Ketubot 112a — the Talmud in English

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: I myself saw the flowing of

milk and honey of the entire Land of Israel, and

when you combine all the places where the Land of Israel flows with milk and honey,

it is

a large area,

like

the area from

“Bei Miksei” to “Aqra

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

they happened to come

to that place,

to one place in the Land of Israel.

They brought before them

they brought before them

a peach

a peach

that was

whose size was

like

the size of

the frying pan

the frying pan of

Kfar Hino.

And the Gemara explains:

And the frying pan

of

Kfar Hino—

how much was

its measure?—

five seahs.

They ate

from the peach

one-third, and declared ownerless

of it

one-third, and placed one-third before their animals.

The following year

the following year,

Rabbi Elazar happened to come there,

to that place,

and they brought before him

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

he could hold it in his hand,

he could hold it with one hand.

And he said,

Rabbi Elazar recited concerning the people of that place, whose produce had become so small, the words written in the Book of Psalms [chapter 107]:

“A fruitful land

turns

into a

land

of salt—

because of the evil 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 clusters,

large clusters of grapes

that stood like calves,

for because of their size they appeared like calves.

He said,

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi wondered: Is there

calves among the vines!?

They said to him: They are clusters,

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 rose against us because of our sins!?

At

the end of

the year,

happened to come

Rabbi Ḥiyya there.

He saw them,

he saw the grape clusters

that stood

large

like goats.

He said:

Is there

goats among the vines?

The inhabitants of the place said to him

the inhabitants of the place:

Go,

go away from here, so that

you do not do to us as your colleague,

so that you do not do to us as your colleague Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi did, when he addressed the land that it should not produce them so large; therefore they shrank from the size of calves to the size of goats, and we do not want them to shrink further.

The Sages taught: In the blessedness of the Land of Israel,

in a blessed year, a field the size of

a beit seah produces

produce in the measure of

fifty thousand kor.

And proof of this is from Zoan, which is the most blessed place in Egypt, and from it you learn about the yield of the produce of the Land of Israel.

A. Behold,

when Zoan was settled

when it was inhabited—a field of

a beit seah

was

producing

produce of

seventy kor.

And proof that a field of a beit seah in Zoan produced this much is from that

which was taught—

Rabbi Meir said: I saw in the valley of Beit Shean

which is not part of the Land of Israel

a beit seah producing seventy kor.

And if so in Beit Shean, all the more so in Zoan!

Since

there is no

land

superior

in the yield of produce

among all

the

lands

apart from the Land of Israel

more than the land of Egypt.

And as

it is stated in the description of the praise of the region of Sodom [the plain of the Jordan] before its overturning, that it was a land which [Genesis 13] “was entirely watered,

in describing the praise of the region of Sodom [the Jordan Valley], before its destruction, 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 nothing superior in the entire land of Egypt more than

the city

Zoan, for they raised in it

which was the residential city of the

kings.

As it is written [Isaiah 30]:

[Isaiah 30]:

“For his officers were in Zoan,”

for the officers of Israel would go on a mission to Zoan, to meet there with the king of Egypt, in his place of residence.

And there is no

soil of

rocky ground

which is unfit for growing grain

in the entire Land of Israel more than Hebron, for they buried the dead in it,

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

B.

And even so,

the city

Hebron

is

“fruitful”,

it yields produce in great measure—

seven times

[seven times] as much as the yield of the field

in Zoan.

As it is written [Numbers 13]:

[Numbers 13]:

“And Hebron—

it was built seven years before Zoan of Egypt.”

What

is the meaning of the word

“was built”?

If you say,

if we say that Hebron

was literally built

seven years before Egypt was built, this cannot be said.

For is it

possible that

it should be that

a man

Ham, son of Noah,

built a house for his younger son

for Canaan, in whose land Hebron was located,

before he built

a house

for his elder son

for Egypt, who was greater than Canaan?

As it is stated [Genesis 10]:

[Genesis 10]:

“And the sons of Ham—

Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.”

Rather,

necessarily, the verse means to say

that

Hebron

“was fruitful”,

giving the yield of produce from its fields

seven times

[seven times] the yield of the field

in Zoan.

And since we find that in Beit Shean [which is not part of the Land of Israel] one field of a beit seah produced seventy kor, necessarily also in Zoan, which was the most productive land [apart from the Land of Israel], it too produced a yield of seventy kor.

