וְעַסּוֹתֶ֣ם רְשָׁעִ֔ים כִּֽי־יִהְי֣וּ אֵ֔פֶר תַּ֖חַת כַּפּ֣וֹת רַגְלֵיכֶ֑ם בַּיּוֹם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲנִ֣י עֹשֶׂ֔ה אָמַ֖ר יְהוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת׃ (פ)
E calpesterete i malvagi; poiché saranno ceneri sotto la pianta dei tuoi piedi nel giorno che creerò, dice l'Eterno degli eserciti.
Shaarei Teshuvah
But there are people that do not sense the matter of death, to make provisions for the road and to rectify their actions; and they do not pay attention to the day of their death until it comes. So they are compared to animals that do not sense the matter of death until the day of slaughter - as it is stated, (Psalms 49:15), "Sheeplike they head for the pit, with death as their shepherd; the upright shall rule over them in the morning, and their form - from above him - shall waste away in the pit." Its explanation is: They lead their souls to the pit, since they don't sense the matter of their death until its sudden arrival. "With death as their shepherd" - the death of evildoers is not like the death of animals; the death of animals is once, but the death of the evildoers will shepherd them every day. [That shepherd can be a verb in the continuous present is indicated] from the wording, "shepherd Bashan and Gilead" (Micah 7:14); and from the content of (Job 18:13), "death’s first-born consumes his tendons." For destruction and deterioration will cling to the soul of the evildoers at every instant, until it is destroyed, ends and is gone. "The upright shall rule over them in the morning" - it compared the time of the resurrection of the dead to the morning, when a man wakes up from his sleep; and like the matter that is stated (Daniel 12:2), "Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth will awake." For then the righteous will rule over the evildoers, as it is written (Malachi 3:21), "And you shall trample the wicked to a pulp, for they shall be dust beneath your feet." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said about the matter of the day of judgement for the resurrection of the dead (Rosh Hashanah 17a), "After twelve months, their bodies end, and their souls are burnt and become ashes under the feet of the righteous - as is is stated, 'And you shall trample the wicked, etc.'" [And it is written (Psalms 49:15),] "And their form (tsuram) shall waste away in the pit" - tsuram is like tsuratam (the conventional way of writing, their form). Likewise, "idols, ketvunam" (Hosea 13:2), is understood as ketvunatam. And the soul is called the form of man. But there are some among those who speak about the soul that said, about the definition of the soul, that it is a (essential) [contingent] form. And the explanation of the matter is that the pit wears out the evildoer's soul. And it is "above (zevul) him" - for the soul is from the higher beings. [This is seen] from the wording (Isaiah 63:15), "from Your holy height (zevul)." And with his sins, the evildoer caused and brought about that his precious and elevated soul that is above him will be worn out by the pit below. And how difficult is death for the one who has not separated desires of the world from his soul until it is separated by death! And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said in Tractate Derekh Erets, "Is your will not to die? Die before you die." The explanation of the matter is [that] the one that wants that the day of his death be [a gateway] for him to eternal life should speak to his heart - since his end is to leave the ground and to leave the matters of the body, and in his end, he will despise them and abandon them; he should leave them when he is [still] alive, and only use the ground for service to the Creator, may He be blessed. And then the day of death will be [the beginning] of life without end for him.
Shaarei Teshuvah
And now we will speak about the matter of punishment for the nullification of positive commandments: Our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Ketuvot 86b) [that] if [the court warned] someone to perform [the commandment of the] sukkah or [of the] palm branch (lulav) “and he does not do so, we strike, etc.” And they said (Rosh Hashanah 17a) that men who have never placed tefillin on their heads are called “rebellious Jews with their bodies,” and their punishment is more severe than one who transgresses once against a sin for which he is liable for excision. And they said [that] all whose sins are greater than his merits and among [his sins] is the sin of rebellious Jews with their bodies - for example, one who has never worn tefillin or one who was involved in transgressions such as forbidden sexual relations - descend and are judged in Gehinnom for twelve months. After twelve months, their body is finished; and their soul is burnt; and the wind spreads it under the soles of the feet of the righteous ones, as it is stated (Malachi 3:21), “And you shall trample the wicked to a pulp, for they shall be dust, etc.” And they said (Sanhedrin 99a), [that] one who is permissive (in his eyes) [regarding] positive commandments, such as one who belittles the intermediate days of the festival - which is from a positive commandment, as it is stated (Exodus 23:15), “You shall observe the Feast of Matsot” - has no portion in the world to come, even if possesses Torah and good deeds. And there is a general warning of a negative commandment, for all the positive commandments - as it is stated (Deuteronomy 13:1), “neither add to it nor take away from it.”
Kav HaYashar
It is the practice of the Shechinah to afflict the righteous in this world so that they may inherit the World to Come. Conversely, the wicked are rewarded here for their few good deeds in order to deprive them of the World to Come. The “fool” does not understand “this,” that is, the ways of the Shechinah.. Therefore expresses bewilderment and doubt, Heaven forbid. He says, “See how this righteous and upright individual suffers while we evildoers enjoy tranquility, inexplicably increasing in dominion and prospering in all that we do!” But the wise man has his eyes in his head. He realizes that the inexplicable success of the wicked is merely an instance of what is described in the verse: “When the wicked bloom like grass and the evildoers blossom” (Tehillim 92:8). The verse concludes, “It is only that they may be destroyed forever,” that is, in the World to Come, the world of eternal life. For they will become ashes beneath the feet of the righteous, as it is written, “And you shall tread upon the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet” (Malachi 3:21).