The way of the world is that a person empties a full vessel into an empty vessel. Can one, perhaps, pour a full vessel into a full vessel? The world in its entirety is all water, and yet you say “to one place”? But from here [we see] that a smaller space was able to contain a greater amount [than its size].
Kohelet and in Vayikra Rabba 19:9>. Similarly, “Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly [to the front of the rock]” (Numbers 20:10). It [the front of the rock] was the size of a small sieve, and yet all of Israel was standing before it? But from here [we see] that a smaller space was able to contain a greater amount [than its size].
Similarly, “the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Take for yourselves [cupped handfuls of soot of a furnace]” (Exodus 9:8). Rav Huna said: Did Moses’s cupped hand hold eight clenched handfuls? This is bewildering. A cupped handful and a clenched handful are not the same; a cupped handful holds twice as much as a clenched handful.6God told Moses and Aaron (two people) to take “handfuls”, in the plural, indicating two handfuls each, totaling four handfuls, each handful being equal to two clenched handfuls, for a total of eight.
And it is written: “Moses threw it” (Exodus 9:8).7And to throw powerfully one must use one hand. It emerges, then, that the cupped hand of Moses held eight clenched handfuls. But from here [we see] that a smaller space was able to contain a greater amount [than its size]. Similarly, Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥalafta said: “The length of the courtyard shall be one hundred cubits and the width shall be fifty on each side” (Exodus 27:18), and yet all of Israel could stands inside of it?8See Leviticus 8:3.
This is bewildering. But from here [we see] that a smaller space was able to contain a greater amount [than its size]. Similarly, “Joshua said to the children of Israel: Come here…” (Joshua 3:9). Rav Huna said: He had them stand up between the two staves of the Ark.
Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: He had them all lean on one another between the two staves of the Ark. Rava said: He crowded them between the two staves of the Ark. Joshua said to them: ‘From the fact that the two staves of the Ark was able to contain you all, you may know that the Divine Presence of the Holy One blessed be He is in your midst.’ That is what is written: “Joshua said: With this you will know that the living God is in your midst” (Joshua 3:10).
This was so in Jerusalem, too, as we learned: They stood crowded, but prostrated themselves spaciously.9Yoma 21a. Rabbi Shmuel ben Rabbi Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Aḥa: There were four cubits for each person to occupy, and a [further] cubit on each side so that none of them would hear the prayer of the other. This will be so in the future, too, as it is stated: “At that time, they will call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations will be gathered into it” (Jeremiah 3:17).
Rabbi Yoḥanan ascended to inquire after the wellbeing of Rabbi Ḥanina and found him sitting and expounding this verse: “At that time, they will call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord, [and all the nations will be gathered into it].” He said to him: ‘Can Jerusalem contain the Throne of the Lord?’10And all the nations. He said to him: ‘The Holy One blessed is He will say to it: Expand and extend and receive your populations.’
That is what is written: “Expand the place of your tent” (Isaiah 54:3). Why? “For you will spread out right and left…” (Isaiah 54:3).