Ketubot 112a (קיב.) — the Talmud in English

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: I myself saw the land of Israel flowing with

milk and honey, and

when all the places in which the land of Israel flows with milk and honey are combined

it would be

a large area

like

the area

from Bei Miksei to the fortress

of Tulbankei,

which is

twenty-two parasangs in length,

in length,

and in width

and its width is

six parasangs,

six parasangs.

Rabbi Ḥelbo, Rabbi Avira, and Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina happened to come

to

a certain place,

a place in the land of Israel.

They brought before them

they brought before them

a peach

a peach

that was

the size

of

the size of

the frying pan

[a frying vessel] of

Kfar Hino.

And the Gemara explains:

And the frying pan

of

Kfar Hino—

how large was it

in measure?—

Five se’a.

They ate

from the peach

one-third, declared

of it

ownerless one-third, and gave one-third before their animals.

The following year

the next year,

Rabbi Elazar happened to come there,

to that same place,

and they brought before him

a peach from that place. But this time the peach was so small that

he could hold it in his hand,

he was able to hold it in one hand.

And he said,

Rabbi Elazar cited concerning the people of that place, whose produce had become so diminished, the words written in the book of Psalms [chapter 107]:

“A fruitful land

will turn

into

a land

of salt—

because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it!”

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi happened to come to

a place in the land of Israel called

“Gavla.”

He saw them,

and saw there among the vines

those bunches of grapes

large clusters of grapes

that stood like calves,

as, because of their great size, they looked like calves.

He said,

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi wondered: Is it possible that there are

calves among the vines!?

They said to him: They are bunches of grapes,

they are clusters of grapes and not calves! Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi turned to the land and

said

to it:

“Land, land! Gather in your produce! For whom are you bringing forth your produce?

Is it

for these Arabs, who have risen against us because of our sins!?”

At

the end of

the year, Rabbi Ḥiyya happened

to come

there.

He saw them,

he saw the clusters of grapes

that stood

large

like goats.

He said:

Are there

goats among the vines?

They said to him,

the residents of the place:

“Go,

go away from here, so that

you do not do to us as your colleague did,

so that you do not do to us as Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, your colleague, did. He addressed the land, asking that it not produce them so large; therefore, they diminished from the size of calves to the size of goats, and we do not want them to become any smaller.”

The Sages taught: In the years of the blessings of the land of Israel,

in a blessed year, a field of the size of

a beit se’a produces

grain measuring

fifty thousand kor.

A proof of this is brought from Zoan, which was the most blessed place in Egypt, and from it one can infer the productivity of the produce of the land of Israel.

A. Indeed,

when Zoan was inhabited

[when it was settled]—a field of

a beit se’a

was

producing

grain measuring

seventy kor.

The proof that a field of a beit se’a in Zoan produced this amount is from that

which was taught—

Rabbi Meir said: I saw in the valley of Beit She’an

[which is not in the land of Israel]

a beit se’a producing seventy kor.

And if this was so in Beit She’an, all the more so in Zoan!

Since

there is no

land

more excellent

in the productivity of its produce

among

the

lands

[apart from the land of Israel]

than the land of Egypt.

And as

it is stated

in describing the praise of the region of Sodom [the plain of the Jordan], before it was overturned, that it was a land which [Genesis 13] “was entirely watered,

like the garden of the Lord,

like the land of Egypt.”

And there is no place more excellent throughout the land of Egypt than

the city of

Zoan, where they raised

which was the royal residence of the

kings.

As it is written

[Isaiah 30]:

“For his princes were in Zoan,”

as the princes of Israel would go as emissaries to Zoan to meet there with the king of Egypt, at his residence.

And there is no

soil

of rocky terrain

[which is unfit for growing grain]

throughout the entire land of Israel worse than Hebron, where the dead were buried,

as they buried the dead there because it was unfit for cultivating fields.

B.

And even so,

the city of

Hebron

is

“productive,”

it yields abundant produce—

seven times

[sevenfold] that of the yield of the field

in Zoan.

As it is written

[Numbers 13]:

“And Hebron

was built seven years before Zoan of Egypt.”

What

is the meaning of the word

“was built”?

If you say,

if it is said that Hebron

was literally built

seven years before Egypt was built—that cannot be said.

For is it

possible

that

a man

[Ham, son of Noah]

would build a house for his younger son

[Canaan, in whose land Hebron was located]

before he built

a house for his older

son

[Egypt, who was older than Canaan]?

As it is stated

[Genesis 10]:

“And the sons of Ham—

Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.”

Rather,

the verse must necessarily mean

that

Hebron

“was productive,”

it yielded produce from its fields

sevenfold

[seven times] the yield of the field

in Zoan.

And since we find that in Beit She’an [which is not in the land of Israel] one field of a beit se’a produced seventy kor, it necessarily follows that in Zoan, which was the most productive land [apart from the land of Israel], it too produced a yield of seventy kor.

C. Since a field in Hebron yields seven times as much as one in Zoan, it follows that a field of a beit se’a in Hebron yields four hundred ninety kor.

D.

And this applies

that the field yields four hundred ninety kor

in

soil of

rocky terrain

like that of Hebron.