C. And since a field in Hebron produces seven times as much as Zoan, it follows that a field of a beit seah in Hebron produces four hundred and ninety kor.

D.

And this applies

when the field produces four hundred and ninety kor,

on

soil of

rocky ground

like Hebron.

But when not on

soil of

rocky ground—

its yield must be increased, and it produces at least

five hundred

kor.

E.

And this applies

when it produces five hundred kor,

when it is not in its blessedness.

But in its blessedness—

it is written [Genesis 26]

[Genesis 26]

“And Isaac sowed in that land,”

“and he found in that year a hundredfold.” And that means one hundred times.

And five hundred multiplied by one hundred is fifty thousand!

It was taught: Rabbi Yosei said: A seah in Judea was

producing five

kinds of

seah

of five kinds:

a seah of flour, a seah of fine flour, a seah of bran, a seah of coarse bran, and a seah of kibburya

see the distinctions in Rashi.

A certain Sadducee said to Rabbi Ḥanina: Beautifully you praise your land,

beautifully you recount the praise of your land—

for

my father left me one beit seah

in the Land of Israel,

from it oil,

oil,

from it wine,

wine,

from it food,

food,

from it legumes, and from it my flock grazes.

He said to him

asked

that son of an Amorite,

one of the Amorite people,

a son of the Land of Israel,

to 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 palm tree,

which stands on the bank of the Jordan,

standing on the bank of the Jordan, across the river, in the Land of Israel—

how many kor do you harvest from it?

How many kor of dates do you harvest 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—

we would harvest one hundred and twenty kor

[harvest]

from it,

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

He said to him: I too, from one side

from one side only

am telling you

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

Rav Ḥisda said: What

is the meaning of the verse

that is written [Jeremiah 3]:

[Jeremiah 3]:

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

Why is the Land of Israel compared to a deer?

To tell you: Just as this deer,

after its hide is removed it contracts, and

its hide cannot contain

any longer

its flesh,

if they try to put the deer's flesh back into its stripped hide—

so too the Land of Israel cannot contain its produce.

For 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

than all animals—

so too the Land of Israel is quick

it is

among all lands to ripen its produce.

If so, just as this deer is swift and its flesh is not fatty, so too the Land of Israel is quick to ripen, and its produce is not rich?

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

for its produce is

richer than milk, and sweeter

more

than honey.

When Rabbi Elazar would ascend

when he would ascend

to the Land of Israel, he said: I have been saved from one!

I have now been saved from 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 been saved from two!

I have been saved from two of the three curses.

When they seated him

when they seated him

in the “secret of intercalation”

of the months of the year—

he said: I have been saved from three!

And the Gemara explains the three curses from which Rabbi Elazar was saved.

According to

what is stated [Ezekiel 13]:

[Ezekiel 13]:

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

the verse.

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

this is the secret of intercalation.

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

this is ordination.

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

as its plain meaning.

When Rabbi Zeira would ascend

when he ascended

to the Land of Israel

from Babylonia,

he did not find a ferry

he did not find a bridge

for crossing

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

Rabbi Zeira grasped

Rabbi Zeira

the rope, and crossed

over it.

There was no bridge at that place, but only a narrow log placed across the river, with a rope stretched above it; one crossing on the log had to hold the rope above him so that he would not slip into the water. Rabbi Zeira did so: he held [“grasped”] the rope above him with his hand, and thus crossed the river on the narrow log.

A certain Sadducee said to him

to Rabbi Zeira, seeing him hurry to cross the river in this manner rather than go to a place where there was a bridge:

Impulsive people

you are an impulsive [hasty] people,

for you put your mouths before your ears,

for you hurried and first agreed with your mouths to accept the Torah, saying “We shall do and we shall hear,” before you heard with your ears what the Torah you were accepting was!

You still persist in your impulsiveness!

You still conduct yourselves with haste [rushing and impulsiveness], as Rabbi Zeira did, hurrying to cross the river by such a narrow passage and not waiting to reach a place where there was a bridge.

He said to him

Rabbi Zeira: The reason I hurried to do this is that I am not certain that I will merit reaching the Land of Israel, and therefore I am hurrying to cross there and not delay. For

a place

a land

that Moses and Aaron did not merit

to enter

it—me,

Rabbi Zeira,

who can say

who can say

that I will merit

to enter

it!?

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

Rabbi Abba

was

kissing the rocks

rocks

of Akko.

Rabbi Ḥanina

was

repairing its stumbling-blocks.

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