Sanhedrin 99a

סנהדרין צ״ט ע״א

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Topic

The days of משיח, the hidden reward of עולם הבא, and denying תורה מן השמים

Overview

The amud opens with a story: a מין asks רבי אבהו when משיח will come. רבי אבהו answers with a פסוק in ישעיהו about darkness for the nations and light for ישראל. Next comes a long list of opinions on how long ימות המשיח will last. They range from forty years to seven thousand years, and even to as long as all of history. Along the way, רב יוסף rejects רבי הילל's view that there is no future משיח. רבי יוחנן then teaches that the נביאים' promises describe ימות המשיח, בעלי תשובה, and those who support תלמידי חכמים. The greater reward, 'עין לא ראתה', is hidden, and the גמרא discusses what that reward is. Then the גמרא returns to the משנה: one who denies תורה מן השמים has no share in עולם הבא. It brings many readings of 'כי דבר ה׳ בזה', ending with sayings about reviewing one's learning. רבי עקיבא's teaching begins at the end and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (45)

1. ProofA heretic asks רבי אבהו when משיח will come
2. ChallengeThe heretic protests that he is being cursed
3. Resolutionרבי אבהו shows his answer comes from a פסוק
4. Statementרבי אליעזר: the days of משיח last forty years
5. Statementרבי אלעזר בן עזריה: seventy years
6. Statementרבי: three generations
7. Statementרבי הילל: there is no future משיח
8. Rejectionרב יוסף rejects רבי הילל using זכריה's prophecy
9. StatementAnother source for forty years: the desert and the days of suffering
10. StatementFour hundred years: matching the suffering in מצרים
11. Statement365 years, like the days of the solar year
12. QuestionWhat does 'a day of vengeance is in My heart' mean?
13. Responseרבי יוחנן: told to My heart, not to My limbs
14. Responseריש לקיש: told to My heart, not to the angels
15. Statementאבימי: ימות המשיח last seven thousand years
16. Statementשמואל: as long as from creation until now
17. Statementרב נחמן בר יצחק: as long as from נח until now
18. Statementרבי יוחנן: the נביאים only spoke about ימות המשיח
19. StatementThis argues with שמואל, who says only foreign rule will end
20. StatementThe prophets spoke about penitents; the reward of the fully righteous is beyond description
21. Statementרב: penitents stand where the righteous cannot
22. ProofHow the verse shows the penitent comes first
23. Rejectionרבי יוחנן reads 'far' and 'near' the other way
24. StatementSupporters of Torah scholars and the scholars themselves
25. QuestionWhat is the hidden reward 'no eye has seen'?
26. ResponseWine kept in its grapes since creation
27. Responseריש לקיש: it is עדן, which no eye ever saw
28. Resolutionאדם lived in the גן, not in עדן itself
29. ProofA פסוק shows the גן and עדן are two places
30. StatementThe משנה's next case: denying that the Torah is from heaven
31. ProofThe verse behind the ruling: 'he despised the word of God'
32. StatementAnother reading: the פסוק is about an אפיקורוס
33. StatementA third reading: twisting the Torah, undoing circumcision, and the double 'cut off'
34. Statementרבי אלעזר המודעי's list of five who lose עולם הבא
35. StatementDenying even one verse counts as denying the Torah
36. StatementEven denying one rule learned from the text counts
37. Statementרבי מאיר: one who learns but does not teach
38. Statementרבי נתן: one who does not pay attention to the משנה
39. Statementרבי נהוראי: one who could learn תורה but does not
40. Statementרבי ישמעאל: the verse refers to an idol worshipper
41. QuestionWhere in the verse is this seen?
42. ResponseThe 'word of God' is the first statement at סיני
43. StatementLearning without reviewing is like sowing without reaping
44. StatementForgetting one's learning is like burying a newborn
45. Statementרבי עקיבא's teaching begins