But when it is not

soil of

rocky terrain—

its yield must be increased, and it yields at least

five hundred

kor.

E.

And this applies

that it yields five hundred kor

in a year without blessings.

But in a year of blessings—

it is written

[Genesis 26]

“And Isaac sowed in that land,

and he found in that year a hundredfold.” That is, one hundred times as much.

And five hundred multiplied by one hundred is fifty thousand!

It was taught: Rabbi Yosei said: A se’a in Judea

would produce five

types of

se’a

of five types:

a se’a of flour, a se’a of fine flour, a se’a of bran, a se’a of coarse bran, and a se’a of kibburiya

[see Rashi for the distinctions].

A certain Sadducee said to Rabbi Ḥanina: You praise your land beautifully,

what you relate in praise of your land is impressive—

for

my father left me one beit se’a

in the land of Israel,

from it I produce oil,

oil,

from it I produce wine,

wine,

from it I produce food,

food,

from it I produce legumes, and from it my flock grazes.

He said to him,

asked

that son of an Amorite,

one of the Amorite people,

the son of the land of Israel,

one of the Israelites, as they stood on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, before the Israelite entered the land:

This palm tree,

this date palm

that stands on the bank of the Jordan,

standing on the bank of the Jordan, on the far side of the river, in the land of Israel—

how many kor do you harvest from it?

How many kor of dates do you pick from it?

He said to him: Sixty

sixty

kor.

He said to him: You have not yet entered it,

you have not yet entered it, and already

you have destroyed it!

You have destroyed it!

For

we

the amoraim—

would harvest one hundred twenty kor

[gather]

from it,

whereas now you intend to harvest only sixty kor from it!

He said to him: I too, on one side only

on one side alone

am speaking to you

that it yields sixty kor, but from both sides I will harvest one hundred twenty kor from it.

Rav Ḥisda said: What

is the meaning of the verse

that is written

[Jeremiah 3]:

“And I gave you a desirable land, an inheritance like a deer”?

Why is the land of Israel compared to a deer?

To tell you: Just as this deer,

after its skin is removed, contracts, and

its skin can no longer contain

the

flesh,

if one tries to put the deer's flesh back into its stripped skin—

so too, the land of Israel cannot contain its produce.

It produces such an abundance of fruit that when it is picked from the trees, there is not enough room to store the produce.

Alternatively: Just as this deer is swift

it is

from all the animals—

so too, the land of Israel is swift

it is

among all lands in ripening its produce.

If so, just as this deer is swift but its flesh is not fatty, so too, is the land of Israel swift to ripen its produce but its produce is not fatty?

The verse states: “Flowing with milk and honey”—

for its produce is

fatter than milk, and sweeter

than

honey.

When Rabbi Elazar would ascend

when he would go up

to the land of Israel, he would say: I have escaped one!

I have now escaped one of the three curses stated in the Torah, as will be explained below.

When they ordained him

through the ordination of sages to judge,

he said: I have escaped two!

I have escaped two of the three curses.

When they seated him

when they appointed him

to the “secret of intercalation”

[of the months of the year]—

he said: I have escaped all three!

The Gemara explains the three curses from which Rabbi Elazar was spared.

According to

what is stated

[Ezekiel 13]:

“And My hand shall be against the prophets who see false visions,” and so on

and so forth:

“They shall not be in the secret of My people”—

this is the secret of intercalation.

“And they shall not be written in the record of the house of Israel”—

this is ordination.

“And they shall not enter the land of Israel”—

as it plainly means.

When Rabbi Zeira would ascend

when he went up

to the land of Israel

from Babylonia,

he could not find a bridge

he did not find a bridge

for crossing

to cross the river at the place where he wanted to cross.

Rabbi Zeira took hold

Rabbi Zeira

of a rope and crossed,

over it.

There was no bridge at that place; rather, a narrow log lay across the river, with a rope stretched above it. Anyone crossing the log had to hold on to the rope above so as not to slip into the water. Rabbi Zeira did so: he held on to the rope above [“took hold”], and thus crossed the river atop the narrow log.

A certain Sadducee said to Rabbi Zeira,

when he saw him hurrying to cross the river in this manner rather than walking to a place where there was a bridge:

You are an impulsive people,

you are a rash [hasty] people,

for you put your mouths before your ears,

as you hastily agreed to accept the Torah with your mouths, saying “We will do and we will hear,” before you had heard with your ears what the Torah you were accepting contained!

You still persist in your impulsiveness!

You still act with haste [rapidity and rashness], as Rabbi Zeira did, hurrying to cross the river by such a narrow passage rather than waiting to reach a place where there was a bridge.

He said to him,

Rabbi Zeira said to him: I hastened to do this because I am not certain that I will merit reaching the land of Israel, and therefore I am eager to get there and not delay. For

a place

the land

that Moses and Aaron did not merit

entering

it, I

Rabbi Zeira,

who can say

who can say

that I will merit

entering

it!?

The Gemara brings several incidents demonstrating the great love for the land of Israel that the Torah scholars possessed—

Rabbi Abba

would

kiss the rocks

the rocks

of Akko.

Rabbi Ḥanina

would

repair the roads.

He would straighten the roads so that people would not stumble on them and thereby come to speak ill of the roads of the land of Israel.