Who knows twelve?
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asked Apr 8, 2010 at 15:50
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12 Answers
Twelve are the number of lines of a get - a bill of divorce, and this is hinted to by the gematria of the Hebrew word גט, as the first Tosafos in the gemara Gittin writes in the name of Rabbeinu Tam.
And there is another number twelve connected to this one, as explained in the sefer אמרי שפר:
The main reason why there are twelve lines in a get is to allude to the severing of the connection between a man and his wife through this bill of divorce. Because the connection between them comprises twelve things which they are obligated one to the other: The man is obligated in three things - sustenance, clothing and marital relations, and the woman is obligated in the nine things* which are mentioned in the gemara in Kesuvos 59b, and through the giving of a get these twelve things become annulled.
* The Mishnah there lists seven things which include הצעת המטה - making the bed, and the gemara adds three more which also include הצעת המטה, and Rashi and Tosafos explain that there are two types of הצעת המטה. Nevertheless, since they are practically the same thing we can consider them as one and thus she is obligated in nine things, not ten.
Twelve are the sons of Yishmael. (Beraishis 25,16)
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1Would have won for preserving the meter of the English song if you'd included the "are the."– Isaac Moses ♦Commented Apr 9, 2010 at 16:51
אף הוא היה אומר חמשה דברים של שנים עשר חדש. משפט דור המבול שנים עשר חדש. משפט איוב שנים עשר חדש. משפט המצריים שנים עשר חדש. משפט גוג ומגוג לעתיד לבא שנים עשר חדש. משפט רשעים בגיהנם שנים עשר חדש. שנאמר והיה מדי חדש בחדשו:
He also used to say that there are five things that [last] twelve months: The judgment of the generation of the flood, twelve months; The judgment of Job, twelve months; The judgment of the Egyptians, twelve months; The judgment of Gog and Magog in the time to come, twelve months; The judgment of the wicked in hell, twelve months, for it is said, "And it will be from [one] month until the [next appearance of the same] month" (Isaiah 66:23).
answered Feb 23, 2017 at 14:25
"Twelve" is a common mistake people make when encountering the Biblical term for eleven, עשתי עשר
Twelve proportional hours in an "Onah".
Twelve months is the maximum length of a human pregnancy (Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 4:14).
Interestingly, there are a number of places in Chassidus (for example, here) where it is stated that the prophet Eliyahu was born after a pregnancy of this length.
The Lechem HaPanim in the Bais HaMikdash consisted of 12 breads
answered Jan 18, 2011 at 16:06
According to ספר יצירה there are:
3 measuring letters called Ah-mot (אמות),the plural of Amah (אמה). Sometimes they are referred to as the three Kavim (ג׳ קוים היינו קו החסד, קו הגבורה וקו התפארת). They are the letters (אמש).
7 double letters (בגדכפרת),
and 12 elemental or simple letters (הוזחטילנסעצק).
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Thanks for your answer, and welcome to Mi Yodeya! Please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features.– msh210 ♦Commented Jan 9, 2014 at 18:37
There were 12 paths through the Yam Suf.
12 were the grandsons of Rachel (10 from binyamin, 2 from yosef).
Just to add a few more that have not been posted yet:
12 Tribes of Israel
12 springs of water in Eilim (Exodus 15:27)
12 months of the year
12 bulls in Solomons fountain
12 stones in the Kohen Gadol’s breastplate
12 names engraved in the Avnei Shoham
12 diagonals (gevulei alachson)
12 nuschaos of tefilla and 12 is the measure of the luchos (6 each) see Likutei Halachot, Choshen Mishpat, Laws of Boundaries 3:14
12 stones around Yaakov’s head
12 permutations of Hashems name
12 Qualities of the body (speech, thought, motion, sight, hearing, action, coition, smell, sleep, anger, taste, laughter)
12 Mazalot – astrological signs
12 words in the Shema (including Baruch Shem...)
12 pillars that the world stands on (Chagiga 12b)
12 Levels of Heaven – shaaei rakiya – see Malbim Genesis 49:28
12 matzeivos erected by Moshe (Exodus 24:4)
12 stones erected by Yehoshua (Joshua 4:9)
12 stones erected by Eliyahu (I Kings 18:31)
12 is the age for Bat Mitzvah
12 (Minor) Prophets [Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi]
12 sons Yosef was meant to have like Yaakov (Sotah 36b)
12 spies (meraglim)
12 angels that surround the kisei hakavod and 12 lions surrounding King Solomons throne (Rabbeinu Bachya Vayikra 24:7)
Twelve times Naomi bids her daughters-in-law return to their families in Moab.
B"H
One that hasn't been mentioned:
Twve "givulei alakson", "diagonal lines" of Atzilus
(When combining the 7 sefiros with lines there are 12 potential connections)
