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Who knows ninety-nine?

Please cite/link your sources, if possible. At some point at least twenty-four hours from now, I will:

  • Upvote all interesting answers.

  • Accept the best answer.

  • Go on to the next number. (Get ready ...)

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3 Answers

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99 were the years before Avraham's Bris. (Gen. 17:24).

It almost fits the beat.

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1  
You can shoehorn it in by accenting the penultimate syllable of "Avraham's," which is proper due to nasog achor. – Isaac Moses Sep 21 '10 at 15:13
Is there nasog achor if "b'ris" is two syllables? – WAF Sep 21 '10 at 23:25
1  
If it was, there wouldn't be, but it isn't. There's only one true tenu'a (vowel) in "b'ris"; the sh'va under the 'b' is not a true vowel and does not form a syllable. – Isaac Moses Sep 22 '10 at 14:02
I didn't know English (note the possessive "'s") had a nasog-achor rule. Thanks for the pointer. :-) Also, I'd love to know more about that rule (in Hebrew) than I do, but I think a sh'va na sometimes counts as a "syllable-like thing" to prevent its application. – msh210♦ Oct 4 '10 at 18:34
up vote 3 down vote

The "gozrei gezeiros" (civil-court judges) of Jerusalem received an annual salary of 99 maneh from the treasury of the Beis Hamikdash. (Kesubos 105a)

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up vote 3 down vote

There are 99 numbered Selichos in my "Minhag Lita" Selichos book.

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Honorable mention for seasonality. – Isaac Moses Sep 22 '10 at 17:01

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