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Who knows eighty-three?

Please cite/link your sources, if possible. At some point in the next few days, I will:

  • Upvote all interesting answers.

  • Accept the best answer.

  • Go on to the next number.

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3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

83 sections of halachos in the Rambam's Yad.

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2  
Interestingly, too, he lived 70 years minus exactly 83 days (his grandson, R' David, notes this). – Alex Aug 26 '10 at 15:48
Truly interesting, but what is the significance of that? And wouldn't it have been better if he had lived for 70 years plus 83 days? – Dave Aug 26 '10 at 18:42
See footnote 83 (!) at hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=15971&st=&pgnum=263, where the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l observes that this is exactly the point: the missing 83 days are made up by the 83 sections of the Yad, thus bringing the Rambam's life to exactly 70 years. – Alex Aug 27 '10 at 1:47
2  
Something tells me the Rambam would not have seen it that way. – YDK Aug 27 '10 at 2:17
1  
According to the Rambam, he'll still be dead! – YDK Aug 27 '10 at 19:16
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up vote 5 down vote

The Scriptural term מחלה (illness), which the Gemara defines as pathology of the gall bladder or bile, has 83 sicknesses associated with it, equivalent to the gematria of the word מחלה. (Bava Kama 92b and elsewhere)

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up vote 5 down vote

83 was Aharon's age when he and Moshe first confronted Pharaoh (Ex. 7:7).

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1  
I'd heard it suggested that Moshe and Aharon each reached identical spiritual levels; however, Aharon was 3 years older and thus had 3 more years to do it. So Moshe's spiritual growth rate was higher. – Shalom Aug 26 '10 at 15:59

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