Talmud zu Bamidbar 34:6

Rav Huna said: So is the Mishnah: “Between Akhzib and Euphrates, between Akhzib and Amanus.⁹¹It is not “between Akhzib and (Taurus Amanus and Euphrates)”; one does not speak about the point at which the Euphrates breaks through the Taurus range.” It was stated⁹²Tosephta Terumot 2:12, Ḥallah2:11, Yerushalmi Ḥallah 4:8, Babli Giṭṭin 8a.: What is the Land and what is outside the Land? From the slopes of Taurus Amanus inwards is the Land of Israel³The Southernmost chain of the Taurus mountains between Turkey and Syria. Jewish tradition (the Yerushalmi Targumim, Babli Giṭṭin 8a) identifies Mount Hor (Num. 34:7) with Taurus Amanus. The Euphrates as border of the Holy Land is mentioned in Deut. 1:7. Amanus and Euphrates are the borders of promise, not the actual borders. The rules given in this sentence apply only to the territory North of Akhzib described in the book of Joshua as part of the tribal distribution. The rest of the territory is “Syria” (cf. Peah, Chapter 7, Note 119)., from Taurus Amanus to the outside is outside the Land. About the islands in the sea, one looks at them as if a string were drawn from Taurus Amanus to the brook of Egypt; from the string to the inside is the Land of Israel, from the string to the outside is outside the Land. Rebbi Jehudah said, all that lies before the Land of Israel is like the Land of Israel since it is said (Num. 34:6): “The Eastern border shall be for you the Great Sea⁹³The Mediterranean. The entire width of the sea is the border. The tradition of R. Jehudah is an old one; Josephus (Antiquities 1.130) in his description of the list of peoples (Gen. 10) writes that the domain of the Canaanites did extend “to the Ocean”. The commentators to Josephus take this as a reference to the Indian Ocean; the text here shows that the Ocean is, as always in Greek literature, the Atlantic Ocean (at the straits of Gibraltar). According to R. Jehudah, Crete (and possibly Sicily) was first settled by Canaanite tribes and promised to Abraham. as border.” Assuming that a string were drawn from Cephalaria⁹⁴Called by Pliny (Hist.nat. V (18) 21) promunturium Syriae Antiochiae. to the Ocean, inside the string is the Land of Israel, outside is outside the Land.

⁹⁹This and the following paragraph are from Ševi‘it 6:1, Notes 90–95. Rebbi Huna said: So is the Mishnah: “Between Akhzib and Euphrates, between Akhzib and Amanus.” It was stated: What is the Land and what is outside the Land? From the slopes of Taurus Amanus inwards is the Land of Israel³This is defined in Mishnah 4:2., from Taurus Amanus to the outside is outside the Land. About the islands in the sea, one looks at them as if a string were drawn from Taurus Amanus to the brook of Egypt; from the string to the inside is the Land of Israel, from the string to the outside is outside the Land. Rebbi Jehudah said, all that lies before the Land of Israel is like the Land of Israel since it is said (Num. 34:6): “The Western border shall be for you the Great Sea as border; that shall be for you the sea border.” Assuming that a string were drawn from Cephalaria to the Ocean, from the brook of Egypt to the Ocean; inside the string is the Land of Israel, outside is outside the Land.