Sanhedrin 110b (קי:) — the Talmud in English

He said to him

that Ishmaelite:

Every thirty days, Gehenna turns them over

[Gehenna returns here], and they are

like meat in a cauldron,

and then smoke emerges from this place,

and they say: 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, etc.

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 consumed, and there they shall die.”

And this is how the verse is expounded:

“They shall be consumed”—

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

in the World-to-Come.

And it says: “

I was angry with that generation for forty years, etc.”

“That I swore in My anger: They shall never enter My resting place.”

Thus, God swore that the members of the generation of the wilderness would not enter the place of rest, meaning the World-to-Come.

This is the statement of Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Eliezer says: They do enter the World-to-Come

as it is stated: “Gather to Me My pious ones, those who have made My covenant through sacrifice.”

And those pious ones are the members of the generation of the wilderness, who made a covenant with the Holy One, blessed be He, through sacrifices and peace-offerings, as it is stated: “And they sacrificed 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 that the Lord has made with you.”

But how do I understand the verse: “That I swore in My anger

that they would not enter My resting place”?

“In My anger,”

in the midst of My anger at that time,

I swore

that they would not enter the place of rest.

And

now

I retract .

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa says: This verse was stated only with regard to future generations: “

Gather to Me My pious ones”—these are the righteous in every generation . “

Those who have 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.

“Through sacrifice”—

these are Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues, who gave themselves over to slaughter for the sake of the words of Torah.

Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya says:

The generation of the wilderness

does enter the World-to-Come, as it is stated: “And the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with song.” “

The redeemed of the Lord” refers to the generation of the wilderness, which was redeemed from Egypt.

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

[he abandoned Rabbi Akiva’s piety], for he was always accustomed to speak in defense of Israel [as brought below in the Gemara]. But with regard to 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 bridal days, when you followed 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 be He, would remember Jerusalem for the kindness of her ancestors, who followed Him in the wilderness.

If so,

how much more so others,

the later generations,

come by virtue of them,

the generation of the wilderness;

they themselves

[the members of the generation of the wilderness]—

all the more so

should enter eternal life?

Mishna:

The ten tribes

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

are destined not to return

from the place of their exile .

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

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

Just as the day—

passes and

goes on and does not return

again,

so too they—

go

into exile

and do not return. This is the statement of Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Eliezer says:

This is how they expound the words

“as on this day”: Just as the day—

grows dark and grows light

[for the day is somewhat dark in the morning and becomes more illuminated at midday ],

so too the ten tribes, whose

present

darkness will ultimately become light 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 land in anger, in wrath, and in great fury.”

And this is how the verse is expounded:

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

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

in the World-to-Come. This is the statement of Rabbi Akiva.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda of Kfar Akko says in the name of Rabbi Shimon:

This is how they expound the verse “as on this day”:

If their deeds are like this day,

if they have not repented—

they will not return. But if not,

if they repent—

they will return

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

Rabbi says: They do enter the World-to-Come, as it is stated: “On that day a great shofar shall be sounded, etc.”

[And the continuation of the verse is: “And they shall come, those lost in the land of Assyria and those cast away in the land of Egypt, and they shall bow to the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.”] “Those lost in the land of Assyria” refers to the ten tribes , while “those cast away in the land of Egypt” refers to 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:

With regard to Rabbi Akiva’s statement 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 Israel]. For he could have learned from another verse that they will 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, rebellious Israel, says the Lord; I will not frown upon you, for I am gracious, says the Lord; I will not bear a grudge forever.”

Thus, all Israel are destined to return.

What is his piety

that we said above that Rabbi Akiva abandoned?

As it was taught: The young children of the wicked of Israel —

do not enter the World-to-Come, as it is stated: “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and all who commit wickedness shall be straw, and the coming day shall burn them, says the Lord of Hosts, leaving them neither root nor branch.” “

Root and branch” refers to the young children of the wicked.

And this is how they expound the verse:

“Root”—

in this world.

That is, their children will die as stillbirths.

“And branch”—

so that they will not even come

to the World-to-Come. The statement of

Rabban Gamliel.

Rabbi Akiva says: They do enter the World-to-Come.

Although their fathers were wicked, they themselves did not sin.

As it is stated: “He preserves the simple.”

For in the cities by the sea they call a young child 946,

[a baby, a small child]

“peta.”

And it says: “The tree was cut down and its branches were severed, but leave its stump and its roots in the earth.”

That is, although the tree itself is uprooted, nevertheless its roots, which are the young children, remain in the earth. They have a remedy.

But how do I understand: “Leaving them neither root nor branch”?

So that He will leave them neither

reward for a

major mitzva

nor

the

reward for

a minor mitzva

[a lesser mitzva], to pay them in the future. Rather, all reward for mitzvot that 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. This is analogous to a root, which supports the tree.

“And branch”—

this is the body.

But with regard to the young children of the wicked of the nations of the world—

the statement of

everyone is that they do not enter the World-to-Come .

And Rabban Gamliel

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

for even their young children have no share in the World-to-Come.

It was stated: From when does a minor enter the World-to-Come?

They disagreed about this

Rabbi Ḥiyya and Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi.

One

[of them]

said: From the moment he is born.

And one

of them

said: From the moment he begins to speak

[from the time he begins to talk]. But if he dies before then, he has no share in the World-to-Come.

The one who says: From the moment he is born, as it is stated:

“They shall come and declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born, that He has done this.”

That is, they will declare the righteousness of the Holy One, blessed be He—from the moment he is born . And the one who says: From the moment he begins to speak, as it is written:

“A seed shall serve Him; it shall be told of the Lord to the generation.”

That is, the seed that tells will serve the Lord from generation to generation, and he will return and live in the World-to-Come.

It was stated: Ravina said: From the moment he is conceived,

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

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

he has a share in the World-to-Come.

As it is written: “I am poor and dying from youth; I have borne Your terrors; I am bewildered.”

That is, although I am poor and dying from youth, my death is significant, and it is appropriate to say of me, “He expired and was gathered,” because I merit living in the future, like the righteous of whom expiration is mentioned .

And from when am I considered this way—from the moment I bear Your awe [Your fear] and dread. “I am bewildered” means that Your awe is settled and firmly established in my heart [the expression “a matter spoken in its proper order”]. That is from the time he is circumcised, for we fulfill the mitzva of circumcision out of awe of the Holy One, blessed be He.

It was taught in the name of Rabbi Meir: From the moment he says

the minor

Amen. As it is stated: “Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter.” Do not read “that keeps faith,” but rather “that says amen” .

And since the matter of saying amen has been mentioned, the Gemara discusses this very subject: