Mishnah Avot 5:6. In, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, page 686. Rabbi Meir taught that the stone Tablets that God gave Moses in were each 6 handbreadths long, 6 handbreadths wide, and 3 handbreadths thick.Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 14a.
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Rabbi Judah, however, taught that the cubit of the Ark equaled only 5 handbreadths, meaning that the Ark was 12½ handbreadths long. The tablets (each 6 handbreadths wide) were deposited next to each other in the Ark, accounting for 12 handbreadths. There was thus left half a handbreadth, for which the two sides of the Ark accounted. Accounting next for width of the Ark, Rabbi Judah calculated that the tablets took up 6 handbreadths and the sides of the Ark accounted for ½ handbreadth, leaving 1 handbreadth.
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Rabbi Judah, however, taught that the Ark contained only the stone tablets, with the Torah scroll placed outside. Reading Rabbi Meir noted that the Ark was 2½ cubits long, and as a standard cubit equals 6 handbreadths, the Ark was thus 15 handbreadths long. Rabbi Meir calculated that the tablets were 6 handbreadths long, 6 wide, and 3 thick, and were placed next to each other in the Ark.
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Rabbi Tarfon said land of at least six handbreadths by six handbreadths. Rabbi Judah ben Betera said land that requires two strokes of a sickle to harvest, and the law is as he spoke. Rabbi Akiva said that one who cultivates land of any size is obligated to give a corner to the poor and the first fruits.Mishnah Peah 3:6, in, e.g.
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Thus the tablets accounted for 12 handbreadths, leaving 3 handbreadths unaccounted for. Rabbi Meir subtracted 1 handbreadth for the two sides of the Ark (½ handbreadth for each side), leaving 2 handbreadths for the Torah scroll. Rabbi Meir deduced that a scroll was in the Ark from the words of "There was nothing in the Ark save the two tablets of stone that Moses put there." As the words "nothing" and "save" create a limitation followed by a limitation, Rabbi Meir followed the rule of Scriptural construction that a limitation on a limitation implies the opposite — here the presence of something not mentioned — the Torah scroll.
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Rabbi Eliezer taught that one who cultivates land in which one can plant a quarter kav of seed is obligated to give a corner to the poor. Rabbi Joshua said land that yields two seah of grain. Rabbi Tarfon said land of at least six handbreadths by six handbreadths. Rabbi Judah ben Betera said land that requires two strokes of a sickle to harvest, and the law is as he spoke.
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The Gleaners (engraving by Gustave Doré from the 1865 La Sainte Bible) Rabbi Eliezer taught that one who cultivates land in which one can plant a quarter kav of seed is obligated to give a corner to the poor. Rabbi Joshua said land that yields two seah of grain. Rabbi Tarfon said land of at least six handbreadths by six handbreadths. Rabbi Judah ben Betera said land that requires two strokes of a sickle to harvest, and the law is as he spoke.
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Rabbi Judah, however, declared taller sukkot valid. The Mishnah taught that a sukkah must be at least 10 handbreadths high, have three walls, and have more shade than sun.Mishnah Sukkah 1:1, in, e.g.
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The prohibition of sowing together diverse seedlings is derived from the biblical verse, "You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed" (), and which prohibition has been explained to mean planting or sowing two or more diverse vegetable crops within a radius of three-handbreadths, ca. , from one another, where they draw nutrients from each other. As a first resort, however, one is to distance two or more diverse vegetable crops from each other at a remove of six- handbreadths, ca. , even if their foliage were to grow and intermix.
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The Ark in the Tabernacle (1984 illustration by Jim Padgett, courtesy of Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing) Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah differed over where relative to the Ark the Levites placed the Torah scroll mentioned in . Rabbi Meir taught that the Ark contained the stone tablets and a Torah scroll. Rabbi Judah, however, taught that the Ark contained only the stone tablets, with the Torah scroll placed outside. Reading , Rabbi Meir noted that the Ark was 2½ cubits long, and as a standard cubit equals 6 handbreadths, the Ark was thus 15 handbreadths long.
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Babylonian Talmud Sukkah 12a. Rabbi Judah taught that one may use planks for the sukkah-covering, but Rabbi Meir taught that one may not. The Mishnah taught that it is valid to place a plank four handbreadths wide over the sukkah, provided that one does not sleep under it.Mishnah Sukkah 1:6, in, e.g.
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Molesworth (1857), p. 580. The same author defines the as "a land measure,—five cubits and five handbreadths […] also the measuring rod": Molesworth (1857), p. 151. other authors are silent on the unit.There is a Nepali unit of area called the kattha (कठ्ठा), approximately 338.57 m2: this is implausibly large for the Marathi , and there is no reason to assume that the two units are the same.
