Then said God to the Angel of Hell, "Go and show hell unto Moses, and
how the wicked are treated there." Immediately he went with Moses,
walking before him like a pupil before his master, and thus they
entered hell together, and Moses saw men undergoing torture by the
Angels of Destruction: some of the sinners were suspended by their
eyelids, some by their ears, some by their hands, and some by their
tongues, and they cried bitterly. And women were suspended by their
hair and by their breasts, and in other ways, all on chains of fire.
Nasargiel explained: "These hang by their eyes, because they looked
lustfully upon the wives of their neighbors, and with a covetous eye
upon the possessions of their fellow-men. These hang by their ears
because they listened to empty and vain speech, and turned their ear
away from hearing the Torah. These hang by their tongues, because they
talked slander, and accustomed their tongue to foolish babbling. These
hang by their feet, because they walked with them in order to spy upon
their fellow-men, but they walked not to the synagogue, to offer prayer
unto their Creator. These hang by their hands, because with them they
robbed their neighbors of their possessions, and committed murder.
These women hang by their hair and their breasts, because they
uncovered them in the presence of young men, so that they conceived
desire unto them, and fell into sin."
Moses heard hell cry with a loud and a bitter cry, saying to Nasargiel:
"Give me something to eat, I am hungry."— Nasargiel: "What shall I give
thee?"—Hell: "Give me the souls of the pious."—Nasargiel: "The Holy
One, blessed be He, will not deliver the souls of the pious unto thee."
Moses saw the place called Alukah, where sinners were suspended by
their feet, their heads downward, and their bodies covered with black
worms, each five hundred parasangs long. They lamented, and cried: "Woe
unto us for the punishment of hell. Give us death, that we may die!"
Nasargiel explained: "These are the sinners that swore falsely,
profaned the Sabbath and the holy days, despised the sages, called
their neighbors by unseemly nicknames, wronged the orphan and the
widow, and bore false witness. Therefore bath God delivered them to
these worms."
Moses went thence to another place, and there he saw sinners prone on
their faces, with two thousand scorpions lashing, stinging, and
tormenting them, while the tortured victims cried bitterly. Each of the
scorpions had seventy thousand heads, each head seventy thousand
mouths, each mouth seventy thousand stings, and each sting seventy
thousand pouches of poison and venom, which the sinners are forced to
drink down, although the anguish is so racking that their eyes melt in
their sockets. Nasargiel explained: "These are the sinners who caused
the Israelites to lose their money, who exalted themselves above the
community, who put their neighbors to shame in public, who delivered
their fellow-Israelites into the hands of the Gentiles, who denied the
Torah of Moses, and who maintained that God is not the Creator of the
world."
Then Moses saw the place called Tit ba-Yawen, in which the sinners
stand in mud up to their navels, while the Angels of Destruction lash
them with fiery chains, and break their teeth with fiery stones, from
morning until evening, and during the night they make their teeth grow
again, to the length of a parasang, only to break them anew the next
morning. Nasargiel explained: "These are the sinners who ate carrion
and forbidden flesh, who lent their money at usury, who wrote the Name
of God on amulets for Gentiles, who used false weights, who stole money
from their fellow-Israelites, who ate on the Day of Atonement, who ate
forbidden fat, and animals and reptiles that are an abomination, and
who drank blood."
Then Nasargiel said to Moses: "Come and see how the sinners are burnt
in hell," and Moses answered, "I cannot go there," but Nasargiel
replied, "Let the light of the Shekinah precede thee, and the fire of
hell will have no power over thee." Moses yielded, and he saw how the
sinners were burnt, one half of their bodies being immersed in fire and
the other half in snow, while worms bred in their own flesh crawled
over them, and the Angels of Destruction beat them incessantly.
Nasargiel explained: "These are the sinners who committed incest,
murder, and idolatry, who cursed their parents and their teachers, and
who, like Nimrod and others, called themselves gods." In this place,
which is called Abaddon, he saw the sinners taking snow by stealth and
putting it in their armpits, to relieve the pain inflicted by the
scorching fire, and he was convinced that the saying was true, "The
wicked mend not their ways even at the gate of hell."
