וַיִּקְרָ֣א יְהוֹשֻׁ֗עַ אֶל־שְׁנֵ֤ים הֶֽעָשָׂר֙ אִ֔ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֵכִ֖ין מִבְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אִישׁ־אֶחָ֥ד אִישׁ־אֶחָ֖ד מִשָּֽׁבֶט׃
여호수아가 이스라엘 자손 중에서 매 지파에 한 사람씩 예비한 그 열두 사람을 불러서
Jerusalem Talmud Sotah
It was stated: Rebbi Jehudah bar Ilai says: Abba Ḥalaphta, Rebbi Eleazar ben Mattia, and Ḥanina bar Ḥakhinai stood on those stones and estimated that each one on them was a load of 40 seah. From here you can estimate how big was the bunch of grapes162Babli 34a, Tosephta 8:6.. It is written163Jos. 4:5.: “Each one should lift a stone on his shoulder.” One cannot compare one who lifts from the ground to his shoulder to one who lifts first from the ground to his knee and then from his knee to his shoulder. One cannot compare one who lifts first from the ground to his knee and then from his knee to his shoulder to one onto whom others hang [the load]. One cannot compare one onto whom others hang [the load] to [a load] carried by two. It is written: “One man per tribe.164Deut. 1:23. This is the wrong quote; intended is Num. 13:2: “One man, one man per ancestral tribe you shall send.” The problem is the interpretation of the duplication.” In the opinion of Rebbi Aqiba who says these are expressions of additions, there were 24, sixteen for the grape bunch and eight for figs, pomegranates, and their belongings165In the Babli, 34a, the verse Num. 13:23: “they carried [the grape bunch] on a pole by two” is interpreted that it was carried by eight people with the grape bunch hanging between two poles. There, one is said to have carried a fig, another a pomegranate; Joshua and Caleb did not carry anything.. In the opinion of Rebbi Simeon166This attribution seems to be wrong. R. Simeon is not known to reject R. Aqiba’s interpretations. Probably it should read: R. Ismael, who insists that the Torah is written in the vernacular and who is quoted in the next sentence., who says there are double expressions, there were twelve, eight for the grape bunch and four for figs, pomegranates, and their belongings. In the opinion of Rebbi Ismael a beam167This is the traditional interpretation; in the absence of a convincing etymology the meaning is not guaranteed.
In the Babli, 34b, the interpretation given here following R. Aqiba is attributed to R. Isaac; the wording is טורטני וטרטני דטורטני. The word טורטני appears in quite a number of other sources (collected in Krauss, Lehnwörter) where it is perfectly adequate to see in it Greek τρυτάνη “pair of scales”. By the concurrent testimony of Rashi and R. Ḥananel, certainly based on Gaonic material, the interpretation of R. Isaac’s statement is that the grape bunch was pictured carried between two poles which at each end were fixed to a cross-beam. Each cross-beam at both extremities had smaller cross beams, giving space for 8 bearers, all marching in the same direction. There is no reason not to accept this interpretation for the Yerushalmi; but for the position of the Yerushalmi following R. Ismael, it seems rather that the image is that of a single pole, with four men preceding the grape bunch and four men following behind it.
It is possible that “scale” here stands for “scale bar”. But it is possible that טורטני may be a Babylonian corruption of a Semitic word טוּרְטוּר of pilpel type.; in the opinion of Rebbi Aqiba a beam and beams of beams.
In the Babli, 34b, the interpretation given here following R. Aqiba is attributed to R. Isaac; the wording is טורטני וטרטני דטורטני. The word טורטני appears in quite a number of other sources (collected in Krauss, Lehnwörter) where it is perfectly adequate to see in it Greek τρυτάνη “pair of scales”. By the concurrent testimony of Rashi and R. Ḥananel, certainly based on Gaonic material, the interpretation of R. Isaac’s statement is that the grape bunch was pictured carried between two poles which at each end were fixed to a cross-beam. Each cross-beam at both extremities had smaller cross beams, giving space for 8 bearers, all marching in the same direction. There is no reason not to accept this interpretation for the Yerushalmi; but for the position of the Yerushalmi following R. Ismael, it seems rather that the image is that of a single pole, with four men preceding the grape bunch and four men following behind it.
It is possible that “scale” here stands for “scale bar”. But it is possible that טורטני may be a Babylonian corruption of a Semitic word טוּרְטוּר of pilpel type.; in the opinion of Rebbi Aqiba a beam and beams of beams.