Ketubot 111b — the Talmud in English

Rather, sitting [], which has no support -

standing, which has support, is more comfortable than it.

They also added words of Torah to their letter:

And likewise Isaac, Simeon, and Hoshaiah said one thing: the halakha follows Rabbi Judah with regard to mules,

as will be explained.

For it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Judah says: A mule

created from the mating of a horse and a donkey,

which demanded

to mate,

one may mate it neither with a horse nor with a donkey, but only with its own kind,

alone, because there is thereby a transgression of mixed species. This is because Rabbi Judah is uncertain whether we are concerned with the seed of the father or not.

But according to the Sages, we are not concerned with the seed of the father. Therefore, if the mule was born from a she-donkey upon which a horse mated, one mates it with a donkey; and if the mule was born from a mare upon which a donkey mated, one mates it with a horse.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: Isaac -

this is Rabbi Isaac Nappaḥa,

Simeon -

this is Rabbi Simeon ben Pazi,

and some say, Reish Lakish,

Hoshaiah -

this is Rabbi Hoshaiah the son of Rabbi.

We learned above:

Rabbi Elazar said: The uneducated do not live.

As it is stated: [

Isaiah 26]

“The dead shall not live,” and so on.

It was also taught likewise: “The dead shall not live” -

Could this apply to everyone?

The verse states: “The shades shall not rise.”

The verse is speaking of one who weakens himself from words of Torah.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him

to Rabbi Elazar:

Their Master is not pleased that you speak to them this way.

For

that

verse

is written with regard to one who weakens himself from the worship of stars!

He said to him,

Rabbi Elazar:

I expound another verse,

as it is written: [

Isaiah 26]

“For Your dew is the dew of lights, and the earth shall cast forth the shades.”

Anyone who makes use of the light of Torah -

the light of Torah gives him life,

and anyone who does not make use of the light of Torah -

the light of Torah does not give him life.

When he saw

Rabbi Elazar

that

Rabbi Yoḥanan was distressed over his words,

he said to him: Rabbi, I have found for them

for those who weaken themselves from Torah

a remedy from the Torah! [

Deuteronomy 4]

“But you who cleave to the Lord your God are all alive today” -

but is it possible

for a person

to cleave to the Divine Presence?

But it is written: [

Deuteronomy 4]

“For the Lord your God is a consuming fire!”

Rather, anyone who marries his daughter to a Torah scholar, and one who conducts business for Torah scholars, and one who provides Torah scholars with benefit from his property, the verse ascribes it to him as though he cleaves to the Divine Presence.

Similarly, you say: [

Deuteronomy 30]

“To love the Lord your God and to cleave to Him” -

but is it possible for a person to cleave to the Divine Presence?

Rather, anyone who marries his daughter to a Torah scholar, and one who conducts business for Torah scholars, and one who provides Torah scholars with benefit from his property, the verse ascribes it to him as though he cleaves to the Divine Presence.

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Yosef said: In the future, the righteous

at the resurrection of the dead

will sprout forth and rise in Jerusalem.

As it is stated [

Psalms 72]:

“And they shall blossom from the city like the grass of the earth.”

And “city” means only Jerusalem.

As it is stated [

II Kings 19]

“And I will protect this city.”

And Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Yosef said: In the future, the righteous will stand

at the resurrection of the dead

in their garments.

A kal va-chomer from wheat -

if wheat, which was buried naked -

emerges

from the earth clothed

in several garments -

the righteous, who were buried in their garments -

all the more so

that they will rise from the earth for resurrection in their garments.

And Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Yosef said: In the future, the Land of Israel will produce cakes and garments of fine material

as it is stated [

Psalms 72]

“May there be an abundance of grain in the land.”

The Sages taught:

It is written in the book of Psalms

“May there be an abundance of grain in the land, on the tops of the mountains” -

From here

they said

the Sages:

In the future, wheat will rise like a date palm, and ascend to the tops of the mountains.

And lest you say, harvesting it is painful

for the wheat, because of the exertion caused by its height!

The verse states

later in the verse:

“Its fruit shall rustle like Lebanon” -

its fruit.

The verse teaches that

the Holy One, blessed be He, brings a wind from His treasuries, and blows upon it, and causes its fine flour to settle,

for the blowing wind strips the wheat kernels, and also crushes them into flour, and sifts away the refuse, and pure fine flour remains.

And a person goes out to the field and brings the fullness of his hand

from the fine flour in the field,

and from it is his sustenance and the sustenance of the members of his household.

And the beraita continues in explaining verses concerning the excellence of the fruits of the Land of Israel: It is written in the book of Deuteronomy, in the Song of Haazinu:

“With the fat of kidneys of wheat.”

