I have always pictured the flood of Noah’s generation sweeping the entire world. The text in Genesis 6–7, not to mention every picture book on the subject, seems unambiguous on this point. But on today’s daf, Rabbi Yohanan argues passionately, and at length, that the land of Israel was spared the deluge. His beloved study partner, Reish Lakish, is equally passionate in his defense of the more traditional view.
To understand how we came to this debate, let’s first rewind to the mishnah on yesterday’s daf, which taught that one is exempt from karet for burning the red heifer outside of its “pit.” Reish Lakish argues that this means outside of a place verified to be free of corpses, which would render the soil above it impure and thus nullify the red heifer ritual, which was undertaken to counteract corpse impurity. This leads Rabbi Yohanan to raise an objection:
Rabbi Yohanan said to Reish Lakish: But is not all of the land of Israel inspected for impurity?
This brings us to the issue of the flood. According to Rabbi Yohanan, the entire land of Israel is free from corpse impurity. How is that possible? The Gemara clarifies the terms of the disagreement:
One sage (Reish Lakish) holds that the flood in the time of Noah descended upon the land of Israel. And one sage (Rabbi Yohanan) holds that the flood did not descend upon the land of Israel.
We might imagine that Reish Lakish, who holds the more traditional position, defends it by citing Genesis 6–7. But he doesn’t. Instead, he turns to a mishnah for proof:
Reish Lakish raised an objection to Rabbi Yohanan from Mishnah Para 3:2: Courtyards were built in Jerusalem on stone, and beneath these courtyards there was a hollow space due to the concern that there was a lost grave in the depths. And they would bring pregnant women, and those women would give birth in those courtyards. And those women would raise their children there. This would enable the children to assist in the rite of the red heifer.
The mishnah states that Jerusalem created corpse impurity-free zones by building stone courtyards with hollow space beneath them. The air space blocked impurity from any undetected graves from contaminating the courtyards above. Children were born and raised in these courtyards expressly for the purposes of remaining insulated from corpse impurity. Those children could then grow up to perform the rites of the red heifer. According to Reish Lakish, this is proof that Jeruslaem was assumed to be full of undetected graves from the time of the flood.
But Rabbi Yohanan has a tannaitic source of his own to prove his point:
Rabbi Yohanan raised an objection to Reish Lakish from a beraita (Tosefta Eduyyot 3:3): Once, human bones were found in the Chamber of the Woodshed, and the sages sought to decree impurity upon Jerusalem. Rabbi Yehoshua stood upon his feet and said: Is it not a shame and disgrace for us to decree impurity upon the city of our fathers because of this concern? Show me: Where are the dead of the flood, and where are all of the dead killed by Nebuchadnezzar?
In this scenario, it is clear the city of Jerusalem was considered free of corpses. So it came as a shock when human bones were found not only in the city limits, but within the Temple itself. The sages decided to rule that all of Jerusalem was impure, but Rabbi Yehoshua objected, stating that the appearance of a few bones in the Temple did not mean the entire city was littered with undiscovered graves. He specifically states that the dead from the flood and from the destruction of the first Temple by Nebuchadnezzar were not present beneath the soil. Rabbi Yohanan infers from this that the flood never came to Jerusalem.
For those keeping score, these sages are now tied. Both have a tannaitic source that proves their position. So it’s time to level up by going to the higher authority: scripture.
Reish Lakish raised an objection: It is stated: “All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, whatsoever was on the dry land, died.” (Genesis 7:22) … According to you, why did they (the residents of the land of Israel) die (if there was no flood there)?
Reish Lakish says what we were probably all thinking: The Torah says the entire generation of the flood died. If there was no flood in the land of Israel, how did they die? Rabbi Yohanan has an answer:
They died due to the heat.
Rabbi Yohanan holds the residents of Israel died from heat, not water. He also holds that their bodies, because they were not drawn into the mud of the flood, were easily discovered and later removed. This is not the flood story I grew up with, but the rabbis continue to run with it. Rabbi Yohanan even offers his own derivation from scripture for this counterintuitive position.
There is no resolution on the question of how the flood played out. Both views are allowed to stand. However, we do need an answer to whether, in the wake of the flood, Jerusalem was in fact littered with undiscovered corpses beneath the soil. On this, the two eventually sages eventually agree:
Even according to the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, though the flood did indeed descend upon the land of Israel, no trace of the dead remains there.
So where did all those dead people go? Whether they died by water or heat, the sages agreed their bodies eventually ended up in Babylonia. This lets the last word be a dig at that far inferior land:
Rabbi Ami says: Concerning anyone who eats the dust of Babylonia, it is as if he eats the flesh of his ancestors.
Read all of Zevachim 113 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on January 5, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
