Because that's precisely the dilemma Jewish tradition grapples with when envisioning the Messianic Era – the time when all the righteous are resurrected. Where, oh where, will everyone fit?

The prophet Isaiah (49:20) paints a vivid picture of this very problem: "The place is too crowded for me; make room for me to settle!" So, what's the divine solution to this cosmic overcrowding?

Well, according to some traditions, God’s got some serious expansion plans for Jerusalem. We're not talking about just adding a new neighborhood or two. We're talking a complete divine makeover! One idea, found in sources like Song of Songs Rabbah 7:5 and Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 31, suggests God will add "a thousand gardens, a thousand palaces, and a thousand mansions" to the city. And that's just the start. The future Jerusalem, we're told, will be three times the size of the present one. But even THAT might not be enough...

So, how about taking Jerusalem… skyward? That's right! Some say God will enlarge Jerusalem until it "rises to the heavens," lifting it from one heaven to the next, all the way up to the seventh heaven—or even, some say, to the very Throne of Glory itself! (B. Bava Batra 75a, Sefer Eliyahu in, Beit ha~Midrash 3:68-78) Can you imagine?

How does this heavenly ascent happen? With clouds sent by God, of course! And each of the righteous, according to Isaiah 4:5, will have "a canopy of his own." This canopy idea gets even more elaborate in some versions, with God providing seven canopies for each righteous person, or even tailoring a canopy to each individual's status.

But not everyone agrees on the heavenly Jerusalem plan. Another tradition suggests a more… terrestrial solution. Instead of going up, Jerusalem will spread out. It will expand on earth until it reaches Damascus, a pretty significant stretch of land! The idea here is that Jerusalem is destined to widen on all sides, providing a place where the exiles can return and "repose beneath it as they would beneath a fig tree."

This earthly expansion feels a little closer to home, doesn't it? It mirrors, perhaps, the growth we’ve seen in the modern State of Israel – though, admittedly, not quite all the way to Damascus!

This whole myth, as Schwartz points out in Tree of Souls, is really grappling with the practical problem of accommodating everyone in the Messianic Era. It’s a beautiful thought experiment, pushing us to consider the sheer scale of redemption and the divine creativity required to bring it about. What does it mean, ultimately, that our tradition is so concerned with making space for everyone? Is it simply about physical space, or something more profound? A space in our hearts, in our communities, and in our vision for the future? Maybe, just maybe, that's the Jerusalem we should be building right now.