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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The legend here reads: ש(נת) ב לחר(ות) ישראל “Y(ear) 2 to the free(dom) of Israel” Roughly the same coin type was minted throughout the revolt, from 132–135. 6/6

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The ethrog is depicted with a narrowing around the mid-section, a common phenomenon among citrons. Some people today prefer to use ethrogim like this, referring to the narrow band as a “גאַרטל” (i.e., Gürtel, girdle). 5/6

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I think this is unlikely, though, since such a large basket seems strange for only a lulav and two twigs. It seems more likely to me that the “basket” is in fact a bunch of particularly leafy myrtles, tied together with four bands. 4/6

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

These scholars have suggested that the depiction aligns with the view of R. Aqiba, who ruled that one is to take a single myrtle and a single willow (m. Suk. 3:4). Conveniently, R. Aqiba was known to have been a supporter of Simon Bar Kosiba (aka Bar Kokhba), whom he regarded as the messiah. 3/6

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Flanking the central lulav, we have two twigs emerging out of some sort of object. Several scholars have interpreted this object as a basket holding the lulav plus a myrtle and a willow (the two twigs). 2/6

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗝𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘀 —𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟰— The final example depicting the four species is actually a series of coin types that was minted throughout the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The reverse (shown here) displays a single lulav bundle, with an ethrog to its left. 🧵1/6

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Also note the myrtle berries and what appear to be three (?) bands that hold the bundle together at the bottom (compare m. Sukkah 3:8). The legend reads: שנת ארבע Year four" (i.e., 69/70 CE)" On the obverse (not shown) is a chalice and the legend: לגאלת ציון "For the redemption of Zion" 4/4

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I would not read too much into the numbers of objects here, though; I think the artist was aiming for aesthetic symmetry. Note the visible pîṭām at the top of both ethrogim. 3/4

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Compare this with the first type (discussed in Part 1), where a single ethrog is flanked by two lulav bundles, and the second type (discussed in Part 2), where a single ethrog appears on the obverse and two lulav bundles on the reverse. 2/4

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗝𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘀 —𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟯— This is a third type of bronze coin depicting the four species that was issued during the Great Revolt. The reverse (shown here) displays a single lulav bundle, flanked by two ethrogim. 🧵1/4

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Are you familiar with the rabbinic term (first mentioned in the Mishnah) called צאן ברזל ("iron sheep/goats")? For details, see: www.yeshiva.org.il/wiki/index.p...

yeshiva.org.il

אנציקלופדיה תלמודית:צאן ברזל – ויקישיבה

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The reverse (shown here on the left) displays two bundles of lulavs. The small dots are likely the berries of the myrtle branches. The legend reads: שנת ארבע רביע “Year four, quarter” (“quarter” probably signifies the denomination) 3/3

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The small dots along the edges probably represent the bumps commonly found on the rind of ethrogim. The protrusion at the bottom appears to be the stem, and there seems to be no visible pîṭām at the top. The legend reads: לגאלת ציון “For the redemption of Zion” 2/3

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗝𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘀 —𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟮— Displayed here is another type depicting the four species, also a bronze coin minted in the fourth year of the Great Revolt, in 69/70 CE. On the obverse (shown here on the right) is a single ethrog. 🧵1/3

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

In the coming days, I plan to continue posting about the other coin types featuring the four species. Happy Sukkot to all who are celebrating! 5/5

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The obverse (not shown) depicts a palm tree with two baskets of dates, and the legend: לגאלת ציון “For the redemption of Zion” 4/5

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Between the two bundles appears an ethrog. It is unclear to me why two lulav bundles are paired with a single ethrog. My guess is that the artist was simply aiming for symmetry. The legend reads: שנת ארבע חצי “Year four, half” (“half” probably signifies the denomination). 3/5

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The first type to appear was a bronze coin minted during the fourth year of the Great Revolt, in 69/70 CE. On the reverse (shown here) are two bundles, each apparently composed of a lulav together with myrtle and willow branches. 2/5

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗝𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘀 —𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟭— The four species of Sukkot (Leviticus 23:40) appear on several types of ancient Jewish coins. All were minted during the two major Jewish revolts against Rome. 🧵1/5

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

...which is one of the beautiful things about cherished stories. Happy Sukkot to all who celebrate! 8/8

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

My family will doubtless continue to tell this story in the years to come. I am sure that the story will continue to develop from year to year and from generation to generation. My historical musings will have no effect on this... 7/8

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

As an example of a historical problem I’ve recently considered: a sukkah built on someone else’s property is invalid if the owner of the land does not acquiesce to having the sukkah there. My great-grandfather was a learned man and surely knew this. I am not sure how this affected his actions. 6/8

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The story was preserved and passed down for a reason—and that reason is what dictates how the story has been told and retold. And once my uncle published the story in print, it likely took on a somewhat novel trajectory. 5/8

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This account has been passed down as a cherished family story over the generations. Recently, I have been wondering how much the story we tell comports with what actually happened. 4/8