From here

they said

the Sages:

In the future, wheat

in the Land of Israel

will be like the two kidneys of the “great ox.”

And do not wonder, for a fox nested in

the midst of

a turnip,

which was so large that the fox bored through it until there was a spacious place in the hollow of the hole, and the fox established its dwelling there and gave birth to young there. [Rashi. For “nested” is from the expression “nest,” which is built for raising young].

And they weighed it

the turnip after the place of the fox’s “nest” had been removed from it,

and found in it

in what remained - a weight of

sixty litrin,

which were measured

by

the measure of the

litara of Sepphoris.

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Yosef said: There was an incident in Shiḥin, involving one whose father left him three mustard stalks, and one split

divided

from one of them

from the stem,

and nine kav of mustard were found in it.

And

in

its wood

of that mustard plant -

they roofed a “potters’ booth” [

a booth used by makers of earthenware vessels].

Rabbi Simeon ben Taḥlifa said: Our father left us a cabbage stalk, and we would ascend and descend on it by ladder.

And it is written later in the passage of Haazinu [Deuteronomy 32]:

“And the blood of the grape you shall drink as wine.”

From here

they said

the Sages:

Not like this world -

the World to Come.

This world -

there is suffering in it,

for if a person wants wine, he must first

harvest

the grapes from the vineyard, and afterward he must labor

and tread

them in the winepress.

But in the time of

the World to Come -

a person brings

a

single grape, in a wagon or on a ship, and places it in a corner of

his house, and supplies himself from it

wine

like a large pitos [

a large container holding a kor of wine].

And its wood

of the grape cluster,

they kindle

with it the fire that is

beneath the cooked dish.

And there is no grape, each and every one, that does not contain thirty jars of wine.

As it is stated: “And the blood of the grape you shall drink as wine.”

And the Sages expounded the words of the verse, “And the blood of the grape you shall drink,” to mean that the drinking of the wine will be directly from the grape, without the need to produce it.

And the Sages expounded the great abundance of wine that will be obtained from one grape from the word “wine” -

Do not read ḥemer but ḥomer [

a measure of a kor, which contains thirty seahs].

When Rav Dimi came, he said: What is the meaning of that which is written: [

Genesis 49]

“Binding his foal to the vine”?

There is no grapevine in the Land of Israel that does not require one city to harvest it,

to place its clusters of grapes upon it. [

Genesis 49]

“And his vine branch to the foal of his she-donkey” -

there is no barren tree in the Land of Israel that does not produce a load for two she-donkeys;

And lest you say, there is not

much

wine in it?

The verse states: “He washes his garment in wine.”

The wine is as abundant as water, to the extent that it serves as water for washing.

And lest you say, it is not red?

The verse states: “And the blood of the grape you shall drink as wine”;

And lest you say, it does not intoxicate?

It does not make drunk?

The verse states: “Soteh”;

And lest you say, it has no taste?

The verse states: “His eyes are red with wine,”

Every palate that tastes it says:

give

me,

give

me;

And lest you say, it is good for the young but not good for the old?

The verse states: “And white of teeth from milk.”

Do not read “white of teeth” but “white of years.”

What is the plain meaning of the verse speaking about?

When Rav Dimi came, he said: The congregation of Israel said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, smile

at

me

as friends do,

whose teeth are sweetened by wine, and show me Your teeth, whose teeth are sweetened by milk.

This supports Rabbi Yoḥanan.

For Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One who whitens his fellow’s teeth is better than one who gives him milk to drink, as it is stated: “And white of teeth” -

from milk.

Do not read “white of teeth” but “whitening of teeth.”

Rav Ḥiyya bar Adda -

a teacher of children

in the school of

Reish Lakish’s

school,

was absent from teaching the children for

three days, and did not come.

When he came, he said to him

Reish Lakish:

Why were you absent?

He said to him: My father left me one grapevine

of grapes,

and on the first day I harvested three hundred clusters from it, a cluster per jar [

a measure].

On the second day I harvested three hundred clusters, two clusters per jar; on the third day I harvested three hundred clusters from it, three clusters per jar; and I abandoned more than half of it.

He said to him:

You have thereby seen that each day you received less, and you should have understood that this was punishment for your neglecting Torah study with the children.

Had you not been absent -

it would have produced more.

Rami bar Yeḥezkel happened to come to Bnei Brak.

He saw those goats eating beneath the fig trees, and honey was dripping from the figs, and milk was flowing from them, and they were mixing with one another. He said: This is “flowing with milk and honey.”

Rabbi Yaakov ben Dostai said: From Lod to Ono there are three mil. Once I arose early at dusk, and walked up to my ankles in fig honey.

Reish Lakish said: I myself saw the “flowing with milk and honey” of Sepphoris, and it was sixteen mil by sixteen mil.