place · L0023
Bnei Brak בני ברק
Town where Rabbi Akiva established his academy. Site of the famous all-night Pesach seder of the sages recounted in the Haggadah.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- בני ברק
III. Where
- Modern location
- Near modern Bnei Brak, Israel (ancient site nearby)
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rabbi Akiva's court sat in Bnei Brak — "follow the sages to the academy... after Rabbi Akiva to Bnei Brak." | rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| Bnei Brak appears in Tanakh among the cities of the tribe of Dan. | biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| Sennacherib's annals (the Taylor and Chicago prisms, recording the campaign of 701 BCE) list Banai-barqa among the towns of Tzidka king of Ashkelon that the Assyrians besieged and took — an extra-biblical attestation of the ancient town. | external archaeology | ★★★★★ | |
| The Haggadah recounts that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Tarfon reclined at the seder in Bnei Brak, telling of the Exodus all that night until their students came to announce the time of the morning Shema. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ |
Referenced by: Rabbi Akiva