Sanhedrin 110b — the Talmud in English

That Ishmaelite said to him:

that same Ishmaelite:

Every thirty days, Gehinnom turns them over

Gehinnom returns here, and they are

like meat inside a cauldron,

and then smoke comes out from this place,

and they say thus: Moses and his Torah are true

and they are liars.

We learned in our Mishna:

The generation of the wilderness has no share in the World to Come, and so forth.

The Sages taught: The generation of the wilderness—

has no share in the World to Come. As it is stated: “In this wilderness they shall be finished, and there they shall die.”

And thus the verse is expounded:

“They shall be finished”—

in this world; “and there they shall die”—

in the World to Come.

And it says: “

'Forty years I was disgusted with the generation, and so forth

that I swore in My anger: They shall not come into My rest.”

Thus, the Lord swore that the people of the generation of the wilderness would not come into the rest, and this means the World to Come.

These are the words of Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Eliezer says: They do come into the World to Come

. As it is stated: “Gather to Me My pious ones, those who made My covenant over sacrifice.”

And those pious ones—these are the people of the generation of the wilderness, who made a covenant with the Holy One, blessed is He, through sacrifices and peace-offerings, as it is stated: “And they slaughtered peace-offerings,” and it is stated: “And he sprinkled [the blood of the sacrifices] upon the people and said: Behold, the blood of the covenant which the Lord made with you”.

But how do I uphold “that I swore in My anger

if they shall come into My rest”?

“In My anger,”

because of My anger at that time,

I swore

that they would not come into the rest.

And

now—

I retract from it .

Rabbi Joshua ben Korchah says: This verse was stated only with regard to the later generations: “

“Gather to Me My pious ones”—these are the righteous in every generation” . “ “Those who made My covenant”—these are Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah” , who gave themselves over into the fiery furnace for the sake of the covenant of the Holy One, blessed is He.

Those who made My covenant”—these are Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who gave themselves over to the fiery furnace for the sake of the covenant of the Holy One, blessed be He.

“Upon sacrifice”—

these are Rabbi Akiva and his companions, who gave themselves over to slaughter on account of the words of Torah.

Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya says:

the generation of the wilderness

does come into the World to Come. As it is stated: “And the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with song.” “

And the redeemed of the Lord” are the generation of the wilderness, who were redeemed from Egypt.

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: Rabbi Akiva abandoned his piety

Rabbi Akiva abandoned his piety, for he was always accustomed to speak in defense of Israel [as is brought below in the Gemara]. But concerning the generation of the wilderness he did not speak in their defense; rather, he said that they have no share in the World to Come.

For from what

is stated: “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, your following Me in the wilderness, in an unsown land,”

Rabbi Akiva could have expounded that they have a share in the World to Come.

For the prophet said that the Holy One, blessed is He, would remember for Jerusalem the kindness of the ancestors, who followed Him in the wilderness.

If so,

and as for others,

the later generations,

come by their merit

of the generation of the wilderness,

they themselves

the people of the generation of the wilderness—

all the more so

that they should come to life in the World to Come?

Mishna:

The Ten Tribes

whom Sennacherib exiled [as it is stated: “And he settled them in Halah and in Habor, the river of Gozan, and the cities of Media”],

are not destined to return

from the place of their exile .

as it is stated: “And He cast them into another land, as on this day,”

for the Holy One, blessed is He, decreed upon them that they be exiled, since they abandoned His Torah . And the verse says: “As on this day.”

Just as the day—

passes and

goes and does not return

again,

so too they—

go

into exile,

and do not return. These are the words of Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Eliezer says:

thus they expound the words

“As on this day”: Just as the day—

grows dark and shines

for the day is somewhat dark in the morning and shines more at midday,

so too the Ten Tribes, for whom

now

it is dark, so it is destined to shine for them

in the future.

Gemara:

The Sages taught: The Ten Tribes have no share in the World to Come

. As it is stated: “And the Lord uprooted them from upon their soil in anger, wrath, and great indignation.”

And thus the verse is expounded:

“And the Lord uprooted them from upon their soil”—

in this world. “And He cast them into another land”—

in the World to Come. These are the words of Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Shimon ben Judah of the village of Akko says in the name of Rabbi Shimon:

thus they expound the verse “as on this day”:

If their deeds are as on this day,

for they did not repent—

they do not return. But if not,

if they repent—

they return

from the exile, and they have a share in the World to Come.

