Parshat Pinchas6 min read

The Doors That Opened and the Sabbath Hidden in Time

No priest touched the bolt, and no wind pushed the wood. At the new moon the sanctuary gate swung wide on its own, and Israel went down in the dust.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Doors That Opened by Themselves
  2. Rabban Gamaliel Reads the Offerings
  3. Six Thousand Years Folded Into a Week
  4. The Day That Is a Thousand Years
  5. The Heavens Rolled Like a Scroll
The Doors That Opened and the Sabbath Hidden in Time Click for full size

The Doors That Opened by Themselves

There was a time when the moon did not have to be calculated. The people stood at the eastern gate near the close of the month, and when the first sliver of new light was due, the doors of the sanctuary swung open with no hand upon them. No priest touched the bolt. No wind pushed the wood. The gate opened, and the men and women of Israel knew the New Moon had come, because the doors themselves announced it.

They fell on their faces in the dust. They did not fall because a herald cried out. They fell because the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence), the Presence, had passed through that opening, and the wood remembered it. "For the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it," the prophet Ezekiel had said of that gate, and so it stayed shut to every mortal and opened only to the One who dwelt within.

On the Sabbath it was the same. They did not consult a court or count the hours. They saw the day arrive the way a man sees dawn break, and they sanctified it. Below, in the lower world, Israel spoke the blessing first. Only afterward did the blessing sound in the heavens, for the birth of the moon had been fixed in their sight, and the courts above waited on the courts below.

Rabban Gamaliel Reads the Offerings

Generations later, when the gate no longer opened on its own and the Temple smoke had thinned to memory, a sage named Rabban Gamaliel sat with the old lists of sacrifices and would not let them lie flat as a butcher's accounts. Two lambs for the Sabbath. Two young bullocks for the New Moon. Always two, he said, and never one, because a man stands between two worlds. There is this world, the one with its markets and its dust. And there is the world to come. Every offering laid on the altar reached across the seam between them, one beast for the age that ends and one for the age that does not.

Then he came to the New Moon's ram and its single goat. "Just as they are a single nation," he said, "their God is likewise one." One ram, one goat, one people, one God, all of it stamped with the same seal of oneness. And the seven unblemished lambs of the first year he tied to the mouth that renews them, the One who makes the month new the way He first made the light new, over and over, without tiring of it.

Six Thousand Years Folded Into a Week

The reckoning went deeper than one sage. Long before Rabban Gamaliel, the teachers had counted the days of creation and found the whole life of the world folded inside that first week. Six days of labor, and each day a thousand years, so the world was built to run six thousand years before it could rest. The first two thousand were chaos, formless, before the Torah was given. The next two thousand were Torah, the age of the study house and the yoke. The last two thousand were the days of the son of David, the long ache toward the anointed one. "For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday," the psalm said, and by that measure the whole of human history was one working week seen from above.

The labor had run long. The wrongs of the people had multiplied, and the redemption had been held back past its hour. So the sages looked to the release. Every seventh year the debts of Israel were forgiven and the fields left to lie fallow. In the same way, they said, the Holy One would keep a release for the whole world. One day of rest at the end of the working week. One day that was a thousand years.

The Day That Is a Thousand Years

That seventh day had a name in the prophets, though few had read it as a date on a calendar. "And there shall be one day," Zechariah had written, and the sages said this was the seventh day of the world, the millennium that is wholly Sabbath. "At evening time there shall be light," the same verse promised, and the going out of that endless Sabbath, its dusk, was the world to come itself.

In that world there is no death, not for an hour, not to all eternity. No sin, no punishment, no scourge, no wasting sickness. Each soul sits in the light of its own wisdom and rejoices in what it understands. The song the Levites raised over the Sabbath offering, "A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day," had always been aimed at that far seventh morning, the one long day toward which every ordinary Sabbath was only a rehearsal. "From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath," Isaiah promised, all flesh would come to bow.

The Heavens Rolled Like a Scroll

Rabban Gamaliel had one last reading of the moon, and it was the widest of them all. Just as the New Moon is worn to nothing and then renewed, sanctified fresh at the head of each month, so Israel would be worn down by the ages and then renewed and sanctified in the world to come. The heavens and the earth themselves would not be spared, and they would not be destroyed. They would be changed.

