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Who knows thirty-six?

Please cite/link your sources, if possible. After about one business day, I will:

  • Upvote all interesting answers.

  • Accept the best answer.

  • Go on to the next number.

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6 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

36 are each generation's "special righteous people."

Sanhedrin 97b: "Said Abayey, in any given generation, the world never has less than 36 righteous who receive the Divine presence ... with a clear perception."

Interestingly, if you flip back one page and check Rashi (Sanhedrin 96b), he quotes from Chulin 92a: "There are 45 righteous people in whose merit the world is upheld."

Assuming the 36 are a subset of the 45, that means there are nine righteous people who don't perceive the Divine presence, yet their merit is needed to sustain the world. I wonder what those people are like.

In Hassidic lore there are 36 hidden righteous people ("lamed-vav tzadikim nistarim", or just "lamed-vavniks"). Does anyone know the first written source of this? I assume it's connected to the above Gemara.

I heard there's some organization in Israel that awards people with the "lamed-vavnik hidden righteous person medal." Don't ask me how that one works.

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1  
must be a secret ballot and also secret award – Jeremy May 12 '10 at 17:37
1  
Checkmark for ... I'm not telling. – Isaac Moses May 13 '10 at 16:00
1  
"checkmark" in anticipation of #45 ;) – Yirmeyahu May 14 '10 at 3:31
up vote 1 down vote

36 full Tractates that have Gemarah on them.

http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=20137&st=%d7%a9%d7%a2%d7%a8+%d7%9b%d7%93&pgnum=84&hilite=0b4df3da-4613-45e2-9060-2510bf22d483

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1  
Plus half of Tamid. – Alex May 13 '10 at 19:32
See my edit. Thanks. – Yahu May 13 '10 at 19:45
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36 are the days it took Moshe to explain the Torah (in Eiver HaYardein) (Alef Shevat until Vav Adar)

Seder Olam Rabbah, Perek 10

http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=34253&hilite=a29d67a7-f6f0-410a-a112-184ef3432b7e&st=%d7%a4%d7%a8%d7%a7+%d7%99&pgnum=24

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up vote 3 down vote

36 hair follicles (a square, 6 x 6) is the minimum size for a tzaraas spot to have any halachic significance (Mishnah, Negaim 6:1).

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up vote 3 down vote

36 is the gematria of chay'im.

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I think you mean either 68 or chayayim. – Isaac Moses May 12 '10 at 16:30
wouldn't chayayim be 46? (chet-yud-hay)*2 – Jeremy May 12 '10 at 16:49
3  
I think he meant two "chais" = 2 x 18. Just because "chai" x 2 = "chaim", doesn't mean Gematria("chai") x 2 = Gematria("chaim") – Shalom May 12 '10 at 16:49
Shalom's gotta be right. That is exactly what I thought he meant in the first place. – Yahu May 12 '10 at 17:19
Yes, that's what I meant, but with a nice mix of functional form and English punctuation to make the point. – Isaac Moses May 12 '10 at 18:19
up vote 2 down vote

36 months between leap-months (in most cases).

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and similar, but unrelated: 37 months in the standard triennial cycle. (just in case I forget by tomorrow) – Jeremy May 12 '10 at 16:10

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