For the source text click/tap here: Bava Batra 24
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The Mishna on our daf discusses cases where a person is limited in the kinds of building that he can do on his property if it may disturb the needs of the larger community.
The Mishna also forbids planting trees near the city, which is explained by Ulla in the Gemara as a concern with noyei ha-ir – the beauty of the city. Part of the attractiveness of a walled city is having its walls exposed on the outside.
The Gemara asks why this explanation is necessary, given the biblical principle that the cities of the Levites are surrounded by an empty area of 1,000 amot and a further 2,000 amot that are left available for planting vegetation (see Num 35:1-8), and explains that we might have thought that there were exceptions to this rule, but the concern with noyei ha-ir trumps any possible exceptions.
We explore the biblical notion of beauty and comparison with Greek ideals.
The concept of the beauty of Jerusalem and its appropriation by William Blake in his poem.