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The judge ruled in favor of the building owner and, looking at Nathan sternly—but with a twinkle in his eye—ruled that he had eight days to dismantle the sukkah. 3/8

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

...from over a century ago involving my great-grandfather, Nathan Adler. The story goes that Nathan built a sukkah on the roof of his apartment building. The owner of the building, who is said to have disliked Jews, brought Nathan to court the day before Sukkot to force him to take it down. 2/8

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

𝗔 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘃𝘀. 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 My uncle, David A. Adler, is a well-known author of children’s books. (You may know his fabulous Cam Jansen series.) Fifty years ago, he published 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘧: 𝘈 𝘚𝘶𝘬𝘬𝘰𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, based on a true story... 🧵1/8

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

And so, while it is true that we find ritual immersion pools everywhere we look, it makes perfect sense that special accommodations would have been provided at the entrance to the Temple Mount. 7/7 www.haaretz.com/archaeology/...

haaretz.com

Monumental ancient ritual baths unearthed at foot of Temple Mount in Jerusalem

Pilgrims flocking to ancient Jerusalem for the holidays in the Second Temple period may have not only purified but had opportunity to clean up before ascending to the holy site

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This may be likened to perjury: while one should never tell a lie anywhere, uttering falsehoods in a courtroom is a particularly serious offence that carries actual penalties. 6/7

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

... That said, the stakes were highest at the Temple, where violations of purity rules in connection with the Temple and sacrificial cult carried the most serious consequences. 5/7

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I have long argued that ritual purity was not focused exclusively on the Temple or the priesthood. Ordinary Jews living throughout Judea and Galilee observed purity laws in their daily lives... 4/7

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

But here, for the first time, we appear to have a well-planned purification center, with several pools designed for organized, large-scale ritual immersion. 3/7

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We’ve already known of several ritual immersion pools scattered throughout the area south and west of the Temple Mount. We even have archaeological indications of ritual immersion pools on the Temple Mount itself. 2/7

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This is actually quite an interesting discovery. Link to the @haaretzcom.bsky.social article at the end of the thread. 🧵1/7

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

For my "The Temple Willow-Branch Ritual Depicted on Bar Kokhba Denarii" (published in: Israel Numismatic Journal, 16 [2007–2008], pp. 129–133), go to: www.academia.edu/233671/The_T... 9/9

academia.edu

The Temple Willow-Branch Ritual Depicted on Bar Kokhba Denarii

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

...but I suspect they may have much broader implications for how we understand the nature and development of halakhah more generally. Stay tuned… 8/9

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

In a future post, I plan to develop some ideas about halakhah le-Moshe mi-Sinai that I think are especially relevant to these two enigmatic rites. These ideas emerged from my analytical laboratory work on the ancient tefillin from the Judean Desert... 7/9

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Rabbinic sources also relate that both rituals were rejected by sectarian groups: the Sadducees and the Boethusians. 6/9

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Some ancient rabbis maintained that the two rites could be derived exegetically from the Pentateuch. Others held that they could not, and instead classified them as halakhah le-Moshe mi-Sinai—“a halakhah given to Moses at Sinai.” 5/9

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

There are reasons to think that these two ceremonies were related. I call them “mysterious” because neither ritual has a clear prooftext in the Pentateuch, and their origins remain enigmatic. 4/9

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The branch, as I have argued elsewhere, represents another rite described by the rabbis: young willow branches were gathered from Motza, near Jerusalem, and set upright alongside the altar. (See 9/9 for a link to my article on this.) 3/9

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The pitcher, it seems, represents the golden flagon described in rabbinic sources, which give a vivid account of a ceremony in which water was drawn from the Pool of Siloam and poured onto the altar of the Temple. 2/9

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘂𝗸𝗸𝗼𝘁 This Bar Kokhba-period dinar depicts what I believe may be symbols of two mysterious Temple rituals associated with the festival of Sukkot: the water-libation ceremony and the willow rite. 🧵1/9

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

...there was no central authority with the power to stifle heterodox views and enforce any sort of orthodoxy, debates regularly flourished. The culture of debate that the rabbis later developed grew naturally out of these early beginnings. Wishing a meaningful Yom Kippur to all who celebrate. 7/7

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The reason for this is that Torah law is a dynamic legal system founded on human interpretations of an opaque (and sometimes self-contradictory) text—the Pentateuch. The system invites a multiplicity of interpretations. And because, throughout most of history... 6/7

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Disputes erupted right out of the starting gates … and they’ve never stopped since. It seems to me that debates within Judaism are not a bug in the system—they are a feature baked into its structure from its very beginning. 5/7

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Yonatan Adler @yonatan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I find it fascinating that at the very dawn of Judaism—in the Hasmonean period, when we first start to see indications that Torah observance had become widespread—we already begin to encounter fierce debates over how to interpret the Torah’s details. 4/7

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