The host of heaven would dissolve, and the sky would be rolled up the way a scribe closes a Torah scroll over its columns when the reading is done. Then it would be spread open again above a new creation. The earth would wear thin like a favored garment gone soft with years. The Holy One would fold it, and shake it out again, and set it back in its place, made new. Nothing thrown away. Everything renewed. And on that morning the doors would open once more by themselves, and Israel would see the Presence pass through them, as their ancestors had seen it, in the age when heaven still touched the earth.

SabbathNew MoonEnd Of DaysWorld To ComeMessianic AgeSacred Time
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From the tradition

Sources

4 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 51:8Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, trans. Rabbi Gerald Friedlander, London (1916) · CC-BY

In ancient tradition, there was a time when the connection between the earthly and heavenly realms was so clear, so palpable, that marking these sacred times was an experience of divine revelation.

Rabbi Judah, in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (chapter 51), tells us of a time when the Israelites directly perceived the arrival of Shabbat (the Sabbath) and Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon. On Shabbat, they saw that the holy day had arrived. They witnessed it. They felt it. So they sanctified Shabbat.

It was the same with Rosh Chodesh. The people stood, watching, as the doors – doors to what, we can only imagine – opened by themselves. Through this miraculous sign, they knew it was the New Moon, and they sanctified it accordingly.

What's truly amazing is the implication: that this earthly sanctification preceded the heavenly one! Israel, in the lower realms, sanctified the New Moon first, and then, only afterward, was it sanctified in the heavens. This is because, as Rabbi Judah explains, the very beginning of the Molad, the moon's cycle, was defined in the presence of Israel. They were witnesses to the divine clockwork.

Why these doors? Because, as the verse says, they knew that the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence of the Holy One, blessed be He, resided within. This is tied to a verse from Ezekiel (44:2): "For the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it." When they witnessed this, the Israelites didn’t just stand idly by. They fell down and prostrated themselves before their God. A spontaneous outpouring of awe and reverence.

The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer emphasizes that this wasn't just a one-time event, a relic of the past. It was a model, a pattern. The text concludes with a quote from Ezekiel (46:3): "And the people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before the Lord in the Sabbaths and in the New Moons." This implies a continuous, ongoing connection, a future where the people will continue to recognize and honor these sacred times with reverence and devotion.

We may not see doors opening on their own, but perhaps we can strive to cultivate that same sense of awareness, that same deep connection to the divine timing of the universe. To be present, to be mindful, and to recognize the Shekhinah To find those moments of awe that inspire us to bow down, not necessarily literally, but in our hearts, in gratitude and humility.

Full source
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 51:5Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, trans. Rabbi Gerald Friedlander, London (1916) · CC-BY

Rabban Gamaliel, a sage from the first century, certainly thought so. He delved into the symbolic meanings behind the offerings brought in the Temple, revealing layers of connection that might just blow your mind.

Let's take the Sabbath burnt offering, for example. Every Shabbat (the Sabbath), two lambs were offered. And for the New Moon, the Rosh Chodesh, two young bullocks. Two for each occasion. But why two?

In Rabban Gamaliel, these pairs correspond to the "two worlds": olam hazeh (this present world), this world, the one we inhabit right now, with all its hustle and bustle; and olam haba (the World to Come), the world to come, a realm of ultimate peace and spiritual fulfillment. The offerings, therefore, become a bridge, a connection between our present reality and our future potential. They remind us that

Wait, there’s more!

The Torah portion of Pinchas (Numbers 28:11) details the offerings for Rosh Chodesh, specifying "one ram and one he-goat." Rabban Gamaliel sees even more profound symbolism here. "Just as they are a single nation," he says, "their God is (likewise) one." The unity of the offerings mirrors the unity of the Jewish people and, even further, the absolute oneness of God, the ultimate unifying force.

It’s a potent reminder that despite our differences, we are all interconnected, bound together by our shared faith and heritage. And that our devotion is directed to the One.

