Sanhedrin 109A

מאן נשדר? נשדר בהדי נחום איש גם זו, דמלומד בנסים הוא.

whom should we send the gift? They decided: We will send it with Naḥum of Gam Zo, as he is experienced in miracles.

כי מטא לההוא דיורא, בעא למיבת. אמרי ליה: מאי איכא בהדך? אמר להו: קא מובילנא כרגא לקיסר. קמו בליליא, שרונהו לסיפטיה, ושקלו כל דהוה גביה ומלונהו עפרא. כי מטא להתם, אישתכח עפרא. אמר: אחוכי קא מחייכי בי יהודאי. אפקוה למקטליה. אמר: גם זו לטובה. אתא אליהו ואידמי להו כחד מינייהו. אמר להו: דילמא האי עפרא מעפרא דאברהם אבינו הוא, דהוה שדי עפרא הוו חרבי, גילי הוו גירי. בדוק ואשכחו הכי.

When he reached a certain lodging, he sought to sleep there. The residents of that lodging said to him: What do you have with you? Naḥum said to them: I am taking the head tax to the emperor. They rose in the night, opened his chest and took everything that was in it, and then filled the chest with dirt. When he arrived there, in Rome, earth was discovered in the chest. The emperor said: The Jews are mocking me by giving me this gift. They took Naḥum out to kill him. Naḥum said: This too is for the best. Elijah the prophet came and appeared to them as one of Naḥum’s traveling party. Elijah said to them: Perhaps this earth is from the earth of Abraham our forefather, who would throw dust and it became swords, and who would throw straw and it became arrows. They examined the dust and discovered that it was indeed the dust of Abraham.

הוה מחוזא דלא הוו קא יכלי ליה למיכבשיה. שדו מההוא עפרא עליה וכבשוה. עיילוה לבי גנזא, אמרי: שקול דניחא לך. מלייה לסיפטא דהבא. כי הדר אתא, אמרו ליה הנך דיורי: מאי אמטית לבי מלכא? אמר להו: מאי דשקלי מהכא אמטאי להתם. שקלי אינהו אמטו להתם. קטלינהו להנך דיורי.

There was a province that the Romans were unable to conquer. They threw some of this earth upon that province and they conquered it. In appreciation for the gift that Naḥum of Gam Zo had brought on behalf of the Jewish people, they brought him into the treasury and said: Take that which is preferable to you. He filled his chest with gold. When he returned to that lodging, those residents said to him: What did you bring to the king’s palace? Naḥum said to them: What I took from here, I brought to there. The residents concluded that the earth with which they had filled the chest had miraculous properties. They took earth and brought it to the emperor. Once the Romans discovered that the earth was ineffective in battle, they executed those residents.