Arba'a Ushloshim Ushlosh Meyot - mi yodeya?

Question

Who knows three hundred thirty four?

ארבעה ושלושים ושלוש מאות - מי יודע?‏

The traditional Passover song "Echad - mi yodeya" implies a possible presupposition that there is a Jewish significance to be found for each natural number. Accordingly, there is an ongoing series on Mi Yodeya that is attempting to unearth significant Judaism facts about each number, in sequence.

What significant Judaism facts are there about the number 334? The more significant within Judaism and the more intrinsically dependent on the value 334, the stronger the answer. Please include sources for your information wherever possible, as with all other answers on this site.

Please refrain from lazy gemiatrias. Some consider them heretical.

Answer 1

The total number of roshei avot in עזרא ח:א-יד is 1496. They gave, as a gift to the אוצר המלאכה, five thousand מנות of silver in עזרא ב:סט, and according to דעת מקרה each מנה is 100 Persian shekels. Meaning they gave, on average, just over 334 (actually 334.2246) Persian shekels per person.

Source: Yehoshua Liebermann, "Biblical Statistics", page 180. It was the only instance of the number 334 I could find in the entire book, and even then I had to go back and forth through various pages to figure out how he arrived at the number.

Yes, I know, it's a bit of a ridiculous answer :)

Answer 2

According to the book Rabbinical Mathematics And Astronomy, by W. M. Feldman, as cited in various places on the Internet (I haven't read the original myself.) including in comments by Bert Katz on this Chabad.org article, the Hebrew calendar would stop drifting noticeably away from being fixed, in the long run, to the seasons if it used a 334-year cycle for assigning leap years instead of the 19-year cycle that was authorized by the court of Hillel Hakatan.

Apparently, the average year length under the 19-year system is about 7 minutes longer than a solar year, so the Jewish calendar shifts, on average, about a day later with respect to the seasons every 216 years. So, we are gradually but measurably getting closer and closer to having Pesach not fall in the Spring. Switching to a 334-year cycle would slow the rate of drift to about one day every 12,000 years.

Answer 3

There are 334 perakim in Tanach from the beginning of Bereishis until the Churban - that is, the Torah plus Neviim Rishonim.