Avodah Zarah 3 - A Second Chance in Torah for the Nations

In the future, the Holy One Blessed Be He will bring a Torah scroll, place it in His bosom and declare, "Whoever occupied himself with it shall come and take his reward." All the nations will come in disarray and demand a reward. God will tell them to come back in order, and the first one will be the Roman empire.

It will claim that it built marketplaces, fought wars, and amassed wealth, so that the Jews could study Torah. But God will reply to them that they built marketplaces to put prostitutes there, fought wars for their own benefit, and that gold belongs to Him anyway.

The same will happen with other nations. However, since God does not act treacherously, He will offer them another chance at the Torah and ask them to fulfill one easy mitzvah, Sukkah. Immediately everyone will build a sukkah on his roof. God will make the sun blast down on it, and they will kick the sukkah and leave, thus loosing their chance.

But didn't we say that God does not act treacherously? Why did He force them out of the sukkah with the burning sun? - That was fair, because Jews also sometimes have to sit in the sukkah in hot months. But if it is uncomfortably hot, the law is that the person should leave the sukkah! That is true, and the Jews also leave the sukkah, but they don't kick it, unlike the nations, who do.

Art: George Wesley Bellows - Sunset Shady Valley