How God Will Widen Zion and Jerusalem in the Days to Come

(Leviticus 8:3:) "AND ASSEMBLE THE WHOLE CONGREGATION etc." He said to him: To where? He said to him: To the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Moses our master said to Him: Master of the world, sixty myriads of men and sixty myriads of young men—how shall I make them stand at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, when it is only the size of a two-se'ah plot, yet You say, "And assemble the whole congregation"? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: And about this matter you are astonished? These heavens—are they not like the pupil (cataract) of the eye? Yet I made them from one end of the world to the other, [as it is said,] "Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, [and spreads them like a tent to dwell in]" (Isaiah 40:22). And likewise in the time to come I will do thus for Zion. All [those] multitudes from the first Adam until the dead come to life—how shall they stand? And they are destined to say, "The place is too narrow for me; make room for me, that I may dwell" (Isaiah 49:20). What shall I do for them? I shall widen it, as it is said, "Enlarge the place of your tent" (Isaiah 54:2). From where do you learn this? From Mount Sinai. Once the Holy One, blessed be He, was revealed upon it, what is written? "The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands, etc." (Psalms 68:18). Said Rabbi Avdimi of Haifa: I have taught in my teaching—once the Holy One, blessed be He, was revealed on Mount Sinai to give the Torah, twenty-two thousand chariots descended with Him. Said Rabbi Berekhyah [the Priest]: For the Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw that none would stand firm in their conviction (literally, "in their waters") except the tribe of Levi; therefore He descended corresponding to the camp of the Levites. Said Rabbi Yannai: If so, what is "the chariots of God are myriads"? Rather, twenty-two thousand chariots descended with the Holy One, blessed be He, and each and every chariot was like the chariot that Ezekiel son of Buzi saw, and it (Sinai) held them—rather, it was a miraculous deed. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Widen, lengthen, and receive My children, My faithful children. And so you find for the world to come, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will widen Jerusalem, as it is said, "[and it became wider] and wound about upward, etc." (Ezekiel 41:7), until it ascends to the heavens. And "upward" means nothing other than the heavens, as it is said, "For Your kindness is great above [the heavens]" (Psalms 108:5). Once it reaches the heavens, it says, "The place is too narrow for me, etc." (Isaiah 49:20). Even so, the Holy One, blessed be He, raises it up from the heavens to the firmament, and from the second to the third, and from the third to the fourth, and from the fourth to the fifth, and from the fifth to the sixth, and from the sixth to the seventh. Said Rabbi Eleazar ben Yaakov: until it reaches the Throne of Glory. And how do they ascend? The Holy One, blessed be He, brings clouds, and they cause them to fly, as it is said, "Who are these that fly like a cloud?" (Isaiah 60:8). And each and every one of the righteous has a canopy of his own, as it is said, "And the Lord will create over [every] dwelling place of Mount Zion and over its assemblies [etc., for over all the glory shall be a canopy]" (Isaiah 4:5). Once it reaches the Throne of Glory, the Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: I and you shall walk together in the world, as it is said, "And I will walk among you" (Leviticus 26:12). And the Holy One, blessed be He, sits in the midst, and the righteous point to Him with the finger, as it is said, "And it shall be said on that day: Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us, etc." (Isaiah 25:9). And it says, "For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will lead us beyond death" (Psalms 48:15). Because the nations say, "And He shall say: Where are their gods?" (Deuteronomy 32:37)—therefore Israel say, "For this is God, our God [forever and ever]; He will lead us beyond death."