What about the really dark stuff?
Well, according to Legends of the Jews, compiled by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, Moses actually took a trip to hell. I know, right? Quite the field trip.
The story goes that as Moses approached the gates of Gehenna – that's the Hebrew word for hell – the fires themselves recoiled, retreating back a distance of five hundred parasangs. Now, a parasang is an ancient unit of distance, varying by region, but it’s safe to say that's a significant backing-off of the flames.
And who greets him at the gates? None other than Nasargiel, the Angel of Hell. He confronts Moses, asking, "Who art thou?" To which Moses, ever confident, replies, "I am Moses, the son of Amram."
Nasargiel, understandably confused, points out that this isn't Moses's destination. "This is not thy place, thou belongest in Paradise," he says.
But Moses? He's not there for a vacation. "I came hither to see the manifestation of the power of God," he declares. Think of it as a divine fact-finding mission.
So, God, in his infinite wisdom, instructs Nasargiel to give Moses the grand tour. "Go and show hell unto Moses, and how the wicked are treated there." And just like that, Nasargiel becomes Moses’s guide, walking before him “like a pupil before his master.” Can you imagine the dynamic there?
What Moses then witnesses is pretty intense. He sees men and women undergoing specific tortures at the hands of the Angels of Destruction. It’s a visceral, almost allegorical scene. Some sinners are suspended by their eyelids, others by their ears, their hands, their tongues… all crying out in agony.
And the women? They're hanging by their hair and breasts, amongst other means, all bound in chains of fire.
Then Nasargiel, our infernal tour guide, explains the reasoning behind each punishment. "These hang by their eyes," he says, "because they looked lustfully upon the wives of their neighbors, and with a covetous eye upon the possessions of their fellow-men." It's a direct connection between sin and consequence.
Those hanging by their ears? "Because they listened to empty and vain speech, and turned their ear away from hearing the Torah." See, even in hell, there's a lesson in the importance of listening to wisdom.
The tongues are for those who "talked slander, and accustomed their tongue to foolish babbling." The feet belong to those who "walked with them in order to spy upon their fellow-men, but they walked not to the synagogue, to offer prayer unto their Creator." The hands? For those who "robbed their neighbors of their possessions, and committed murder."
And the women hanging by their hair and breasts? Nasargiel explains it’s because "they uncovered them in the presence of young men, so that they conceived desire unto them, and fell into sin."
It's a stark and rather literal interpretation of how our actions in this world shape our afterlife. It's also a reminder that the eyes, ears, tongue, hands, and feet are not just physical parts of our bodies, but tools that we can use for good or evil.
What does this all mean? Is it a literal depiction of hell? Or a symbolic representation of the consequences of our choices? Perhaps it's both.
Maybe the story of Moses's journey to hell isn't just about the afterlife, but about how we choose to live our lives now. After all, aren't we creating our own versions of paradise or hell, right here, on Earth? Food for thought, right?