Shelosha - mi yodeya?

Question

Who knows three?

Please cite/link your sources, if possible. In about a day, I will:

• Upvote all interesting answers.

• Accept the best answer.

• Go on to the next number.

Answer 1

1. The number of years required to establish a chazaka on a piece of property.

2. Men (or women) required for a zimmun.

3. Hours waited between meat and dairy in the German tradition.

4. Ostensibly, the number of people in front of whom lashon hara can be told and it becomes repeatable (though the Chafetz Chaim points out that it is not really applicable).

5. Number of times one has to ask forgiveness from a friend for wrongdoing.

Answer 2

Three are the steps to a fuller you. I.e., the three Pilgrimage festivals (pesach, shavuot, succot).

Answer 3

Three are the days it takes to digest a KeZayith of Matzah. (Roughly)

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/709800

And check this out - maybe Hillel was onto something (well, the Pasuk requires it, but Hillel made it cool):

(Excerpted from Dr. Harvey Babich Maror and Matzah Friday February 06, 2009 http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/731442)

Nutritionally, Romaine lettuce is a most healthy vegetable. The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) included Romaine lettuce in the list of dark green leafy vegetables that help fight cancer. The carotenoid pigments in Romaine lettuce act as antioxidants to scavenge free radicals, which possibly could damage DNA thereby transforming a normal cell into a malignant cell. In addition, Romaine lettuce is an excellent source of folate, vitamins K, A, and C, and dietary fiber. The high dietary fiber content of Romaine lettuce may explain the Talmud’s (Avodah Zarah 11a) statement that lettuce facilitates digestion by aiding the turning over of the ingested food. Possibly, this meant that the dietary fiber in lettuce provides the needed insoluble roughage to promote peristaltic contractions of the muscles of the small intestines to move the materials along the digestive tract.

Answer 4

Three are the partners in creating a child (man, women and G-d).

Answer 5

A minimum shiur for a garment to become tamei -- shlosh al slosh (etzbaot) or shlosha al shlosha (tefachim). See perek bameh madlikin.

Answer 6

Three are the Bavas (in both Nezikin and Kelim).

Answer 7

יהרג ואל יעבר-Prohibitions that a Jew must die, rather than transgress: עבודה זרה- idol worship גילוי עריות- sexual immorality שפיכת דמים- murder

Answer 8

רגלים- Chagim on which men are obligated to be seen in the Bais Hamikdash:

פסח-Pesach שבועות-Shavuaos סוכות-Sukkos

Answer 9

בתי מקדש- Temples of Holiness:

1st, built by Shlomo, lasted 410 years, 2928-3338

2nd, built by Zerubavel (Some say he was Nechemia Ben Chaclaya) (Renovated by Herod), lasted 420 years, 3408-3828

3rd- שיבנה במהרה בימינו- May it be built speedily in our times!

Answer 10

Three Patriarchs - Avraham, Yitzchok, Yaakov

Answer 11

Three sons of Noach: Shem, Chom, Yafes

Answer 12

Three sons of Levi, Gershon, Kehos, Merari

Answer 13

Three Matzos, Kohain, Levi, Yisroel

Answer 14

You can recite Kriyas Shema up to 3 hours in the day

Answer 15

In the entire Chumash Braishis there are 3 Mitzvos

Answer 16

You have 3 days to make Havdalah. If you could not make Havdalah after Shabbath, you have until Tuesday evening (5th bullet point in the linked article).

Answer 17

Three are:

• Sefiros are commonly split in threes:
  • Chochma, Binah, Daas (ChaBa"D)
  • Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes (ChaGa"S)
  • Netzach, Hod (that's me!), Yesod (NeH"I)
  • Malchus (whatever, you can't have everything)
• The children of Amram and Yocheved: Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam
• Three are the festivals that have 8 days (in Chu"L): Pesach, Sukkos, Chanukah
• Years until a boys first haircut.

---Lehavdil---

• The aliases of the Satan: Satan, Angel of Death, and Yetzer HaRa

Answer 18

Three are the questions at the Seder (as presented in all the old manuscripts of the Mishna such as this one).

1. about the Korban Pesach (Why on this night do we only eat roasted meat?)
2. about the Matza (Why on this night do we only eat Matza?)
3. about the Maror (Why on this night do we dip vegetables a second time?)

Three are the explanations given by Rabban Gamliel of the symbols at Seder.

1. about the Korban Pesach (Because God passed over our houses.)
2. about the Matza (Because the Jews left too quickly.)
3. about the Maror (Because the slavery was bitter.)

Answer 19

On three things the world depends -- al ha-torah, v'al ha-avodah, v'al gimilut chasadim (Pirke Avot 1:2).

And the world is sustained by three things -- by truth, by justice, and by peace (Pirke Avot 1:18).