In [some] future time, the Holy-One Blessed be He will
sit in the Garden of Eden and expound [the Torah] there. The Righteous
Ones from all times sit facing Him, while the whole supernal host [of
ministers] stand by. On the right side of the Holy-One Blessed be He,
are the sun with the Mazzalot-planets, and on the left side -
the moon with all the stars. The Holy-One Blessed be He expounds for them
[Halakha]; He provides them a glimpse of the [deepest] innovative
interpretations [or: hidden meanings] of the Torah which the Holy-One
Blessed be He is due to deliver [or reveal] to them by the agency of the
Messiah. When He reaches the Aggadic- discourse, Zerubbavel son of She’altiel
stands up and recites: “Let {His Holy Name} be aggrandized, and
be sanctified....” His voice travels from one extreme of the world
to the other: all world[ly] beings respond, saying ‘Amen’.
Even the wicked ones of Israel, (as well as the Pious Gentiles) who had
[earlier] been left in Gehinnam, all cry out loudly ‘Amen’
from Gehinnam - as stated (in Is. 26,2): ‘....and let the pious
‘Goy’ [interpreted as: ‘gentile’] enter, as he
takes heed - ‘Emunim’ [lit: sincerity, faith:
understood homiletically as ‘Amenim’ - i.e.
the [repeated] Amen-response in public prayer]. The whole world is struck
with a commotion. At that moment, the sound of their [voiced] words is
heard in the presence of The Holy-One Blessed be He. He enquires about
them, saying: ‘What is meant by this great, mighty reverberation
I have heard?’ Then the ministering angels reply and say in His
presence: ‘Master of [all] Worlds, it is the voice of wicked ones
of Israel (as well as the Pious Gentiles) who had been left in Gehinnam
- who respond ‘Amen’ from the Gehinnam. Immediately, His Mercies
are evoked [or: moved] immensely, and He says: ‘How can I give them
any [further] judgment more severe [or strict] than this!? It is the Evil
Inclination that influenced them [to sin]’. At that moment, The
Holy-One Blessed be He takes the keys of Gehinnam and hands them over
to Gabriel and Michael, while all the Righteous Ones are looking on. He
says to them [= to the two angels]: ‘Go and open the gates of Gehinnam
and bring all those people up from Gehinnam’, as the [Isaiah verse]
states: ‘Open the gates, and let the righteous nation*
[leave Gehinnam and] enter [Gan-Eden] - by virtue of their taking heed
- ‘Emunim’ [lit: sincerity, faith: understood homiletically
as ‘Amenim’ - i.e. the [repeated] Amen-response
in public prayer]’.
------------------------------------
*) Cf supra; the ‘nation’ [Heb:
‘Goy’] may be understood as [a] the {righteous} gentiles and/or
[b] the ‘wicked ones’ of the [Jewish] nation {nation = [‘Heb’]
‘goy’ - the word appearing in the Tanach [occasionally] as
denoting the Jewish people [but not pejoratively]}. [NB In some Rabbinic
sources, thoroughly wicked Jews might be termed ‘Goyim’ on
account of their behaving [immorally] like [non-pious] ‘gentiles’
[i.e. ‘Goyim’ in the later sense] - but documentation would
be needed for this.
Excerpt taken from Hebrew edition of: "Batei Midrashot", edited
by Abraham Yossef Vertheimer