The Ground

Sources

כי לי הארץ FOR THE LAND IS MINE — Your eye shall not be evil towards it (you shall not begrudge this) for it is not yours.

Rashi on Leviticus 25:23:3

“Noah, man of the soil, began, and he planted a vineyard” (Genesis 9:20).
“Noah, man of the soil, began [vayaḥel]” – he became profaned and unholy [ḥulin]. Why? “And he planted a vineyard.” Should he not have planted something else, that was constructive, a fig tree branch or an olive tree branch? Instead, “he planted a vineyard.”
From where did he have it [the grapevine shoot]? Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: He brought in [to the ark] vine branches and saplings, fig branches, and olive branches…

Bereshit Rabbah 36:3

§ It was related that people would take dirt from the grave of Rav as a cure for a one-day fever. A number of people came and told Shmuel about this practice, thinking that perhaps the dirt should be forbidden, as one may not derive benefit from a corpse. Shmuel said to them: They are acting properly, as the dirt in the grave is natural ground, and natural ground does not become forbidden in any situation, as it is written: “And he brought out the ashera from the house of the Lord…and beat it into dust…

Sanhedrin 47b:7-8

R. Hiya then prostrated himself on the earth, kissed the dust, and said weeping: ‘Dust, Dust, how stiffnecked art thou, how shameless art thou that all the delights of the eye perish within thee! All the beacons of light thou consumes and grindest into nothingness. Fie on thy shamelessness! That Sacred Lamp that illuminated the world, the mighty spiritual force by whose merits the world exists, is consumed by thee. Oh, R. Simeon, thou beacon of light, source of light to the world, how hast thou turned to dust, thou leader of the world whilst alive!’ After falling for a moment into a reverie…

Zohar, Introduction 10:49

“She gave birth once again, to his brother Abel. Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was a cultivator of the ground” (Genesis 4:2).
“She gave birth once again, to his brother Abel” – this supports Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa, who said: Two entered the bed and seven descended. “She gave birth once again, to his brother Abel” – she gave birth once again, but did not become pregnant once again.
“Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was a cultivator of the ground” – there were three people who were enthusiastic about the earth, but ultimately their efforts were of no avail…

Bereshit Rabbah 22:3

Relatedראו גם

Agriculture (עבודת אדמה)

Sheetsדפי מקורות

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