General Institutions of Hygiene and Health
Hebrew
A scholar should not dwell in any city where the following ten things are lacking: a court of justice [that may impose] flagellation and decree [corporal] punishment; a charity fund collected by two [people] and distributed by three; a synagogue; a bathhouse; a [public] latrine; a physician; a craftsman [or, surgeon]; a scribe; a butcher; and a schoolmaster for young children. In the name of R. Akiva, they said: [There must] also [be] several kinds of fruits, because [those] kinds of fruits illuminate the vision [lit., eyes].
Translated by Markham J. Geller and Lennart Lehmhaus.
Credits
b. Sanhedrin 17b, trans. Markham J. Geller and Lennart Lehmhaus, publication forthcoming. Copyright Markham J. Geller and Lennart Lehmhaus. Used with permission of the translators.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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