Sukkot: Seventy Oxen for the Nations of the World

hero image
29 Jun 2006
Sukkot

After the regular daily offering in the Temple, the Additional Offerings were brought. Each day there was a different number of these Additional Offerings were to be brought. All together seventy oxen were to be brought in the course of the entire festival. These seventy oxen corresponded to the seventy original nations of the world who descended from the sons of Noah, and who were the ancestors of all the nations till this day. Israel brought these sacrifices as atonement for the nations of the world and in prayer for their well being as well as for universal peace and harmony between them.

“Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said, ‘If the nations of the world had known the value of the Temple for them, they would have surrounded it with fortresses in order to protect it. For it was greater value for them than for Israel….'”