Questions tagged [shiurim-measurements]
measurements relating to the performance of different Mitzvot
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Minimum measure for שריטה/גדידה
I was learning about cutting/scratching. This is a pagan practice of cutting oneself in mourning, and is forbidden in the Torah.
The halachot for this are in משנה תורה, הלכות עבודה זרה וחוקות הגויים ...
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Dollar Value of Sela
In the ceremony of Pidyon HaBen, the father needs to give the Kohein who is involved, 5 Selaim.
How much is a sela in US dollars?
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How to understand quantity in terms of prohibitions and the affect that this has on interacting with that quantity of issur?
Do all issurim have a shiur and how is that quantified?
An example of what inspired the question. In my taaruvos shiur the rav told us that on yontiff if wood that was muktza such as branches that ...
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Size of an amah (אמה)
One of the our measurements is the אמה ("cubit"), for which the most usual value is 24 אצבעות. My question is, What information do we have from earlier sources (Rishon or Acharon, say, ...
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Can someone fulfill his Shabbat meal obligation through his family if they eat a k'betza and he eats just a bit?
Suppose someone for health reasons can't eat a full k'betza of bread but can eat a crumb.
He wants to l'chatchila (or bedi'eved) fulfil the standard Shabbat obligation of seuda and lechem mishna for ...
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Rabbinic weights and measures in primary source
Where can I find a concise presentation of the full system of rabbinic weights and measures, in a primary source?
Meaning X tefachim in an Amah, etc.
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Measurement of Cherubim in the Mishkan
Our son would like to bring in a model to school of the Aron, and cherubim (ark of covenant, and cherubim) that was in the mishkan. I found a box with the exact size of the ark. We would like to make ...
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In what time period must Pas Habaa Bikisnin be eaten?
If enough Pas Habaa Bikisnin (e.g. cake or crackers) is eaten at once (according to some opinions as little as four beitzim Mishna Berura 168:24) then the blessing is Hamotzi instead of mezonot.
In ...
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Why is Aramaic "tlasah" used for wine in ketoret, where spices are counted in Hebrew "shlasha"?
In Talmud Keritot 6a, read in the siddur, it states,
קילופה שלשה וקנמון תשעה בורית כרשינה תשעה קבין יין קפריסין סאין תלתא קבין תלתא
Why is the Hebrew שלשה used for "three" (hin) in ...
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Shortest/longest halachic hours
Chabad's article explains the “halachic hour” like this:
The hour has a special meaning in Jewish law. "The third hour of the
day" doesn't mean 3:00 a.m., or three sixty-minute hours after
...
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Apparent contradiction in Bamidbar 35:1-5
I am aware that Sotah 27b and Rashi do not not regard these verses as self-contradictory, although they point to the apparent contradiction.
The verses in English:
The LORD spoke to Moses in the ...
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How large is an issar coin in halacha?
The Shulchan Aruch OC (648:2) writes
אתרוג שניקב נקב מפולש כל שהוא פסול ושאינו מפולש אם היה כאיסר פסול ואם
חסר כל שהוא פסול ויש אומרים דגם בנקב מפולש בעינן חסרון משהו ושאינו
מפולש בחסרון כאיסר - An ...
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How would you practically measure the volume of a matzah?
So assuming a Kezayit is measured as volume, how would one calculate the volume of a matzah? Water displacement probably wouldn’t work, because it’ll get soggy!
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Amah, tefach, and pi
I have a question on Eruvin 14a bottom which says that Shlomo's pool was round, had diameter of 10 amot and thickness 1 tefach, and circumference 30 amot (we learn from this that halachically pi=3).
...
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What precisely are the differences between היתר מצטרף לאיסור and טעם כעיקר?
Learning maseches nozir around daf 35, I encountered two concepts:
היתר מצטרף לאיסור (HML)
and
טעם כעיקר (TK)
HML
The Gemoro 35b indicates that HML is derived from Bamidbar 6(3)
מִיַּ֤יִן וְשֵׁכָר֙ ...
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Operating a mechanical calculator on Shabbos
Are mechanical calculators Mukzte on Shabbos? Would it be considered a form of measuring?