Rabbi says: They come into the World to Come. As it is stated: “On that day a great shofar shall be sounded, and so forth”

and the end of the verse is: “And those lost in the land of Assyria and those cast away in the land of Egypt shall come and bow to the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.” “Those lost in the land of Assyria” means the Ten Tribes , “those cast away in the land of Egypt” are the generation of the wilderness. And the verse says that in the future they will come and bow in Jerusalem.

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan:

In that Rabbi Akiva said that they have no share in the World to Come—

Rabbi Akiva abandoned his piety

Rabbi Akiva abandoned his piety, for he always spoke in defense of the people of Israel. For he could have learned from another verse that they return in the future and have a share in the World to Come, as

it is stated: “Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say: Return, backsliding Israel, says the Lord; I will not let My anger fall upon you, for I am gracious, says the Lord; I will not bear a grudge forever.”

Thus, all Israel is destined to return.

What is his piety

of Rabbi Akiva, which we said above that he abandoned?

For it was taught: The minor children of the wicked of Israel —

do not come into the World to Come. As it is stated: “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and all who perform wickedness shall be straw, and the coming day shall burn them, says the Lord of Hosts, which shall leave them neither root nor branch.” “

“Root and branch” are their minor children.”

And thus they expound the verse:

“Root”—

in this world.

That is, their children will die as miscarriages.

“And branch”—

that they will not come even

into the World to Come. The words of

Rabban Gamliel.

Rabbi Akiva says: They come into the World to Come.

For although their fathers were wicked, they did not sin.

As it is stated: “The Lord protects the simple”

946, for in the cities by the sea they call a child

a baby, a small child,

“petiya.”

And it says: “Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave its rootstock in the earth.”

That is, although the tree itself will be uprooted, nevertheless its roots, which are the minor children, will remain in the earth, for they have a remedy.

But how do I uphold: “It shall leave them neither root nor branch”?

That He will not leave them

the reward of

a mitzva

of a stringent mitzva,

nor

the reward of

the remnants of a mitzva

a minor mitzva, to pay them in the future. Rather, all the reward for the mitzvot they performed, He will pay them in this world, in order to drive them away from the World to Come.

Alternatively: “Root”—

this is the soul,

which sustains the body. And this is the comparison to a root, which sustains the tree.

“And branch”—

this is the body.

But the minor children of the wicked of the nations of the world—

according to the words of

all, they do not come into the World to Come .

And Rabban Gamliel

derives it from “And every memory of them shall perish,”

that even their minors have no share in the World to Come.

It was stated: A minor—when does he come into the World to Come?

They disagreed about this

Rabbi Ḥiyya and Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi.

One

of them

said: From the time he is born.

And one

of them

said: From the time he speaks

from the time he begins to speak. But if he dies before then, he has no share in the World to Come.

The one who says, From the time he is born, derives it from what is stated: “They shall come and declare His righteousness to a people born, for He has done it.”

That is, they shall declare the righteousness of the Holy One, blessed is He—from the time he is born .

And the one who says, From the time he speaks, as it is written: “A seed shall serve Him; it shall be related of the Lord to the generation.”

That is, the seed that relates it shall serve the Lord generation after generation, for he will return and live in the World to Come.

It was stated: Ravina said: From the time he is sown,

that is, from the time the seed takes hold in his mother’s womb, even if in the end his mother miscarries him and he is dissolved, he has a share in the World to Come .

For it is written: “A seed shall serve Him.”

Rabbi Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: From the time he is circumcised,

he has a share in the World to Come.

For it is written: “I am poor and dying from youth; I have borne Your fears; I am faint.”

That is, although I am poor and dying from youth, my death is significant, and it is fitting to say of me, “and he expired and was gathered,” because I merit to live in the future, like the righteous, concerning whom expiration is stated .

And from when am I considered thus? From the time I bear Your fears [Your awe] and Your dread. “I am faint” means that Your awe is settled and established in my heart [the expression “a matter spoken upon its bases”]. And this is from the time he is circumcised, for we perform the mitzva of circumcision out of awe of the Holy One, blessed is He.

It was taught in the name of Rabbi Meir: From the time the minor says

the minor

“Amen.” As it is stated: “Open the gates, and a righteous nation shall come in, preserving faithfulness.” Do not read “preserving faithfulness,” but rather “that says amen” .

And since we mentioned the matter of saying amen, the Gemara speaks about this very matter: