Tzoah Rotachat
Tzoah Rotachat (Hebrew: צוֹאָה רוֹתַחַת) is, according to the Talmud and the Zohar, a location in Gehinnom where the souls of people who committed certain sins are sent for everlasting punishment. The punishment is cited as being of extreme nature.
Quotes
[edit]Talmud
[edit]- See also: Jesus in the Talmud
- אֲזַל אַסְּקֵיהּ בִּנְגִידָא לְיֵשׁוּ הַנּוֹצְרִי אֲמַר לֵיהּ מַאן חֲשִׁיב בְּהָהוּא עָלְמָא אֲמַר לֵיהּ יִשְׂרָאֵל מַהוּ לְאִדַּבּוֹקֵי בְּהוּ אֲמַר לֵיהּ טוֹבָתָם דְּרוֹשׁ רָעָתָם לֹא תִּדְרוֹשׁ כׇּל הַנּוֹגֵעַ בָּהֶן כְּאִילּוּ נוֹגֵעַ בְּבָבַת עֵינוֹ אֲמַר לֵיהּ דִּינֵיהּ דְּהָהוּא גַּבְרָא בְּמַאי אֲמַר לֵיהּ בְּצוֹאָה רוֹתַחַת דְּאָמַר מָר כׇּל הַמַּלְעִיג עַל דִּבְרֵי חֲכָמִים נִידּוֹן בְּצוֹאָה רוֹתַחַת תָּא חֲזִי מָה בֵּין פּוֹשְׁעֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִנְבִיאֵי אוּמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם
- Gittin 57a:3–4
- Translation:
Onkelos then went and raised Jesus the Nazarene from the grave through necromancy. Onkelos said to him: Who is most important in that world where you are now? Jesus said to him: The Jewish people. Onkelos asked him: Should I then attach myself to them in this world? Jesus said to him: Their welfare you shall seek, their misfortune you shall not seek, for anyone who touches them is regarded as if he were touching the apple of His [God's] eye.
Onkelos said to him: What is the punishment of that man, a euphemism for Jesus himself, in the next world? Jesus said to him: He is punished with boiling excrement. As the Master said: Anyone who mocks the words of the Sages will be sentenced to boiling excrement. And this was his sin, as he mocked the words of the Sages.
Zohar
[edit]- אֲתָר אִית בְּגֵיהִנָּם, וְדַרְגִּין תַּמָּן דְּאִקְרוּן (רנ״ב ע״א, רס״ה ב׳, פנחס רנ״ח ע״א) צוֹאָה רוֹתַחַת, וְתַמָּן אִיהוּ זוּהֲמָא דְּנִשְׁמָתִין, אִינּוּן דְּמִתְלַכְלְכָן מִכָּל זוּהֲמָא דְּהַאי עָלְמָא. וּמִתְלַּבְּנָן וְסַלְּקִין, וְאִשְׁתְּאָרַת הַהוּא זוּהֲמָא תַּמָּן, וְאִינּוּן דַּרְגִּין בִּישִׁין דְּאִתְקְרוּן צוֹאָה רוֹתַחַת, אִתְמָנָן עַל הַהוּא זוּהֲמָא. וְנוֹרָא דְּגֵיהִנָּם שַׁלְטָא, בְּהַהוּא זוּהֲמָא דְּאִשְׁתְּאָרַת.
- Zohar 2:150b:8
- Translation:
- There's a place in Gehenna which has degrees called Burning Feces in which the poison of the souls that needs to be removed having been incurred in this world is removed. They are whitened and go up and the poison stays there. The bad degrees called Burning Feces absorb that poison and the fire of Gehinom rules over the extracted poison.
- וְאִית חַיָּיבִין, אִינּוּן דְּמִתְלַכְלְכָן בְּחוֹבַיְיהוּ תָּדִיר, וְלָא אִתְלַבְּנָן מִנַּיְיהוּ, וּמִיתוּ בְּלֹא תְּשׁוּבָה, וְחָטוּ וְהֶחטִיאוּ אַחֲרָנִין, וַהֲווּ קְשֵׁי קְדַל תָּדִיר, וְלָא אִתְבָּרוּ קָמֵי מָארִיהוֹן בְּהַאי עָלְמָא. אִלֵּין (וישב ק״צ ע״ב) אִתְדָּנוּ תַּמָּן בְּהַהוּא זוּהֲמָא, וּבְהַהִיא צוֹאָה רוֹתַחַת, דְּלָא נָפְקִין מִתַּמָּן לְעָלְמִין. אִינּוּן דִּמְחַבְּלִין אָרְחַיְיהוּ עַל אַרְעָא, וְלָא חַשְׁשׁוּ לִיקָרָא דְּמָארֵיהוֹן בְּהַאי עָלְמָא, כָּל אִינּוּן אִתְדָּנוּ תַּמָּן לְדָרֵי דָּרִין, וְלָא נַפְקֵי מִתַּמָּן.
- Zohar 2:150b:9
- Translation:
- There are, however, wicked people who have dirtied their souls with their sins daily and did not whiten them and died without repenting. They sin and caused others to sin and were ever stiff-necked and they were not broken before their Master in this life. They will be punished in that poison and in that Burning Feces and not leave there forever. Those who corrupted their way on the land and did not worry about the honor of their master in this life, all those are punished for eternity and will never leave.
Commentary
[edit]- Jesus is accordingly, in the following curious Talmudic legend, thought to sojourn in hell. A certain Onḳelos b. Ḳaloniḳos, son of Titus' sister, desired to embrace Judaism, and called up from hell by magic first Titus, then Balaam, and finally Jesus, who are here taken together as the worst enemies of Judaism. ... Onḳelos then asked the nature of his punishment, and was told that it was the degrading fate of those who mock the wise (Giṭ. 56b–57a).
- Joseph Jacobs, Kaufmann Kohler, Richard Gottheil and Samuel Krauss: "Jesus of Nazareth". Jewish Encyclopedia.
- Our rabbinic texts, all in the Bavli, emphasize that Jesus, the new Balaam, does not have a portion in the world to come: his fate is that he must be punished in hell forever, with no chance of redemption—and the same is true for his followers: they better give up any hope of earning eternal life in his succession, as his apostles promise.
- Peter Schäfer: Jesus in the Talmud, ch. 9, "Jesus in the Talmud", p. 111. Princeton University Press (2007). ISBN 0-691-12926-6.
