“The Lord said: I will obliterate man [haadam]” – Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: Even the lower millstone was obliterated. Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: Even the dust of Adam the first man was obliterated. When Rabbi Yehuda expounded this in public in Tzippori, they did not accept it from him. Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak said: Even the sacrum, from which the Holy One blessed be He will cause man to sprout in the future,6When the dead will be resurrected. was obliterated.
Hadrian, may his bones be crushed, once asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya, saying to him: From where will the Holy One blessed be He cause man to sprout in the future? He said to him: From the sacrum. He said to him: From where do you know this? He said to him: Bring one to me and I will show you.
He ground it in a mill, but it did not become ground up. He placed it in water but it did not dissolve. He placed in on an anvil and began striking it with a hammer; the anvil split and the hammer broke and it [the sacrum] lacked nothing.