Sanhedrin 110: Korach's Wife, Korach, the Ten Tribes, Children, and the World-to-Come

Korach's wife is villainized at the start of today's daf.  She speaks of Moshe's ill intent when he made himself the leader and his family members the next in line.  He treated Leviim like excrement when he had them shave their heads.  He shaved his own head only to mock the Leviim.  He offered them only a small portion of terumah compared with that donated to the Kohanim.  And the clothing he insisted upon required small bits of valuable blue dye - why not insist that all of the important people wear clothing made exclusively with that dye?  He may have been in a forbidden relationship while he was married, as well.

The Gemara notes that anyone who persists in a feud transgresses a halacha.  Anyone who challenges King David's authority should be bitten by a snake.  Anyone who challenges the rabbi's authority challenges G-d's authority.  Anyone who complains about a rabbi complains about G-d.  Anyone who is upset about a rabbi is upset with G-d.  Anyone who has a quarrel with a rabbi has a quarrel with G-d.  The rabbis end this section with a description of Korach's incredible wealth - 300 donkeys were required to carry the keys to the storage of his treasures.  Two of those treasures were found and one is said to be waiting to be discovered by tzadikim.

How did Korach die?  The Gemara shares a number of different possibilities.  It is clear that there was a thirst for Karachi's punishment after he lied regarding Moshe, the leader of the Jewish people.  One tale suggests that he was burned, and many voices seem to speak to a desire for G-d to create a gehenna to burn him* if G-d had not already created such a thing.  A tour guide is said to have pointed out the cave where Korach and his peers were burned, and a woollen towel wrapped around a stick that was poked into the cave came out singed and smouldering.  The rabbis say that this is why it is said that the generation of the desert has no place in the World-to-Come.  Of course, proof texts are provided for each of these comments.

The rabbis agree that the ten lost (or exiled) tribes will have no share in the World-to-Come.  They  share a number of proof texts that confirm this opinion.  However, Rabbi Akiva might have been expected to use different proof texts that suggest that with teshuva, repentance, these generations might be permitted to enter the World-to-Come.

We end our daf with a conversation about children entering the World-to-Come.  Are they permitted to enter at all?  If so, what is the cutoff point?  Should a fetus enter, even if it might have died in childbirth?  Should a child be permitted into the World-to-Come when s/he can speak?  Or at birth?  Or when circumcized?  Or when s/he can say "amen"?  Of course people must have suffered inordinately due to infants and babies dying in the times of the Talmud.  People would have wanted to believe that their children would be permitted to enter the World-to-Come.

As an aside, we are told that "amen" is both an affirmation of what was just stated and an acronym for el melech ne'eman, G-d the King is trustworthy.

*Gehenna is the name of a valley near Jerusalem.  It was said to be the site of child sacrifice.