General Institutions of Hygiene and Health

Hebrew

A scholar should not dwell in any city where the following ten things are lacking: a court of justice [that may impose] flagellation and decree [corporal] punishment; a charity fund collected by two [people] and distributed by three; a synagogue; a bathhouse; a [public] latrine; a physician; a craftsman [or, surgeon]; a scribe; a butcher; and a schoolmaster for young children. In the name of R. Akiva, they said: [There must] also [be] several kinds of fruits, because [those] kinds of fruits illuminate the vision [lit., eyes].

Translated by Markham J. Geller and Lennart Lehmhaus.