And those "seven he-lambs of the first year without blemish" also mentioned in Numbers? Rabban Gamaliel associates these with “those who bring their offerings.” But there's a play on words here, a connection to the One "who renews them like the New Moons." Each month is a fresh start, a chance to begin again. Just as the moon waxes and wanes, so too can we experience cycles of growth and renewal.

As we find in (Numbers 28:14), "This is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year." It's a constant cycle of offering, renewal, and connection.

So, what does all this mean for us today? Perhaps it's a call to look beyond the surface of our rituals and traditions, to seek out the deeper meanings and connections they hold. To remember that our actions have consequences, that we are part of something larger than ourselves, and that we always have the opportunity to renew and reconnect.

Next time you see the moon, remember the lambs and the bullocks, the ram and the goat. Remember the two worlds, and the One God who binds it all together. What will you offer to the world this month?

Full source
Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 2:1Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah

Translation of the source text.Sefaria Community Translation · CC0

Another interpretation: "Days were formed, and not one among them" (Psalms 139:16). This is the seventh day of the world. For this present world lasts six thousand years: two thousand of chaos, two thousand of Torah, and two thousand of the days of the son of David; but because our iniquities have grown many, what has gone out has gone out, and a subjugation has entered into the two thousand years of the days of the son of David (more than seven hundred years), as it is said, "The LORD has done what He purposed" (Lamentations 2:17). And just as we keep a release of debts once every seven years, so too is the Holy One, blessed be He, destined to make a release for the world: one day that is a thousand years, as it is said, "For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday" (Psalms 90:4). And it says, "And there shall be one day" (Zechariah 14:7); this is the seventh day of the world. "And it shall come to pass, that at evening time there shall be light" (Zechariah 14:7); this is the world to come, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass, that from new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath" (Isaiah 66:23). And it is said, "A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day" (Psalms 92:1), for the world that is wholly Sabbath.

Another interpretation: "A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day" (read as for that which He causes to cease, mashbit), for He causes the world to cease. Another interpretation: "A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day," this is the seventh day of the world. And the close of the Sabbath, this is the world to come, in which there is no death forever and to all eternity, and in which there is no sin and no iniquity and no scourges and no chastisements, but each and every one rejoices in his wisdom and in his understanding. How do you know this is so? Go out and learn from the Holy One, blessed be He, who rejoiced in David in this world, and all the more so in the world to come, as it is said, "And these are the last words of David" (2 Samuel 23:1) and so forth.

Another interpretation: "And these are the last words of David." He said before Him: Master of the universe, just as You forgave me for my earlier iniquities, so forgive me for the later ones. Therefore it is said, "And these are the last words of David." Another interpretation: "And these are the last words of David." They used to say that for the twenty-two years during which the holy spirit departed from David, king of Israel, every single day he would let fall tears and eat his bread in ashes, as it is said, "For I have eaten ashes like bread" (Psalms 102:10) and so forth. Therefore it is said, "And these are the last words of David," and "the utterance of the man raised on high" (2 Samuel 23:1). Another interpretation: "And these are the last words of David," these are they: he said, Master of the universe, receive me in complete repentance before You, so that You may grant merit to the wicked for the world to come, and say to them: Just as with David, king of Israel, who did a grave thing before Me, once he repented I received him back through repentance, so too you, if you have repented. And from where do we know that David spoke in this manner? As it is said, "Against You, You alone, have I sinned" (Psalms 51:6) and so forth. Therefore it is said, "And these are the last words of David." Another interpretation: "And these are the last words of David," just as the earlier ones had in them no sin and no iniquity, so too the later ones have in them no sin and no iniquity. Therefore it is said, "And these are the last words of David."

"The utterance of David son of Jesse, and the utterance of the man raised on high" (2 Samuel 23:1). Here he taught that he took upon himself the yoke of Torah and the yoke of the commandments. What is your reward before Me? That you should be called "the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet singer of Israel" (2 Samuel 23:1). Happy is the person who makes himself like an ox to the yoke and like a donkey to the burden, and sits and meditates every day continually in the Torah; immediately the holy spirit rests upon him, and his Torah is within his innards, as it is said, "Happy are you who sow beside all waters" (Isaiah 32:20). And "waters" means only Torah, as it is said, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come for water" (Isaiah 55:1). "Beside all waters," how so? It means a person reads Torah, Prophets, and Writings, Mishnah, laws, aggadot, and midrash, and increases in study and decreases in commerce; immediately the holy spirit is within his innards, and His word is upon his tongue, as it is said, "The spirit of the LORD spoke through me, and His word was upon my tongue" (2 Samuel 23:2-3).