Mechanical calculators have no electric parts. Everything is purely mechanical:
If it is considered measuring,...
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Giving Tzedakah Less than a Perutah
The consensus among poskim is that a prutah is 1/40 of a gram of silver, which is usually more than 1 cent but less than 5 cents. So if a person only gives a penny to tzedakah (let's say that is all ...
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Why are there different versions of what Chazon Ish says is the size of an Amah?
Different sources have different information regarding the size of an Amah (all measurements are attributed to Chazon Ish):
Halachipedia - 24 in. / 60.96 cm
Dafyomi.co.il - 22.72 in. / 57.72 cm
Daat....
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Sotah 34a se’a as unit of weight?
In Sotah 34a, the weight of the stones at the Jordan from Joshua 4:3 is given as “about forty se’a.” Some (for instance Steinsaltz) use this in the discussion of the cluster of grapes brought back by ...
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Must a kazayit be eaten immediately?
In order to recite an after-beracha —- take bread, for example —- must the full kazayit be eaten right after making the opening-beracha, or could one taste the bread and wait a period of time before ...
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Pouring wine into a pagum/used cup in order to reuse the wine inside
I heard that after drinking from the kiddish cup, in order to reuse the wine left over which is pagum, we pour some wine into the cup from the bottle it before pouring the wine in the cup back into ...
user22084
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How much is "k'dei l'chametz"?
How much is "enough sourdough to ferment"? Orla 2:6 refers to it as a qualitative measure, independent of the 200:1 ratio which is the quantitative measure that would render the sourdough indelible ...
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What is the finest measurement in the Talmud?
The standard Talmudic measures of length include, for example, Amah, Tefach, and Etzbah. But those measures are pretty loose, around 20% of freedom.
What object or usage, in our Halacha, requires the ...
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Additional examples of measuring length in 'whole people in Halachah
אמר ר' יוחנן: סוכה העשויה ככבשן, אם יש בהקיפה
כדי לישב בה כ"ד בני אדם כשרה ואם לאו פסולה.
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: With regard to a sukka that is shaped like a furnace and is completely round, if ...
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Source of the idea of "enough to square" - "כדי לרבע"
IIRC the idea of "to square" addresses two main issues - measuring a minimal Succah and a minimal house for Mezzuzah (I'll focus on the first but the discussion on the later is similar).
IIRC the ...
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How much should Rosho Verubo be for Succah measurements?
The Gemmorah (Succah 3 and Mishna on 28) states that the requirements for a Succah are that a person can fit it "ראשו ורובו" - the head and most of the body.
IIRC the average body is 3 Amot (18 ...
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Why the minimal footage of a Succah is not mentioned in the Mishnah?
The first Mishnah in Succah discusses the height of Schach but not the measures. Subsequently, the Mishnah does not deal with it at all (Mishna 2.7 discusses the placement of the table independently ...
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Shouldn't the minimum Succah size be 6x7 Tfachim?
According to Bartenura on Mishna Sukkah 1:1, the calculation for the minimum Succah footage is the footage one man occupies (1 Ama x 1 Ama), i.g. 6 by 6 Tfachim and 1 Tefach for his table:
שהסוכה ...
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Have the measurements for tumah changed throughout the ages?
There is discussion among poskim whether we measure a kezayit (and other measurements) using contemporary olives/eggs/etc, or whether we use some larger measurement based on a perceived historical ...
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Measuring Levi's cities
The Torah says that the cities of Levi'im must have surrounding areas of either 2000 or 3000 Amahs. However, I didn't see how those cities' sizes were determined in the first place.
How Levi tribe (...
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Is there a minimum field size for peah to apply?
I know that peah applies to fields of food crops (not other produce) and that halacha is to leave at least 1/60 of the field unharvested for this purpose.
What I haven't found is whether there is a ...
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The minimum amount of water a Sotah must drink
I was wondering if there is a minimum amount of water a Sotah must drink in order for the water to take effect.
The closest I found to this being addressed was Rashi on Bamidbar 5:13 who quotes a ...
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Why Temples' dimensions were different from the Mishkan?
