The King's Banquet and Israel's Share in the World to Come

Whoever is anxious for the good life in this world — it is a bad sign for him. To what is the matter comparable? To a king of flesh and blood who invited his servant one day, on a day of the festival, to his banquet. He held it a favor for him. He invited him two days; he held it a favor for him. Three days; he held it a favor for him. Had he invited him for all eight days of the festival, all the more so should he have held it a favor for him. A parable: to a king of flesh and blood who said to his servant, Behold, you are before me for thirty days at one banquet, and I will also give you a good gift. He tasted at his table fifteen days. The servant said to the king, I do not wish to dine at your table any longer, and here is your gift back — and he flung that gift away in his presence. That servant is found to be ungrateful before the king. And is this proper conduct? This is not proper conduct. From here onward, what need has the servant to do? Rather, he must appease the king and bless him and praise him. So it is fitting for the seed of Jacob to bless and praise and exalt and lift up and magnify and sanctify the Name of the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who spoke and the world came to be — blessed is He and blessed is His Name forever and to all eternity — who brought them to the Land of Israel, which is called the delight of this world, and prepared for them a banquet of the manna for forty years, of the bread that the ministering angels eat. And after a while they did not wish for the king's banquet, but spoke against the manna and called it "insubstantial bread," as though Israel had said, We do not wish for the gift of the Land of Israel. Once they transgressed against the Torah and its commandments, by whose merit the Land of Israel had been given to them, and Israel were ungrateful, He exiled them from the Land of Israel and cast them away from His presence. And afterward they returned in repentance and turned back to the Holy One, blessed be He, within the exile, and the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: My children, recline one hour until the time of the banquet arrives. And all this, why? In order to cleanse the iniquities of Israel, so that they would all be pure and come to the life of the world to come. For there is no nation or tongue that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in the world, from one end of the world to the other, all of whom will be children of the world to come, except the seed of Jacob alone, as it is said (Jeremiah 31:7): "Behold, I bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who gives birth together; a great assembly shall return here." "Among them the blind and the lame" — these are the unlearned who have proper conduct and the other commandments and keep themselves far from robbery and from transgression and from the ugly thing. Rabbi Shimon said: Whoever sits and does not commit a transgression is given a reward like one who performs a commandment. Another interpretation: "Among them the blind and the lame" — these are the sages and their disciples who give themselves over to death in the tent for Scripture and for Mishnah and for Midrash and for laws and aggadot; of them He says (Psalms 119:1): "Happy are those whose way is blameless," and it says (Psalms 18:31): "As for God, His way is blameless." There are three sorrowful types, and all three are presumed worthy. One of them: these are the unlearned who have proper conduct and the other commandments and keep themselves far from robbery and from transgression and from the ugly thing. And the second of them: these are people who have come to Scripture and Mishnah but have no heart to understand. And the third of them: these are the sages and their disciples who give themselves over to death in the tent to understand Scripture and Mishnah, Midrash, laws and aggadot; of them He says (Isaiah 42:18): "You deaf, hear." A parable: to a king of flesh and blood who has many sons and servants, some of them clever, some of them mute and deaf and blind, and some of them masters of Scripture, masters of Mishnah and Talmud, and some of them engaged in trade; and the king has business and work with them. When the king wishes to do his reckoning, he goes only to the masters of Scripture and the masters of Mishnah and Talmud and to the clever ones among them, and of these he says, "You deaf, hear," and of these he says (Isaiah 42:16): "And I will lead the blind by a way they did not know." Another interpretation: "Among them the blind and the lame" — these are people who have come to Scripture and Mishnah and are soiled with ugly matters, and it is hard for the Master of mercies to remove them from the world. And what is the point of saying after it, "the pregnant woman and she who gives birth together"? These are the sages of Israel and their disciples who give themselves over to death in the tent for Scripture, Mishnah, Midrash, laws and aggadot, and they labor to the four winds of the world, from south to north and from east to west, and they yearn and long and hope that if one of them finds a clever one in matters of Torah, his soul will find rest upon him. And what is the point of saying after it, "a great assembly shall return here"? These are the men and women and little ones and youth and elders, all of whom are obligated to give thanks to the Holy One, blessed be He, and to pour out mercies and to seek supplications before Him and to ask of Him knowledge and understanding and discernment, as it is said (Isaiah 11:9): "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."