Happy is the person who plays himself in words of Torah, and sits and plows through them like an animal that plows in the field. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: The words of Torah, the first and the last, are yours, as it is said, "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me: a ruler over men, a righteous one, a ruler in the fear of God" (2 Samuel 23:3). David said: The God of Israel said to me, the Rock of Israel: I am a ruler over men; who rules over me? A righteous one, for I decree and he annuls it. That is to say, "a righteous one ruling in the fear of God." And which is the righteous one who rules in the fear of God? This is the one who subdues his evil inclination. Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, before whom there is no favoritism, and from before whom radiance and light go forth to the world, and from before whom rains and grasses come to the world. The reward of the righteous, who play themselves in words of Torah, is that Scripture accounts it to them as if they bring radiance and light and rains and grasses to the world. Therefore it is said afterward, "And as the light of morning the sun shines forth, a morning without clouds, by clear shining after rain bringing grass from the earth" (2 Samuel 23:4).

David the king said: I will declare the righteous acts and kindnesses of the Holy One, blessed be He, which He performs with Israel every hour. Every single day a person is sold, and every single day a person is redeemed. In the evening a person's spirit is taken from him and given to the Owner of the deposit, and in the morning they return it to him, as it is said, "Into Your hand I entrust my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth" (Psalms 31:6). Every single day miracles are done for him as for those who went out from Egypt. Every single day they bring him, like an infant before its teacher, on account of his deeds. And know that this is so: nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the world was created, the Holy One, blessed be He, passed all His words before the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He said: When will he reach the point of hearing a word from their mouth? As it is said, "For the leader, a psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalms 19:1-2). But are they fit to declare the work of creation? What does "The heavens declare the glory of God" come to teach? That the heavens were created first, and they are fit to declare the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He.

For the whole world, man and beast and bird, the heavens are sustained only by the work of heaven and earth: in six months they grow fruits in winter and ripen them in summer, and from them live all who come into the world and all the work of His hands that He created in the world. The Sages said: All of the inhabited world sits between the Wagon and the Scorpion. I said to them: My masters, I am dust beneath the soles of your feet; I will say one thing before you. They said to me: Speak. I said to them: Under one star all who come into the world sit, as the Sages of blessed memory said. They said to me: Give us a sign for your words. I said to them: I will give one. I said to them: My masters, let two men stand, one in the land of Israel and one in the great city in Babylonia, and let them place their heads under one star at sunrise, or at sunset, on the first of the month or on the fifth of the month: the one standing in the land of Israel will not be like the one standing in Babylonia. From this you have learned that the whole world is under one star and sits, as the Sages of blessed memory said.

And what is the nature of that Pleiades, which is like seven stars in the firmament, all of them close one to another? Scripture taught proper conduct for the generations, that a person should not say: Why is the firmament itself not as thick as the stars? They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king who had a brick of gold. Should he place it on his head? Is that becoming to him? It is not becoming to him. But what did he do, in his wisdom and his understanding? He takes from it a weight of about half a sela and makes it into a thread of gold and hangs it on his neck. This is the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, may His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity: He created the stars in the firmament and gave to each and every one a place of its own. "There is no speech, there are no words, their voice is not heard" (Psalms 19:4). "Through all the earth their line goes out" (read as their voice, kolam, goes out), "and at the end of the world their words; for the sun He set a tent among them" (Psalms 19:5). The Sages said: The orbit of the sun is a journey of five hundred years. Come and see from what place it goes out and to what place it enters. Is its voice heard in its going, in its going out or in its coming in? Or is it perhaps seen by the creatures in its entering and its going out? And just as the orbit of the sun is a journey of five hundred years, so the tree of life is a journey of five hundred years, as it is said, "How great are Your works, O LORD" (Psalms 92:6).

