Places

Edom, meaning “red,” is the name of the country founded by Jacob’s brother Esau, who the Bible says was born “red all over.” Edom was a rival of Israel and later became associated with the Romans and the West. Edom is located in present-day Jordan.

The Ohel Moed (Tent of Meeting) was a temporary structure that Moses used to communicate with God from outside the Israelite camp after the incident of the golden calf. Most Jewish sources believe this tent was decommissioned once the Tabernacle (Mishkan) was set up in Exodus 40:17 or became synonymous with the Tabernacle.

The Four Kingdoms refers to the four empires — Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome — that ruled over the Land of Israel and resulted in the exile of the Jewish people. These four empires and exiles are represented by different creatures in a prophetic vision in the Book of Daniel.

Beersheba, which translates as “well of the seven” or “well of the oath,” is a city located in southern Israel. The name likely comes from the oath that Abraham made there to the Philistine King Abimelech or to the seven wells dug in the area by Isaac.

Located in ancient Mesopotamia, Babel was the capital city of the Babylonian empire and is notable as the location of the Tower of Babel. Although the Babylonian empire destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, the subsequent exile ultimately resulted in the creation of the Babylonian Talmud.

Beit El, which means “house of God,” was a biblical town located in central Israel. Also known as Bethel, this ancient city is where Jacob had a dream of angels going up and down a ladder. Jacob built an altar to God in Beit El, but it later became a hub for idolatry.

There were two Jewish Temples, or battei mikdash (singular: beit mikdash) that stood in ancient Jerusalem. The first was built by King Solomon and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and the second was built in the late sixth century BCE with the blessing of the Persian Empire and was later destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. These Temples were the central site of Jewish sacrifice and pilgrimage while they stood. The destruction of these holy Temples was tragic, traumatic, and completely transformational for Jews and Judaism. The Temples and the service of God that took place there are described extensively in Jewish texts, as are their destructions and practices surrounding how they are mourned to this very day.

After the First Temple (Beit Hamikdash) was destroyed by the Babylonians and the Jews went into exile, the Second Temple (Bayit Sheni) was built by returning exiles with the permission of the new Persian rulers. It was not nearly as elaborate as the First Temple.

Beitar was an ancient city that was the final stronghold of the Jews during the Bar Kokhba revolt of the second century CE in which Jews tried — unsuccessfully — to end Roman rule. The Romans captured and destroyed the fortress and massacred all of its inhabitants.

After the destruction of the Second Temple, the Galil region of northern Israel served as the center of Jewish life and seat of the Great Sanhedrin (Jewish council). In the Middle Ages, the Galilee once again became a center of Jewish life, culture, and mysticism.

Jews first found refuge in Germany after escaping Roman persecution. Over time, Jews both suffered and flourished in the country, with the first Reform synagogue opening in Germany in 1810. Before World War II, Germany was home to Central Europe’s largest Jewish community.

As one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is mentioned many times in the Bible and other Jewish sources. Damascus is sometimes synonymous with Aram, an Aramean state, in the Jewish sources. Today, Damascus is the capital of Syria.

Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal (Har Gerizim Vehar Eival) are two mountains in Samaria near the Jordan River. The former was fertile and the latter barren, which made them the ideal setting for announcing the blessings and curses in the Bible.

The Temple Mount (Har HaBayit) is the hill in Jerusalem where the Temple once stood and, according to rabbinic literature, the site of several important events. Although the Temple no longer exists, the site retains holiness in Jewish law and thought. Today, the Dome of the Rock is built on the Temple Mount, and discussion persists as to where one is allowed to enter according to Jewish law.

Mount Moriah (Har Hamoriah) is another name given to Jerusalem and is associated with the Temple Mount in the Bible. This is also the location where Abraham brought up Isaac as a sacrifice.

Mount Sinai (Har Sinai) is famously where Moses and the Israelites heard the Ten Commandments and received the Torah. Although it was the location of this historic event, the mountain in the middle of the Sinai Desert was sacred only as long as God present.

After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE by the Romans, Rabban Yochanan b. Zakkai moved the Sanhedrin to Yavneh, which became an important center of Jewish learning, rabbinic scholarship, and the development of rabbinic Judaism.

The Red Sea (Yam Suf in Hebrew) — often mistranslated as the Reed Sea — is located along Egypt's eastern border. In the book of Exodus, when the Israelites flee slavery in Egypt, the Red Sea stands between them and their freedom. God miraculously splits the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to pass through. The Egyptians though pursued the Israelites into the Red Sea, wherein they drowned.

