blessed be He, do this?

The tanna of the school of Rabbi Yishmael:

At the beginning of the counting of the sins and merits, the Holy One, blessed be He,

removes

[snatches away] the

first

sin

first

that passes before Him.

For if the person was at the level of an intermediate person, and at the beginning of weighing the merits and sins they were equal, half and half, then by removing the first sin from the pan of the scales through the Holy One, blessed be He, the pan of merit tips his judgment toward merit.

And this is the measure!

This is the practice [always].

Rava said: And

although the Holy One, blessed be He, always removes the first sin, nevertheless the

sin

first

itself is not erased

completely, but is set aside.

And there is a practical difference:

if there is

ultimately, even after the first sin has been removed,

a majority of sins.

That is, the pan of merit did not tip the scales, but remained balanced with the pan of liability. It follows that from the outset he had a majority of sins, and therefore the first sin

counts along with them!

Since removing the first sin did not benefit him in being found meritorious in judgment, from then on the sin that was removed is also taken into account and is added to the pan of the scales together with the other sins; it tips the scales toward liability, and he is judged together with the completely wicked.

Rava said: Anyone

who

forgoes his measures,

who overcomes his anger and relinquishes it, and does not insist upon exact retribution from those who distress him, to repay them measure for measure, then

they forgo

in Heaven

all his transgressions.

For the attribute of strict justice does not scrutinize all his transgressions, but leaves them and proceeds.

As it is stated

[Micah 7]:

“Bearing iniquity and passing over transgression.”

That is to say:

For whom

the Holy One, blessed be He,

bears

[forgives]

iniquity?

For one who passes over

the

transgression

that people commit against him.

And the Gemara brings proof that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not scrutinize one who forgoes his measures:

Rav Huna, son of Rabbi Yehoshua, fell ill,

he became ill.

Rav Pappa came to inquire after him,

Rav Pappa entered to ask about his welfare.

He saw that the world was pressing upon him,

and saw that he was about to die.

He said to them

[to those standing there]:

“Prepare provisions for him,”

prepare provisions for the journey—that is, shrouds.

In the end he recovered,

Rav Huna, son of Rabbi Yehoshua, ultimately became healthy.

Rav Pappa was embarrassed to see him,

because he had said to prepare his burial needs.

They said to him,

they asked Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua:

“What did you see?”

What did you see while you were ill?

He said to them: “Indeed, that is what happened.”

It was as Rav Pappa thought, that I was going to die; that is what happened, for death had been decreed upon me.

And the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them

to the heavenly court:

“Since he does not stand upon his rights,”

since he does not insist upon exact retribution, but forgoes those who harm him—

“do not stand against him,”

do not scrutinize him in judgment.

As it is stated

[Micah 7]:

“Bearing iniquity and passing over transgression.”

For whom

the Holy One, blessed be He,

bears iniquity?

For one who passes over transgression!

And it is stated later in the verse: “[Bearing iniquity and passing over transgression]

for the remnant of His inheritance.”

Rabbi Aḥa bar Ḥanina said:

This verse is a parable for

a thorn

in a

fig.

That is, there is a word of consolation in the verse: The Holy One, blessed be He, bears iniquity and passes over transgression [and this is like the fig], but within that consolation there is a difficult point: The Holy One, blessed be He, bears iniquity only

“for the remnant of His inheritance, and not for all of His inheritance.”