“And you, be fruitful, and multiply; [teem on the earth, and multiply upon it]” – Reish Lakish said: A covenant was granted to all the different climates.78That those who dwell in any part of the world will enjoy living there. This is derived from the juxtaposition of this verse with the verse “Behold, I am making a covenant” (Genesis 9:9). Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish was once sitting and toiling in Torah study in a certain street in Tiberias.
Two women were leaving there [Tiberias]. One said to the other: ‘Blessed be He who allowed us to leave this foul climate.’ He called to them and said to them: ‘From where are you?’ They said: ‘From Mezaga.’
He said: ‘I know Mezaga, and there is nothing there but two pillars.’79The habitable land area there is no larger than the distance between two pillars of a building – as opposed to Tiberias, which is a sprawling city. He said: ‘Blessed be He who has implanted the favor of each place in the eyes of its residents.’ A student of Rabbi Yosei was once sitting before him [studying under him]. He kept explaining something to him, but he could not grasp it.
He said to him: ‘Why are you having trouble grasping this?’ He said to him: ‘Because I am away from my native place.’ He said to him: ‘From what place do you come?’ He said to him: ‘From Govat Shammai.’
He said to him: ‘What is the climate like there?’ He said to him: ‘When a baby is born, we have to knead a paste of unripe grapes and smear it on his head so the mosquitoes should not consume him.’ He [Rabbi Yosei] said: ‘Blessed be He who has the implanted the favor of each place in the eyes of its residents.’ In the future, too, it will be so, as it is stated: “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, [and I will give you] a heart of flesh [lev basar]” (Ezekiel 36:26) – a heart that does not desire [lev boser] the tract of another.80Each person will be enamored of his native land and not desire the land of others.