R. Paysach J. Krohn relates in his Around the Maggid’s Table the following story, which he heard from R. Yissachar Frand of Baltimore.
Two people had a violent argument about a piece of property. The property under discussion was adjacent to both their fields and each of them claimed that the property was rightfully his. Neither would hear of a compromise, and neither gave much credence to the arguments of the other.
Finally they decided to seek the counsel of R. Chaim of Volozhin. R. Chaim listened to their arguments and told them that he wanted to go with them to see the property first-hand, perhaps that would help his understand their individual points of view.
Together with R. Chaim, the two gentlemen went to the field in question. R. Chaim studied the layout of the land and its boundaries and then listened once again as each of the men emphatically claimed the property was his.
Suddenly R. Chaim bent down and placed his ear to the soil. The two gentlemen were astounded. “What are you doing there on the ground?” one of them asked.
“I have heard your points of view about this piece of property, ” answered Rabbi Chaim,” but now I would like to hear what the ground has to say for itself.”
The two men thought that R. Chaim was joking and so in a humorous tone one said to him. “All right, so do indeed, tell us — what does the ground say?
R. Chaim smiled at them and said: “The ground finds it hard to understand the anger and short-sightedness of both of you. It says: ‘This one claims that I belong to him, then the other claims that no, I belong to him. The truth though, is that eventually they will both belong to me.'”
This story is found in various sources, but each one names a different rabbi as the arbiter of the discussion.
The story is told in Yehuda Greenspan’s Hiyukha Shel Torah (Jerusalem, 1993, pp. 133-134) but there the rabbi who is called upon to settle the controversy was Reb Leible of Bialystok. (The reference is probably R. Aryeh Leib b. Baruch Bendit. Greenspan’s assertion that he was the author of Oneg Yom Tov is not correct.)
According to the German Rabbinische Weisheiten zum Pentateuch by R. Schmuel Daum (vol. 2 p. 212, Basle, 1986) it was the Hasidic leader Rabbi Eliemelech of Lyzhansk who “asked” the ground what it had to say in the matter.
In Rabbi Chajim Block’s Ostjuedischer Humor (Berlin 1920, pp. 35-36) it is Rabbi Yehezkel Landau, the Noda BiYehudah who “asked’ the earth to testify.
A short time ago I found the story in an old issue of the Israelitisches Wochenblatt fuer die Schweiz (July 10, 1924), but there the name of the deciding rabbi is not mentioned.
In Da’at Zekenim (Sanok, 1911) by R. Avraham Ittinga (Ettinger) the dispute is described as having taken place in Bilgoray (Poland). Rabbi Yitzchak Natan Nate Berliner is named as the person to whom the parties turned for judgment.
It seems that the story first appeared in print in Nehemiah Shemuel Libowitz’ HaShomea Yitzchak (New York, 1907). In his version of the story, the name of the rabbi is Lipa, but he is not further defined. According to Libowitz, the earth’s “reply” was: “You are dust and to dust you shall return. Both of you belong to me. If you will not stop quarreling, I will take you to me before long and there will be an end to your squabbling.”
The men listened to the rabbi and made peace.
The Jewish Press, Friday March 8, 1996, p. 37