1. Genesis 12:5, Rashi ad loc.

2. Ibid. 12:8, Nachmanides ad loc.; ibid., 21:33, Rashi, ad loc.

3. Ibid. Chap. 15.

4. Genesis 35:19.

5. Ibid. 23:19, 25:9, 35:19, 35:29, 50:13; Joshua 24:32.

6. Genesis 50:24-26.

7. I Kings 6:1. The Temple was completed by King Solomon 480 years after the Exodus.

8. Ezra, Chap. 1.

9. Nehemiah, Chap. 2.

10. The Jewish community of Iraq, for example, has been in existence since the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians.

11. Rabbi Yehudah Halevy, Sefer Hakuzari, (also known simply as Kuzari) Israel, 1979. 2:14, 4:3.

12. Nachmanides, Commentary on Deut. 18:15.

13. Sefer Hakuzari, 2:8-14. See also Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, Michtav M'Eliyahu, III, pp. 193-196.

14. Christianity, Islam, Bahai; Kuzari, 4:11.

15. Calculation of Rabbi Yishayahu Halevi Horowitz, Shnei Luchot Habrit, Heichal Hasefer, Bnei Brak. Notes to Introduction of Torah Shebichtav. In exile, we are obligated to 270 commandments, hinted at in Song of Songs 5:2, "I was asleep [but] my heart was awake." The numerical value of the Hebrew word for "awake" is 270. See also Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, Pachad Yitzchak, Rosh Hashanah 4.

16. Nachmanides, Commentary on Leviticus 18:25; Deut. 11:18.

17. Maimonides, Book of the Commandments, Positive Commandment 153.

18. Kuzari, 2:16.

19. Rabbi Moshe Sofer, Teshuvot Chatam Sofer, Mekor Press, Jerusalem, 1970. Introduction to Responsa on Yoreh Deah, Pituchei Chotam.

20. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Commentary on Genesis 48:3-4. See also Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, Responsa Seridei Aish Vol. 4, p. 365; Shem MiShmuel, Parshat Balak.

21. Otzar Midrashim, Tzedakot 3 - Gadol shimushah yoter milimudah.

22. Nachmanides, Commentary on Genesis 25:34.

23. Bamachaneh (In the Camp).

24. Zohar, Raya Meheimnah 3:225a; Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, Nefesh Hachaim, Sha'ar 3, Chap. 4.

25. Ibid. Sha'ar 3, Chaps. 5-6.

26. Talmud - Yoma 87b.

27. Genesis 28:17. See also Shnei Luchot Habrit, Notes to Tractate Tamid, Ner Mitzvah 13, First Note; Teshuvot Chatam Sofer, Responsa Yoreh Deah, 233.

28. Midrash Shmot Rabbah, 2:2; Midrash Tanchuma, Shmot 10; Midrash Tehillim 11:3.

29. Hillel Halkin, "Philologos" column from The Forward, January 12, 2001.

30. Noted in a speech by Yitzchak Rabin at Hebrew University on receiving an honorary doctorate. See also Follow Me, a video of the Six Day War, filmed by Israeli combat photographers, produced by The Jerusalem Post.

31. Genesis 14:18.

32. Ibid., Chap. 22.

33. Pesikta DeRav Kahana, Vayera 22:14.

34. Genesis 28:11, Rashi ad loc.

35. Zevachim 54b.

36. I Kings, 6:14.

37. Talmud - Yoma 19a.

38. Psalms 125:2.

39. Tosafot Bava Kama 82a "ve'eina"; Tosafot Bava Batra 23b "beyoshevet."