Another interpretation: "How great are Your works, O LORD." Come and see how many kinds of cattle and kinds of beasts and kinds of birds there are in the world, and how many kinds of fish there are in the sea. Is the voice of this one like the voice of that one? Or the appearance of this one like the appearance of that one? Or perhaps the mind of this one like the mind of that one? Or perhaps the taste of this one like the taste of that one? No: neither the voice nor the appearance nor the mind nor the taste of this one is like that one. And so the Sages taught in the Mishnah: To declare the greatness of the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He: a man stamps many coins with one seal, and they are all alike one to another, yet the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, stamped every man with the seal of the first man, and not one is like his fellow. Therefore it is said, "How great are Your works, O LORD."

Another interpretation: "For the leader, a psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God." But are they not fixed in their place and never move from there? Yet even though everything is His and everything is the work of His hands, His joy is not in all of it, but only with the seed of Abraham alone, as it is said, "Day to day pours forth speech" (Psalms 19:3). What is the nature of these two days? Rather, this is the day of Moses, who announced the day of Joshua, as it is said, "This day I begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you upon the peoples under all the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, shall tremble and writhe before you" (Deuteronomy 2:25). And lest you say: Since the Holy One, blessed be He, slew Sihon and Og, who told it to all who come into the world? Rather, this is the sun that stood still for Moses. And where do we find that the sun stood still for Moses? At the time when he made war with Amalek, as it is said, "But Moses's hands were heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur supported his hands" and so forth, "and his hands were steady until the sun came" (Exodus 17:12). And had the sun not come until that hour, that it is written "until the sun came"? Rather, this is the sun that stood still for Moses. And where do we find that Moses announced the day of Joshua? As it is said, "And the LORD said to Moses: Write this as a memorial in the book, and put it in the ears of Joshua" (Exodus 17:14). He said to him: May it be His will that the sun stand still for you as it stood still for me. And where do we find that it stood still for Joshua? At the time when he made war with the kings of the Amorites at Gibeon, as it is said, "Then Joshua spoke to the LORD on the day the LORD gave the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and moon, in the valley of Aijalon. And the sun stood still and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance on its enemies. Is this not written in the Book of the Upright? And the sun stayed in the midst of the heaven and did not hasten to set for about a whole day" (Joshua 10:12-13).

Another interpretation: "Day to day pours forth speech," this is Torah, Prophets, and Writings. "And night to night declares knowledge," these are the Mishnayot. "There is no speech, there are no words, their voice is not heard," these are the halakhot. "Through all the earth their line goes out" (read as kol, voice), these are the aggadot, by which they sanctify His great name. Another interpretation: "Through all the earth their voice goes out," these are the synagogues and study houses that were given to the many, and they listen to hear words of Torah. (Another reading: that were given to the individual, and they listen to hear words of Torah.) "And at the end of the world their words," this is the land of Israel, which is the world's choicest part. "For the sun He set a tent among them." They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king who had precious stones and pearls within his house, and the people of his province sought to buy from him for money in secret, and he said to them: I will not give to you in secret, but only in public. So too the Holy One, blessed be He, may His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity: when He gave the Torah to Israel, He gave it only openly, as it is said, "Not from the beginning did I speak in secret" (Isaiah 48:16), and it says, "I did not speak in secret, in a place of a land of darkness" (Isaiah 45:19).

"And it is like a bridegroom going out from his canopy" (Psalms 19:6): just as this bridegroom enters in purity and goes out in impurity, so the orbit of the sun goes out in purity and enters in impurity, and does not wish to go out on the next day until arrows are shot at it and they say to it: Is it of your own will that you go out? Therefore it is said, "And it is like a bridegroom going out from his canopy." They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king who made a banquet for his son, and his servants and the members of his household reclined before him all seven days, and each one took his leave of him and went home in peace. After some days one of them came. They said to the king: So-and-so has come. He wrapped himself and went out to meet him and said to him: Come in peace; tarry one hour until the time of the banquet arrives. And so with the second. So too the righteous in this world: when they take their leave for their eternal home, they say to him: Come in peace, as it is said, "He shall enter into peace; they shall rest on their couches, each one who walks straight" (Isaiah 57:2), like a man who receives his guests with joy and a pleasant countenance, as it is said, "It rejoices like a mighty man to run the course" (Psalms 19:6). From here they said: The righteous are punished even for the light matters, but the wicked are not punished except for the grave ones. Go out and learn from Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, who were punished only for the light matters. And from where that the wicked are not punished except for the grave ones? Go out and learn from Jeroboam, Ahaz, and Manasseh, who were not held liable until they had filled the whole world with transgressions.