After asking "why-did-the-mizbeach-grow-40-times", I realized (thanks JoelK) that both measurements were dictated by G-d (it's unclear to whom: Moses, David or other prophets). See also Yalkut Shimoni ...
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Why did the Mizbeach grow 40 times? [duplicate]
The main, Bronze Altar in the Mishkan was 5 Amos wide. It was also portable.
In the Temple(s), it grew to 32 Amot wide - 6.4 time in width and 41 times in footage1.
EDIT: according to JoelK's answer,...
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Measuring the universe in G-d's cubits (Eruvin 21a)
In the following passage (Eruvin 21a in William Davidson edition) the sages try to determine the size of the Torah scroll that Zachariah saw in his prophecy:
In order to determine the measure of ...
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Where can we assume that time refers to Shaot Zmaniot?
For many daily activities, the time frame for completion is dependent on the proportional hours (sha'ot zmaniot). But is there an extension of those hours to proportional minutes and seconds which ...
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Examples of "too much of a good thing"? [closed]
I can think of several examples of minimal requirements (k'zayit, rov cos, arba tefachim, etc.) and examples of unlimited measures (ein lahem shiur) but are there examples of maximum requirements, i.e....
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why were the measurements of the kiyor not given?
the measurements of all the other utensils in the mishkan are provided except for those of the kiyor. why were the measurements of the kiyor not given?
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Do any sources discuss reading Megillas Ester too fast?
I remember seeing a source explaining that ideally Megilla should be read somewhat fast because it is called "iggeret" (a letter), and letters are read at fast speed out loud. I've also heard the ...
user17319
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Of all Aron measures, why the thickness of the Kapores was not mentioned?
While working on "the-holy-ark-weigh-4-tons" I noticed, the thickness of the Kapores (1 Tefach) is concluded only in the Gemmorah by גזירה שווה to other measures (Succa 5a):
"... אלא כפורת טפח מנלן?...
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Does the Holy Ark weigh 4 tons?
I did some calculations, based on the following measures:
The Aron was 2.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 Amahs
The gold was 2.5cm thick (a finger) for the ark and 10cm thick (a Tefah) for the Kapores, at 19.3 g/cm3
...
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Who was responsible for keeping the original measures - weights and rulers?
The Torah obligates us to keep the proper measures in weights and rulers, like Amah and Tefach and Log and Shekel and Selah.
Let's imagine there's an argument in court about house footage - one says ...
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Why did the nesiim give such tiny wagons?
The Torah describes how the nesiim gave wagons for the purpose of transporting the Mishkan. The Gemara gives the dimensions of those wagons: 5 amos long, 2.5 amos wide, with the 10-amah kerashim ...
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Halachic restrictions on Sefarim shelves
If memory serves me correctly, I believe Jonathan Rosenblum cites in his biography of Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky a story where Rav Yaakov complained that someone had placed a sefer on an arm of a bench ...
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Distance between foundation stone and western wall
What is the distance between the foundation stone and the western wall? Does the Talmud or anything say anything about the distance?
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Fitting the Sanhedrin (150) into Lishkat Hagazit (10x15 feet chamber)?
Here's the Tifferes Isroel's plan of the Temple drown to scale (on the bottom), which aligns with the plan of the Second Temple on the WIKI,
According to those plans, the size of the whole Lishkat ...
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Is air volume counted as part of the kezayit for Birkat Hamazon?
Poori is an Indian bread that puffs when it is hot. When measuring the kezayit olive size of bread that is the minimum to require Birkat Hamazon, does one include the volume of air in the food, or ...
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How much water could the tub Shlomo made hold?
In 1 Kings 7:26 it says the tub King Shlomo made for the Beit HaMikdash could hold 2,000 "בַּ֖ת" which various commentaries explain differently. However, whatever the proper translation in 2 Divrei ...
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Does other food combine to a c'beitza for the bracha of netilas yadayim?
It's a well known halacha that if one intends to eat less than a k'zais of bread then one doesn't make a bracha on al netilas yadayim.
This comes up sometimes on Pesach when there's not enough Matzah ...
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How large was the menorah?
This question asking why the menorah didn't have rings and staves for carrying reminded me that, unlike with the other mishkan objects, we're not given any dimensions for the menorah. I've always ...
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