Paraphrasing a Talmudic Legend

I came across this gem.
The first part of the story is Talmudic legend.
The second ... just wonderful.

An ancient story is told of two Jews. One had many children and also lots of bountiful crops and animals. The other had no children, and a poor crop.

One night, the well-off Jew thought "my brother needs extra food and I have more than enough". So, in the middle of the night, he carried some of his produce over the hill and put it secretly in his brother's barn.

The second Jew was also troubled. "My brother has so many mouths to feed with all his children, he may need more than he can ever harvest". So he took some of his produce, and moved it too.

This happened on a regular basis. But it was bound to happen that one night, the two brothers should bump into each other. When they did, and immediately understood what had been happening, they embraced each other.

On this spot, the Jewish Temple was built.


Then there were two other Jews.

Again, one was well off and the other poor.

The first brother thought: "Even with all my produce, I need more".
So, he went and stole from his brother.
The other thought: "My brother has more than he needs anyway" and he went and stole as well.

This also went on regularly.

One night, the two brothers happened to meet up and understood what had been happening and killed each other.


On this spot, the Knesset was built.