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Who knows one hundred sixty-four?

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.

3 Answers 3

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164 are the number of parshiot in the book of Shemot. (Rambam, Hil. Sefer Torah, 8:4)

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(I'm counting phrases hyphenated in the cantillation as comprising separate words and not one each.)

Yitzchak gave several blessings: Genesis 27:27–29, 27:39–40, 28:3–4. Outside of these, he spoke 164 words recorded in the Torah:

  • 7 in 22:7
  • 2 in 26:7
  • 5 in 26:9
  • 7 in 26:22
  • 8 in 26:27
  • 1 in 27:1
  • 7 in 27:2
  • 11 in 27:3
  • 13 in 27:4
  • 4 in 27:18
  • 5 in 27:20
  • 10 in 27:21
  • 6 in 27:22
  • 4 in 27:24
  • 8 in 27:25
  • 5 in 27:26
  • 2 in 27:32
  • 15 in 27:33
  • 5 in 27:35
  • 18 in 27:37
  • 5 in 28:1
  • 16 in 28:2

(I'm not counting 28:6, which is merely quoting/paraphrasing him.)

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  • 2
    How many words are in the blessings, by contrast? How in the world did you think "164" and come up with this?
    – Isaac Moses
    Jan 11, 2011 at 19:27
  • @R'IM, I had how many words were in the blessings, but don't any longer, I'm afraid. But you can count them: there are only seven verses' worth. :-)
    – msh210
    Jan 11, 2011 at 19:41
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    As to how I came up with this: When searching for an answer to a previous question in this series, I found, I forget where, the claim that there were [some number of] words of Yitzchak's outside of his blessings. (I forget the number as well.) Not believing it, I counted, and discovered that the correct number is 164. So I hung on to the info until you asked this question. :-)
    – msh210
    Jan 11, 2011 at 19:45
  • @IsaacMoses: judaism.stackexchange.com/a/15418
    – msh210
    Mar 28, 2012 at 6:12
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Yitzchok was 164 years old when Yosef became Bar Mitzva.

Yaakov was 91 when Yosef was born, Yitzchok was 151 when Yosef was born. 151 + 13 = 164

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  • Mazal Tov! Yaakov's "ben zekunim" must have gotten quite a party.
    – Isaac Moses
    Jan 12, 2011 at 18:38

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