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If its top is broken off or its leaves detached from the stem, it is invalid. If its leaves are merely spread apart but still joined to the stem at their roots, it is valid. Rabbi Judah taught that in that case, one should tie the leaves at the top. A palm-branch that is three handbreadths in length, long enough to wave, is valid.
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This was a religious requirement for safety in bimah more than 10 handbreadths high, or between . A lower bimah (even one step) will typically have a railing as a practical measure to prevent someone from inadvertently stepping off. The bimah became a standard fixture in synagogues from which a portion (parashah) from the Torah and the haftarah are read. In Orthodox Judaism, the bimah is located in the center of the synagogue, separate from the Ark.
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Rabbi Judah taught that one may use planks for the sukkah-covering, but Rabbi Meir taught that one may not. The Mishnah taught that it is valid to place a plank four handbreadths wide over the sukkah, provided that one does not sleep under it.Mishnah Sukkah 1:6, in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation, translated by Jacob Neusner, page 280; Babylonian Talmud Sukkah 14a, in, e.g., Talmud Bavli: Tractate Succah, Volume 1, elucidated by Asher Dicker and Avrohom Neuberger, edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr and Chaim Malinowitz, volume 15, page 14a.
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A cubit is roughly equal to five handbreadths, so the can be taken to be roughly 25 square cubits: that is, 8100 square inches or 6.25 square yards. This would make the bigha roughly 2500 square yards, or half an acre, in agreement with measurements in other areas of India. The candy, therefore, can be taken to be approximately 60 acres or 25 hectares. The celebrated Scottish orientalist Sir Henry Yule gives a slightly larger value for the candy as a unit of area ("approximately 75 acres"), and describes it as the area of land which will produce one candy of grain.
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Interpreting God's words in , "I will destroy them with the earth," Rav Huna and Rabbi Jeremiah in Rav Kahana's name taught that the Flood washed away even the three handbreadths of the Earth's surface that a plough turns. It was as if a prince had a tutor, and whenever the prince did wrong, the king punished the tutor. Or it was as if a young prince had a nurse, and whenever the prince did wrong, the king punished the nurse. Similarly, God said that God would destroy the generation of the Flood along with the earth that nurtured them.
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The tablets of the covenant that Moses received at Sinai were 6 by 6 by 3 handbreadths. The Torah was given to Moses and Israel from "the Mouth of the Gevurah". It is most significant that the name of no other Sefirah is used by our sages to connote God Himself, other than Gevurah (in the Bible, God is referred to as "the Netzach [eternity] of Israel" (Samuel 1 15:29), but not as Netzach alone). Here, Gevurah implies God's essential power to contract and concentrate His infinite light and strength into the finite letters of Torah (especially those engraved on the tablets of the covenant, the Ten Commandments).
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38Its wick trimmers and trays > are to be of pure gold. 39A talent of pure gold is to be used for the > lampstand and all these accessories. 40See that you make them according to > the pattern shown you on the mountain.Exodus 25:31-40, New International > Version. Numbers, chapter 8, adds that the seven lamps are to give light in front of the lampstand and reiterates that the lampstand was made in accordance with the pattern shown to Moses on the mountain.Numbers 8:1-4 In Jewish oral tradition, the menorah stood 18 handbreadths/palms (three common cubits) high, or approximately .Babylonian Talmud (Menahot 28b); Maimonides, Mishne Torah (Hil. Beit ha-Baḥirah 3:10 ). Figure is based on the accepted rabbinic view that there are four finger-widths to every handbreadth/palm, and each finger- width is estimated at 2.25 cm.
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When they told him that the time had come, he washed his hands and feet with water from the laver, took the silver fire-pan, went to the top of the altar, cleared away the cinders on either side, and scooped up the ashes in the center. He then came down, and when he reached the floor, he turned to the north (toward the altar) and went along the east side of the ramp for about ten cubits, and he then piled the cinders on the pavement three handbreadths away from the ramp, in the place where they used to put the crop of the birds, the ashes from the inner altar, and the ash from the menorah.Mishnah Tamid 1:4, in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation, translated by Jacob Neusner, page 864; Babylonian Talmud Tamid 28a–b, in, e.g., Talmud Bavli, elucidated by Avrohom Neuberger, Nasanel Kasnett, Abba Zvi Naiman, Henoch Moshe Levin, Eliezer Lachman, and Ari Lobel, edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, volume 70, page 28a–b.
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