Reish Lakish and the Grace a Place Bestows on Its Dwellers

"Swarm in the earth" (Genesis 9:7). Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: the covenant was apportioned according to climates. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish was toiling in Torah in a certain valley of Tiberias. Two women came out from there. One said to her companion: Blessed is the Merciful One who has brought us out from this evil air. He called to them and said: Where are you from? They said: From Mazga. He said, Reish Lakish: I know Mazga, and it has only two pillars [households]. He said: Blessed is the One who gives grace to a place in the eyes of its dwellers. A certain student of Rav Asi was sitting before him. He was explaining to him, but the student did not understand. He said to him: Why do you not understand? He said to him: Because I am exiled from my place. He said to him: From what place are you? He said: From Gubat. And what is the air there like? He said to him: When an infant is born, we smear its brain so that the gnats will not devour it. He said: Blessed is the One who gives grace to a place in the eyes of its dwellers. So too in the time to come, as it is said, "And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26) - a heart that ripens [yields] in the portion of its fellow.