Abundance in Ancient Israel: Talmudic Accounts of Extraordinary Fruits and Families (Berakhot 44a)
The extraordinary nature of the fruits of Genosar; Legends of King Yannai’s Cities on King’s Mountain; 80 pairs of priestly brothers married to 80 pairs of priestly sisters in Gufnit
Outline
The nature of the fruits of Genosar
The effects of the fruits of Genosar
King Yannai’s city on King’s Mountain that produced 600,000 bowls of sardines weekly for those cutting figs off the trees
King Yannai’s tree on King’s Mountain that produced 40 se’a of pigeons from 3 broods each month
80 pairs of priestly brothers married to 80 pairs of priestly sisters in Gufnit
The passage
The nature of the fruits of Genosar
The Talmudic passage describes the extraordinary nature of the fruits of Genosar:1 Rabba bar bar Ḥana narrates that when visiting R' Yoḥanan to partake in these fruits, the quantity brought depended on their group size:
100 people each brought 10 fruits, whereas 10 people each brought 100.
These fruits were so plentiful that every 100 needed a large basket (of three se’a) to contain them.
Despite R’ Yoḥanan consuming all the fruits, he claimed to feel as if he hadn’t eaten any food, emphasizing not just their delicious taste but also their lack of filling sustenance.
The Talmud clarifies that his statement meant he did not feel satiated, highlighting the exceptional flavor and lightness of the fruit.
אמר רבה בר בר חנה:
כי הוה אזלינן בתריה דרבי יוחנן למיכל פירות גנוסר,
כי הוינן בי מאה —
מנקטינן ליה לכל חד וחד עשרה עשרה,
וכי הוינן בי עשרה,
מנקטינן ליה כל חד וחד מאה מאה.
וכל מאה מינייהו, הוה מחזיק להו צנא בר תלתא סאוי,
ואכיל להו,
ומשתבע דלא טעים זיונא.
זיונא סלקא דעתך?!
אלא אימא ״מזונא״.
On a related note, the Gemara employs hyperbole in praising the fruits of Genosar. Rabba bar bar Ḥana said:
When we would go after R' Yoḥanan to eat fruits of Genosar,
when we were one hundred people together,
each and every one of us would bring him ten fruits,
and when we were ten people together,
each and every one of us would bring him one hundred fruits,
and every hundred of the fruits would require a basket of three se’a to hold them.
R' Yoḥanan would eat them all, and was prepared to swear that he had not tasted any food.
The Gemara asks: Does it enter your mind that he claimed that he had not tasted any food?!
Rather, say that he had not tasted any sustenance. Due to their delicious taste, he was still not satiated.
The effects of the fruits of Genosar
R' Abbahu would eat the fruits of Genosar until his skin became slippery from the fruits' richness.
Rav Ami and Rav Asi ate them until their hair fell out.
R' Shimon ben Lakish would eat them until he became confused.2 R’ Yoḥanan would report his condition to the household of the Nasi. In response, R’ Yehuda Nesia would send authorities to escort R' Shimon ben Lakish safely back to his home.
רבי אבהו אכיל, עד דהוה שריק ליה דודבא מאפותיה.
ורב אמי ורב אסי, הוו אכלי עד דנתור מזייהו.
רבי שמעון בן לקיש הוה אכיל, עד דמריד.
ואמר להו רבי יוחנן לדבי נשיאה,
והוה משדר ליה רבי יהודה נשיאה באלושי אבתריה,
ומייתי ליה לביתיה.
The Gemara continues to wax hyperbolic: R' Abbahu ate fruits of Genosar until the sweet, lush fruits made his skin so slippery that a fly would slip from his forehead.
And Rav Ami and Rav Asi would eat them until their hair fell out.
R' Shimon ben Lakish would eat them until he became confused.
And then R' Yoḥanan would tell the household of the Nasi about his condition
and R' Yehuda Nesia would send the authorities after him
and they would take him to his house.
King Yannai’s city on King’s Mountain that produced 600,000 bowls of sardines weekly for those cutting figs off the trees
The Talmud recounts an anecdote shared by Rav Dimi about the abundance of a certain city of King Yannai's in the area of King’s Mountain.3 According to Rav Dimi, this city required 600,000 bowls of sardines4 weekly to sustain the workers harvesting figs.
Presumably, the need for such a large quantity of sardines was due to the considerable number of laborers.
כי אתא רב דימי, אמר:
עיר אחת היתה לו לינאי המלך בהר המלך,
שהיו מוציאים ממנה ששים רבוא ספלי טרית, לקוצצי תאנים, מערב שבת לערב שבת.
