Rabbi Elazar bar Rabbi Shimon said: The land is watered only at its upper layer. If so, what should the roots of the carob tree and the roots of the sycamore do, as their roots reach into the depths [of the earth]? Rather, each and every [tree] is watered according to its needs. Rabbi Ḥanina ben Rabbi Izka and Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Yehuda: The roots of a wheat stalk breach the ground up to fifty cubits.
The roots of the fig tree breach rocks. Rabbi Levi said: It is as you49Rabbi Elazar bar Rabbi Shimon. said: [The land is watered] only up to its upper layer; and as for the carob tree and the sycamore, once in thirty days the waters of the depths rise and water them. What is the source? “I, the Lord, guard it; at set times I water it” (Isaiah 27:3).
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: When the rain falls, it gives the ground a new face [panim].50It causes greenery to grow. This is expounded from the phrase “the surface [penei] of the ground.”