Avodah Zarah Daf 3 עבודה זרח דַף 3

After the nations are told they did not even keep the שבע מצות בני נח, they ask if Klal Yisroel did keep the Torah, and Hashem replies: אני מעיד בהם שקיימו את התורה [כולה] – “I will testify about them that they kept the entire Torah.” The nations then protest: “Ribbono Shel Olam, כלום יש אב שמעיד על בנו – is there a father that can testify for his son?” Hashem then says that heaven and earth will testify. To this, the nations protest that heaven and earth have a vested interest in their testimony (and are invalid witnesses), because the world’s existence is conditional on Yisroel’s accepting the Torah, as the passuk says: אם לא בריתי יומם ולילה חוקות שמים וארץ לא שמתי – if not for My covenant of day and night, I would not have established the laws of heaven and earth (two more sources are quoted).

Therefore, Hashem tells the nations: מכם יבאו ויעידו בהן בישראל – “From among yourselves [witnesses] will come and testify about Yisroel that they kept the entire Torah! Let Nimrod testify that Avraham did not worship idolatry, let לבן testify that Yaakov was not guilty of theft, and let פוטיפר’s wife testify that Yosef was not guilty of sin!” [Several other examples are listed]

The nations then say, “Give us the Torah now and we will keep it.” Hashem replies: “Fools of the world! מי שטרח בערב שבת יאכל בשבת – He who prepared on Erev Shabbos will eat on Shabbos; but he who did not prepare on Erev Shabbos, from where will he eat on Shabbos?! Even so, מצוה קלה יש לי וסוכה שמה – I have an easy (i.e., inexpensive) mitzvah, and its name is ‘succah’ Go and perform it.” The Gemara objects that mitzvos can no longer be performed in the Next World, and answers that Hashem does not come בטרוניא – with excuses against His creations, and gives them another chance.

The nations will immediately construct succahs on their rooftops, and Hashem will make the summer sun blaze down upon them, whereupon each gentile will kick his succah and leave it. The Jews also occasionally experience intense heat on Succos, and although such discomfort exempts one from the mitzvah, does he kick his succah when leaving it?! Hashem will laugh at them, which is the only day Hashem laughs.

Shmuel quoted the passuk: ותעשה אדם כדגי הים – You made man like the fish of the sea, and asked why man is compared to fish. This teaches that just as the fish of the sea, כיון שעולין ליבשה מיד מתים – as soon as they go up on dry land, they immediately die, so too, with man, כיון שפורשין מדברי תורה ומן המצות מיד מתים – as soon as they separate themselves from Torah and mitzvos, they spiritually die.

Alternatively, it teaches that just as the fish of the sea, כיון שקדרה עליהם חמה מיד מתים – as soon as the sun shines upon them, they die, so too with man, as soon as the sun shines upon them, they die. This can refer to this world, as Rebbe Chanina said: הכל בידי שמים – all types of suffering are in the hands of Heaven, חוץ מצנים פחים – except for those caused by cold and heat. Or, it can refer to עולם הבא, as Reish Lakish said that there is no Gehinnom לעתיד לבא; rather, הקדוש ברוך הוא מוציא חמה מנרתיקה ומקדיר – Hashem will remove the sun from its sheath, and it will shine forth with undiminished strength. רשעים נידונין בה – The wicked will be judged (i.e., suffer) through it, וצדיקים מתרפאין בה – and the righteous will be healed through it.