On a similar note, the Gemara relates: When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said:
King Yannai had a city on the King’s Mountain,
from which they would take six-hundred thousand bowls of sardines for those cutting figs off the trees during the course of the week from Shabbat eve to Shabbat eve. There were so many workers, and the fruit was so sweet, that they needed such a vast quantity of salted fish to enable them to continue with their work.
King Yannai’s tree on King’s Mountain that produced 40 se’a of pigeons from 3 broods each month
Ravin,5 upon his arrival in Babylonia from Eretz Yisrael, shared another anecdote about the prolific nature of King Yannai's lands.
He described a particular tree on the afore-mentioned King’s Mountain that was so abundant it housed enough pigeons to gather 40 se'ah from 3 different broods each month, illustrating the extraordinary fertility and bounty of the region.
כי אתא רבין, אמר:
אילן אחד היה לו לינאי המלך בהר המלך,
שהיו מורידים ממנו ארבעים סאה גוזלות, משלש בריכות, בחדש.
On the subject of the King’s Mountain and Eretz Yisrael, when Ravin came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he said:
King Yannai had a tree on the King’s Mountain
from which they would remove forty se’a of pigeons from three broods each month.
80 pairs of priestly brothers married to 80 pairs of priestly sisters in Gufnit
R' Yitzḥak, upon arriving from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, recounted a notable situation from the town of Gufnit6 in Eretz Yisrael, where 80 pairs of priestly brothers were married to 80 pairs of priestly sisters.
To understand the rarity of this occurrence, the Talmud details an inquiry done in Babylonia, from Sura to Neharde’a, revealing that no similar instance was found throughout Babylonia, except for the daughters of Rav Ḥisda (who came from a priestly family) who married Rami bar Ḥama and his brother Mar Ukva bar Ḥama (מר עוקבא בר חמא).
However, in this lone similar case, the brothers were not priests, unlike the priestly families in Gufnit, underscoring the unique nature of the marriages in Gufnit.
כי אתא רבי יצחק, אמר:
עיר אחת היתה בארץ ישראל
וגופנית שמה,
שהיו בה שמנים זוגות אחים כהנים
נשואים לשמנים זוגות אחיות כהנות.
ובדקו רבנן מסורא ועד נהרדעא
ולא אשכחו בר מבנתיה דרב חסדא,
דהוו נסיבן לרמי בר חמא ולמר עוקבא בר חמא.
ואף על גב דאינהי הוו כהנתא, אינהו לא הוו כהני.
When R' Yitzḥak came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said:
There was a city in Eretz Yisrael
named Gufnit,
in which there were eighty pairs of brothers who were priests,
married to eighty pairs of sisters, who were all from priestly families.
And to assess the frequency of that phenomenon, the Gemara relates: The Sages checked from Sura to Neharde’a,
and with the exception of the daughters of Rav Ḥisda,
who were married to Rami bar Ḥama and his brother Mar Ukva bar Ḥama, they could not find a similar case.
And, even in the case that they found, although they, the sisters, were the daughters of a priest, they, the brothers were not priests. Throughout virtually the entire country of Babylonia, they could not find a similar circumstance.
פירות גנוסר - it’s unclear what kind of fruit these are exactly, but based on the measurements below, they appear to be small.
מריד - this may alternatively mean “threw up” or “became nauseated”.
הר המלך - an area in Judea, mentioned elsewhere in the Talmud, sometimes in its Aramaic equivalent: טור מלכא. See Hebrew Wikipedia, there, my translation:
The name "Har HaMelech" has been identified with Herodium [an ancient fortress located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of Jerusalem and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southeast of Bethlehem], the fortress of Herod the Great, King of Judea, and the city at its base, which he made the capital of a toparchy (the name "Herodium" is not mentioned in Talmudic literature). Josephus does not mention the name "Har HaMelech" (while he does mention Herodium many times). According to Talmudic literature, "Har HaMelech" served as one of the most important fortresses during the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE) and one of its last strongholds. However, it appears that the name "Har HaMelech" widened as a geographic term for a broader area.
In the Midrash and Talmud, "Har HaMelech" is mentioned in proximity to Betar, suggesting the site's importance during the Bar Kokhba revolt.
For another Talmudic anecdote related to the 1st century BCE Hasmonean King Yannai, see my previous piece here, for a story of Yosef ben Yo’ezer's disinherited son marrying a woman connected to King Yannai's court.
Ed. Steinzaltz mistakenly has “Rav Dimi” here again, as in the previous section.