Jerusalem — Yerushalayim in Hebrew — is considered the holiest city in the Jewish textual tradition. Although it is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah, the book of Deuteronomy refers numerous times to "the place that God will choose," a phrase later sources understood to refer to Jerusalem. In the book of Samuel, King David captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites, and the book of Kings recounts that King Solomon built the Temple there. Jerusalem is a central focus of many Jewish prayers, customs, and texts.

Jericho (Yericho) was a heavily fortified city located just west of the Jordan River and was the first settlement encountered by Joshua and the Israelites upon entering Israel. The city is mentioned again during the reign of King Ahab, when Hiel of Bethel attempts to rebuild it despite a curse placed on Jericho in the book of Joshua.

Named after the patriarch Jacob, whose name became Yisrael, Israel is both the name of the people and the land of the Bible. Sources throughout the Jewish textual tradition discuss Israel's uniqueness, laws to be kept in Israel, the land's borders, and more.

In the Torah, Kush was Noah's grandson, the son of Noah's son Ham. As Noah's descendants repopulated the world after the flood, Kush became an ancient kingdom in the southern Nile Valley, often identified with the region now known as Ethiopia in Jewish sources. The term also becomes the adjective used in rabbinic texts to refer to Black people. It has become a slur in modern Hebrew.

Located between Israel and Egypt, Midian was inhabited by the descendents of Midian, who was a son of Abraham. Moses spent his exile from Egypt in Midian and married a Midianite woman. Later, Israel was persecuted by Midian on the final legs of their journey to Israel.

Moab’s residents were descended from Lot, and the Torah commands the Israelites to neither attack nor absorb the Moabites. Notably, King David is descended from a Moabite, the convert Ruth. Moab was located in modern-day Jordan.

The Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs — or ma'arat hamakhpelah in Hebrew — is the area in Hebron that Abraham purchased as a burial place for his wife Sarah in Genesis 23. As the family tomb of the patriarchs and many of matriarchs of the Jewish people, it is considered a holy site and is a pilgrimage destination and site of prayer.

Egypt (Mitzrayim) plays a central role in the Bible, named both as a land of refuge and a land of danger and subjugation, particularly in the Passover narrative. Egypt is complex, both as the birthplace of the Jewish nation and as the one place the Torah tells Jews not to live. Despite this, Jewish communities flourished in Egypt from antiquity until relatively recently.

Nineveh was the populous capital city of Assyria located in the north of present-day Iraq. In the Bible, it is most famous for the repentance of its residents after God forces Jonah to rebuke them.

In the Bible, the city of Sodom became synonymous with evil in a story about Abraham’s nephew, Lot, his guests, and the mob of Sodomites that rose against them. Rabbinic sources elaborate on Sodom’s many evils, including using the death penalty to punish hospitality to strangers.

Syria holds a unique place in Jewish history due to its conquest by King David and its temporary affiliation with the Jewish commonwealth. Jewish sources portray Syria as a region that occupies a middle ground—not as sanctified as the land of Israel yet not entirely detached from it either.

Ever HaYarden was a region on the eastern side of the Jordan River where the Israelite tribes of Gad and Reuven chose to reside. Because Ever HaYarden was not part of the land where the Israelites were meant to settle, it became a province with unique customs and laws.

En Dor was a town believed to be located in northern Israel. It is primarily known from the Biblical story in which King Saul visits the Witch of En Dor to learn his fate against the assembled Philistine army.

Descended from Lot, Ammon was a nation that dwelled east of Israel in present-day Jordan. As with Moab — and although they were frequently in conflict — the Israelites were specifically instructed by the Torah to neither attack nor absorb the Ammonites.

Gemorrah (Amorah) was a city near Sodom that shared the evil inclinations and fate of total destruction that Sodom faced.

The Levitical Cities (Arei HaLeviim) were 48 cities that were set aside for the Levites who were not given their own land in Israel. Of those 48 cities, six also served as cities of refuge as defined in the Bible.

Zion — in Hebrew, Tzion — is another name for Jerusalem in the Bible. It can also refer to the land of Israel. The term often highlights a spiritual connection between heaven and earth or a yearning for messianic redemption.

As the nation responsible for the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Rome has a prominent place in the Jewish literature. Although most sources are critical of the pride and viciousness of the Roman Empire, some sources are more apologetic about Rome.

Shechem, a Canaanite town located north of Jerusalem, is first mentioned in Genesis when Abraham offered a sacrifice and built an altar there. However, it is perhaps most infamously known as the place where Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, was tragically raped.