and of these are
termed the period of disorder, two thousand belong to the dispensation
of the law, and two thousand are the days of the Messiah; but because of
our iniquities a large fraction of the latter term is already passed and
gone without the Messiah giving any sign of His appearing.

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 97, col. 1.

As the land of Canaan had one year of release in seven, so has the world
one millennium of release in seven thousand years; for it is said (Isa.
ii. 17), "And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day;" and again
(Ps. xcii. 1), "A psalm or song for the Sabbath day," which means a long
Sabbatic period; and again (Ps. xc. 4), "For a thousand years in Thy
sight are but as the day of yesterday."

Ibid.

Tradition records that the ladder (mentioned Gen. xxviii. 12) was eight
thousand miles wide, for it is written, "And behold the angels of God
ascending and descending upon it." Angels ascending, being in the
plural, cannot be fewer than two at a time, and so likewise must those
descending, so that when they passed they were four abreast at least. In
Daniel x. 6 it is said of the angel, "His body was like Tarshish," and
there is a story that Tarshish extended two thousand miles.

_Chullin_, fol. 91, col. 2.

The tithes from the herds of Elazer ben Azaryah amounted to twelve
thousand calves annually.

_Shabbath_, fol. 54, col. 2.

It is said that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of disciples
dispersed about between Gabbath and Antipatris, and all of them died
within a short period because they paid no honor to one another. The
land was then desolate until Rabbi Akiva came among our Rabbis of the
south and taught the law to Rabbis Meir, Yehudah, Yossi, Shimon, and
Elazer ben Shamua, who re-established its authority.

_Yevamoth_, fol. 26, col. 2.

After a lapse of twelve years, he returned accompanied by twelve
thousand disciples, etc.

Ravah bar Nachmaini was impeached for depriving the revenue of the
poll-tax on twelve thousand Jews, by detaining them annually at his
academy for one month in the spring, and for another month in the
autumn; for great multitudes from various parts of the country were
wont, at the two seasons of the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles,
to come to hear him preach, so that when the king's officers came to
collect the taxes they found none of them at home. A royal messenger was
accordingly despatched to apprehend him, but he failed to find him, for
the Rabbi