They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king who was sitting on his throne, and the elders of his province were sitting before him. As soon as one of them said an improper word, he struck at him immediately, while those standing outside he waited for until the time of the judgment of Gehinnom arrived, as it is said, "Its going forth is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to their ends, and nothing is hidden from its heat" (Psalms 19:7). All of this on account of what? On account of: "The Torah of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is faithful, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are upright, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true, righteous altogether; more desirable than gold and than much fine gold, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb's drippings" (Psalms 19:8-11). From here the Sages said: Whenever human beings are idle from the Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, seeks to destroy the world, as it is said, "Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty" (Psalms 29:1). And "the mighty" means only the ministering angels. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Since I have multiplied human beings like the birds of the heaven and like the fish of the sea, yet they do not do My will, therefore I have hidden Myself from them. "Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength; ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name" (Psalms 29:1-2). And "glory" means only Torah, as it is said, "Let them ascribe glory to the LORD, and declare His praise in the islands" (Isaiah 42:12), and it says, "Give glory to the LORD your God" (Jeremiah 13:16) and so forth. "Bow down to the LORD in the splendor of holiness" (Psalms 29:2). From here they said: A person should not stand in prayer until he says one halakhah or one verse. Therefore it is said, "Bow down to the LORD in the splendor of holiness."

"The voice of the LORD is over the waters" (Psalms 29:3). "Waters" means only Torah. So the Sages taught: Sages, be careful in your words, lest you teach one thing not in accordance with the Torah and become liable for it to death at the hand of Heaven, and the students who come after you also teach in your name one thing not in accordance with the Torah and become liable for it to death at the hand of Heaven, God forbid, and the name of Heaven is found to be profaned. "The God of glory thunders, the LORD over many waters" (Psalms 29:3). Because I poured out for you words of Torah like milk and like oil poured from vessel to vessel, and its sound is not heard. Therefore it is said, "The God of glory thunders, the LORD over many waters; the voice of the LORD is in power, the voice of the LORD is in splendor" (Psalms 29:3-4). They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a king who had sons: some of them were masters of Torah, Prophets, and Writings, and masters of Mishnah and Gemara, and masters of commerce. He married another wife, a poor one, and had sons by her. He sent them off to Scripture and Mishnah and Gemara and worldly conduct, and he would sit and look forward to when they would be like the older sons. After some days they came to him (another reading: he came to them), and they had in their hand neither Scripture nor Mishnah nor worldly conduct. And he would sit before them and say: The houses I built and the fields I bought and the vineyards I planted, for these, why did I do all this? So too Israel are likened in this world before their Father in heaven, at a time when there are no words of Torah in them. Therefore it is said, "The voice of the LORD is in power, the voice of the LORD is in splendor."

"The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars" (Psalms 29:5), these are people who are clever in the matters of this world, in commerce and in every craft, but have no words of Torah in them; they are likened only to a cedar: just as a cedar produces no fruit, so anyone who has no words of Torah in him is likened to a cedar, as it is said, "And I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of cedars" (Amos 2:9). And it says, "And He breaks the cedars of Lebanon" (Psalms 29:5), these are the people who were in the First Temple, who were clever and stood in their place, but had no words of Torah in them. Therefore it is said, "And the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon. And He makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox" (Psalms 29:5-6). From here the Sages said: One who kicks against sufferings, they are doubled upon him. They told a parable: to what may the matter be compared? To a householder who had a cow that kicked, and he put on it a rope of ten cubits, and it kept kicking, so he put on it a rope of fifty cubits, as it is said, "For like a stubborn cow Israel is stubborn" (Hosea 4:16). From this you have learned that anyone who kicks against sufferings, it is a bad sign for him.