As Moses departed from hell, he prayed to God, "May it be Thy will, O
Lord my God and God of my fathers, to save me and the people of Israel
from the places I have seen in hell." But God answered him, and said,
"Moses, before Me there is no respecting of persons and no taking of
gifts. Whoever doeth good deeds entereth Paradise, and he that doeth
evil must go to hell."
At the command of God, Gabriel now led Moses to Paradise. As he
entered, two angels came toward him, and they said to him, "Thy time is
not yet arrived to leave the world," and Moses made answer, "What ye
say is true, but I have come to see the reward of the pious in
Paradise." Then the angels extolled Moses, saying: "Hail, Moses,
servant of God! Hail, Moses, born of woman, that hast been found worthy
to ascend to the seven heavens! Hail to the nation to which thou
belongest!"
Under the tree of life Moses saw the angel Shamshiel, the prince of
Paradise, who led him through it, and showed him all there is therein.
He saw seventy thrones made of precious stones, standing on feet of
fine gold, each throne surrounded by seventy angels. But one of them
was larger than all the others, and it was encircled by one hundred and
twenty angels. This was the throne of Abraham, and when Abraham beheld
Moses, and heard who he was, and what his purpose was in visiting
Paradise, he exclaimed, "Praise ye the Lord, for He is good, for His
mercy endureth forever."
Moses asked Shamshiel about the size of Paradise, but not even he who
is the prince thereof could answer the question, for there is none that
can gauge it. It can neither be measured nor fathomed nor numbered. But
Shamshiel explained to Moses about the thrones, that they were
different one from the other, some being of silver, some of gold, some
of precious stones and pearls and rubies and carbuncles. The thrones
made of pearls are for the scholars that study the Torah day and night
for her own sake; those of precious stones are for the pious, those of
rubies for the just, those of gold for the repentant sinners, and those
of silver for the righteous proselytes. "The greatest of them all,"
continued Shamshiel, "is the throne of Abraham, the next in size the
thrones of Isaac and Jacob, then come the thrones of the prophets, the
saints, and the righteous, each in accordance with a man's worth, and
his rank, and the good deeds he has performed in his lifetime." Moses
asked then for whom the throne of copper was intended, and the angel
answered, "For the sinner that has a pious son. Through the merits of
his son he receives it as his share."
Again Moses looked, and he beheld a spring of living water welling up
from under the tree of life and dividing into four streams, which
passed under the throne of glory, and thence encompassed Paradise from
end to end. He also saw four rivers flowing under each of the thrones
of the pious, one of honey, the second of milk, the third of wine, and
the fourth of pure balsam.
Beholding all these desirable and pleasant things, Moses felt great
joy, and he said, "Oh, how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid
up for them that fear Thee, which Thou hast wrought for them that put
their trust in Thee, before the sons of men!" And Moses left Paradise,
and returned to the earth.
At the moment of his departure, a heavenly voice cried aloud: "Moses,
servant of the Lord, thou that art faithful in His house, even as thou
hast seen the reward that is laid up for the pious in the world to
come, so also thou wilt be worthy of seeing the life of the world that
shall be in the future time. Thou and all Israel, ye shall see the
rebuilding of the Temple and the advent of the Messiah, behold the
beauty of the Lord, and meditate in His Temple."[118]
In the world to come Moses, beside sharing the joys of Israel, will
continue his activity as the teacher of Israel, for the people will go
before Abraham and request him to instruct them in the Torah. He will
send them to Isaac, saying, "Go to Isaac, he hath studied more of the
Torah than ever I studied," but Isaac, in turn, will send them to
Jacob, saying, "Go to Jacob, he hath had more converse with the sages
than ever I had." And Jacob will send them to Moses, saying, "Go to
Moses, he was instructed in the Torah by God Himself."[119]
In the Messianic time, Moses will be one of the seven shepherds that
shall be the leaders of Israel with the Messiah.[120]