“A garden spring, a well of fresh water, and flowing streams from Lebanon” (Song of Songs 4:15). “A garden spring, a well of fresh water” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Forty-eight times it is written in the Torah, “well,” “well,” corresponding to the forty-eight matters through which Torah is acquired. That is what is written: “A garden spring, a well of fresh water.” “And flowing streams from Lebanon” – Rabbi Azarya said: This one contributes a trickle toward the matter, and that one contributes a trickle toward the matter, until the halakha emerges as though from Lebanon.160Lebanon is expounded as though it is from the word lavan, white.
Together, the students clarify the matter under discussion until it is absolutely clear [melubenet]. Rabbi Tanḥuma said: This one welds part of the matter, and that one welds part of the matter, until the halakha emerges like joined beams.