The Sages said: Did not the sufferings come upon him justly, for his iniquities? I am astonished. Rather, the sufferings came upon him because he did ugly things and things that were not fitting, and with his own hands he uproots himself from this world and from the world to come. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: If you come to learn My ways, come and learn from the people of the generation of the wilderness, who, although they did the Torah all their days, as soon as they said an improper word before Me I struck at them immediately. Therefore it is said, "The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire; the voice of the LORD makes the wilderness writhe; the LORD makes the wilderness of Kadesh writhe" (Psalms 29:7-8). The Holy One, blessed be He, turned back to appease Israel and said to them: My sons, I swear by My throne of glory that even an infant in his teacher's house who is engaged in Torah for My name's sake, his reward is laid up before Me, provided that he is kept from transgression. And even if a person has in his hand only worldly conduct and Scripture alone, his reward is laid up before Me, provided that he is kept from transgression. And even if a person has in his hand neither Scripture nor Mishnah, but he rises early and stays late at the synagogue and the study house and recites the Shema for the sake of My great name, his reward is laid up before Me, provided that he is kept from transgression.

To what are Israel likened in this world before their Father in heaven? To a hind that becomes pregnant in distress and gives birth in distress, its beginning being hard and ease at the end, as it is said, "The voice of the LORD makes the hinds writhe and strips the forests bare, and in His temple all of it says glory" (Psalms 29:9). At that time the whole world will recoil and they will say: Perhaps a flood has come to the world to destroy the world, as it is said, "The LORD sat enthroned at the flood" (Psalms 29:10). The holy spirit returns to them and says: The supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, has not come except to make a banquet for His sons, and He says: I have come only to reign over the whole world, as it is said, "And the LORD sits enthroned as king forever" (Psalms 29:10). And why do I reign? Because you flourish in your good deeds and in the study of Torah, as it is said, "The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace" (Psalms 29:11).

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Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 51:1Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, trans. Rabbi Gerald Friedlander, London (1916) · CC-BY

The Jewish tradition has never shied away from asking the big questions, and when it comes to the end of days, well, let's just say things get pretty interesting. One fascinating glimpse into this future comes from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, specifically chapter 51. This ancient text offers a vision of cosmic renewal, a sort of celestial spring cleaning on a grand scale.

Rabban Gamaliel starts us off with a beautiful analogy. Just as the New Moons, Rosh Chodesh, are renewed and sanctified each month, so too will Israel be sanctified and renewed in the world to come. Each new moon is a fresh start, a chance to begin again. This cyclical renewal mirrors the spiritual renewal awaiting us. As it says in (Leviticus 19:2), "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy." This call to holiness isn't just for the here and now, it echoes into the future.

What about the world itself? Will it simply fade away? Not quite. The sages tell us that the heavens and the earth are destined to pass away, yes, but only to be renewed. It’s not annihilation, but transformation.

Here’s where it gets really evocative. The text quotes (Isaiah 34:4): "And all the host of the heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll." Now, picture that. A Torah scroll, carefully rolled up after reading. That's how the heavens will be treated, according to this vision. Just as we unroll the scroll to explore its wisdom, and then roll it back up, so too will God roll up the heavens. Then, He’ll unroll them again, bringing forth a new creation.

And the earth? (Isaiah 51:6) says, "And the earth shall wax old like a garment." Think of your favorite, most comfortable piece of clothing. Eventually, it wears out. But instead of just tossing it away, imagine it being restored, renewed, made even better than before. That's the image here. The Holy One, blessed be He, will fold up the earth like a garment, and then spread it out again, renewed and revitalized, putting it back in its place.

This isn't about destruction, but about cyclical renewal, a cosmic dance of contraction and expansion. The old makes way for the new, but the essence remains. Just as a worn garment can be restored, so too can the earth be renewed.

So, what does this all mean for us? Perhaps it's a reminder that even in the face of change and uncertainty, there is always the potential for renewal.

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