{{short description|Group that included Egyptians and others who had joined the Israelites on the Exodus}} {{italic title}} [[File:GoldCalf.jpg|right|thumb|''The Adoration of the Golden Calf'' by Nicolas Poussin]] '''''Erev Rav''''' ({{langx|he|עֵרֶב רַב}} {{Transliteration|he|‘êreḇ raḇ}} "mixed multitude") was a group that included Egyptians and others who had joined the Tribes of Israel on the Exodus.<ref name="AlexanderBaker2003">{{cite book|author1=T. Desmond Alexander|author2=David W. Baker|title=Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ao5ecZ0ZsG8C|date=13 January 2003|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-1781-8|page=456}}</ref> According to Jewish tradition, they were accepted by Moses as an integral part of the people. Their influence is said to have been involved in the golden calf and other incidents where the people questioned Moses and his laws.<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Lundgren |first1 = Svante |title = Particularism and Universalism in Modern Jewish Thought |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Be89Fl9TticC |series = Academic studies in the history of Judaism |publication-place = Binghamton, New York |publisher = Global Academic Publishing |publication-date = 2001 |page = 44 |isbn = 9781586841058 |access-date = 6 September 2022 |quote = The great disaster in Jewish history, the sin of the golden calf, was in the view of The Zohar the fault of Gentiles, the 'mixed multitude' that joined and mingled with the Israelites. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tanchuma |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2405-8262_rgg4_dum_024394 |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart}}</ref>
According to contemporary Orthodox Jewish commentary ''Da'at Miqra'', the words roughly correspond to the "mixed many", while Targum Onkelos translates it as "many foreigners". The term appears in Exodus 12:38: "A mixed crowd also went up with them, and livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds".<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|12:38|NRSV}}</ref> The "mixed crowd" is an English rendering of ''Erev Rav''. While Exodus 12:38 is the only mention of the complete term ''Erev Rav'' in the entire Tanakh, the term ''erev'' by itself (which also means evening in Hebrew),<ref>In Hebrew spelling without niqqud (vowel-points) the ''erev'' for evening and the ''erev'' for "mixed" are spelled identically. However, the first vowel in the two words is written and pronounced differently: evening has a segol, while mixed has a tzere.</ref> also appears in Nehemiah 13:3, where it is used to refer to non-Jews.<ref name="shaulbar">Bar, Shaul. "Who Were The Mixed Multitudes?" ''Hebrew Studies,'' vol. 49, 2008, pp. 27–39., (www.jstor.org/stable/27913875).</ref> Biblical scholar Shaul Bar has suggested that the term may have referred specifically to foreign mercenaries who intermarried with the Israelite people in Egypt.<ref name="shaulbar" /> Israel Knohl suggested that the word ''erev'' may be cognate to the Akkadian ''urbi'', referring to a kind of soldier.
According to Isaac Luria, in every generation the souls of the ''Erev Rav'' are reincarnated in numerous individuals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Student |first=Gil |title=Can The Rebbe Be Moshiach?: Proofs from Gemara, Midrash, and Rambam that the Rebbe zt"l cannot be Moshiach |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvSI2na5LtoC&q=%22Erev+Rav%22+reincarnation&pg=PA79|publisher=Universal Publishers |year=2002 |page=79 |isbn=1581126115}}</ref> The ''Zohar'', which is the foundational text for Kabbalistic thought, explains the ''Erev Rav'' are the cause for most of the problems affecting the Jewish people.<ref>"The initial letters of the words Rosh Bnei Yisrael (ראש בני ישראל, the heads of the Jewish people) spell ReBY ( רבי, teacher). This indicates that the Jews require a qualified teacher to transmit God’s message. The initial letters of the words Rasha'im Ba-choshekh Yidamu (רשעים בחשך ידמו, the wicked are cut off in darkness) (I Samuel 2: 9) also spell ReBY (רבי) (Likutey Moharan I, 111). In this case, it is a reference to unworthy people who wrest the leadership of the Jews from genuine teachers. These false leaders, who are referred to as the "mixed multitude", will eventually be "cut off". And then, the Zohar (III, 297b) teaches: "When the mixed multitude leaves the presence of the Jews, the verse 'Count the heads of the Jewish people' will be fulfilled"."</ref> Currently, the term ''Erev Rav'' is used by Israeli Jews in a derogatory manner to describe someone who is perceived as a traitor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-is-erev-rav/|title=What Is Erev Rav|date=11 February 2016|work=Times of Israel}}</ref> Recently, progressive interpretations see ''Erev Rav'' in a positive frame, as "a mixed multitude of people from all walks of life — who set out together in pursuit of something better." In this reading, the ''Erev Rav'' suggests that the fate of Jewish people is connected to the fate of all peoples and that Jewish safety cannot exist in isolation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hagans |first=Jamie Beran and Graie |date=2024-06-21 |title=Our Fates are Intertwined: Lessons from the Erev Rav |url=https://forward.com/sponsored/621457/our-fates-are-intertwined-lessons-from-the-erev-rav/ |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== * Am ha'aretz
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Ancient Jewish Egyptian history Category:Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible