Who knows thirty-six?
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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.
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).
36 months between leap-months (in most cases).
36 are the days it took Moshe to explain the Torah (in Eiver HaYardein) (Alef Shevat until Vav Adar)
Seder Olam Rabbah, Perek 10
36 is the gematria of chay'im.
The gemora in Sotah 13a says that 36 crowns were hung on the coffin of Ya’akov by the kings of various nations.
36 = the total number of cases where capital punishment would be enforced.
(Rambam, Hilchos Sanhedrin 15:10)
(ibid, 15:11)
(ibid, 15:12)
(ibid, 15:13)
36 full Tractates that have Gemarah on them.
36 is the number of hours that Adam HaRishon was exposed to the light of creation which was hidden away (or haganuz) - 12 hours from the time he was created at noon of Friday until he sinned right before Shabbos, and 24 hours of Shabbos. (Rabbeinu Yehuda Ben Yakar on Ata Chonantanu).
36 is the number of candles an individual lights on Chanuka (excluding the shammos), which of course corresponds to the hours which Adam HaRishon experienced the Or Haganuz
36 chiyuvei kares (dont remember where the gemara is)
Asa ruled for forty one years. In his days the land was quiet for ten years. In the fifteenth year of Asa's reign, Zerach the Kushite came and returned to Asa all the booty that Shishak the king of Egypt had taken from Jerusalem, and Asa took it. This was the thirty-fifth year since the death of Shelomo, and God raised up an adversary to Israel, Rezon the son of Eliyada… What is the meaning of "of Asa"? This corresponds to the thirty-six years during which Shelomo was married to the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and it corresponds to the thirty-six years that were decreed against the kingdom of the house of David that it be divided, and that in the end will be returned to them… Therefore it is stated: "In the sixth and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa." In the sixteenth year of Asa, after Zerach the Kushite fell into his hands, it being the thirty-sixth year since the death of Shelomo, God raised up an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliyada (I Melakhim 16). At that same time the king of Israel and the king of Aram made a pact to go up and provoke Asa, and Asa sinned, and brought out silver and gold… a pact between me and you… and Ben Hadad heard… and at that time Chanani came… And the kings of Aram didn't stop being adversaries of Israel…. (Seder Olam Rabba, 16)