Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement were used primarily by ancient

rabbinic writings, such as the Mishnah and Talmud
. These units of measurement continue to be used in functions regulating Jewish contemporary life. The specificity of some of the units used and which are encompassed under these systems of measurement (whether in linear distance, weight or volume of capacity) have given rise, in some instances, to disputes, owing to the discontinuation of their Hebrew names and their replacement by other names in modern usage.

Note: The listed measurements of this system range from the lowest to highest acceptable halakhic value, in terms of conversion to and from contemporary systems of measurement.

Contemporary unit conversion

While documentation on each unit's relation to another's is plentiful, there is much debate, both within Judaism and in

measurement systems. Classical definitions, such as that an etzba was seven barleycorns
laid side by side, or that a log was equal to six medium-sized eggs, are also open to debate. Nevertheless, the entire system of measurement bears profound resemblance to the Babylonian and the ancient Egyptian systems, and is currently understood to have likely been derived from some combination of the two.[1] Scholars commonly infer the absolute sizes based on the better-known Babylonian units' relations to their contemporary counterparts.[1]

Length and distance

The original measures of length were clearly derived from the human body — the finger, hand, arm, span, foot, and pace — but since these measures differ between individuals, they are reduced to a certain standard for general use. The Israelite system thus used divisions of the

Latin mille, and Iranian parasang, respectively; both were units of itinerant
distance, and thus varied according to terrain and stride length, and, in the case of the parasang, also on the speed of travel.

The Israelite measurements were related as follows:

Discrepancies of ell

Further information: ell

The biblical ell is closely related to the

Book of Chronicles; the Chronicler writes that Solomon's Temple was built according to "cubits following the first measure",[8] suggesting that over the course of time the original ell was supplanted by a smaller one.[1] The Egyptians also used two different ells, one of which — the royal ell — was a sixth larger than the common ell;[1] this royal measurement was the earlier of the two in Egyptian use, and the one which the Pyramids of the 3rd and 4th Dynasties seem to be measured in integer multiples of.[9]

The smaller of the Egyptian ells measured 17.72 in (45 cm), but the standard Babylonian ell, cast in stone on one of the

Chazon Ish at 2.38 cm (0.94 in). The mile (Mil) is thus about 963 or 1146 meters (3160 or 3760 ft) — approximately six or seven tenths of a mile, and significantly shorter than the modern statute or land mile
of 5280 ft or 1760 yd (approximately 1.6 km).

The precise width of the etzba (finger) has been a subject of controversy among halakhic authorities. The best known are those of the Rav Chayim No'eh and Chazon Ish.

Name (plural) Hebrew name (plural) Translation English equivalent SI equivalent Notes
Etzba (Etzba'ot) (אצבע (אצבעות thumb-breadth 0.79–0.94 in[10] 2.0–2.4 cm The latter value is
Chazon Ish
's. Since all other units are multiples of the etzba, they vary accordingly.
Tefach (Tefachim) (טפח (טפחים
hand-breadth
 3.16–3.76 in[10] 8.02–9.55 cm[10]
Melo Heseiṭ מלוא הסיט the distance between the thumb and index finger when outstretched (little span)[11] --- ---
Zeret (Zarot) (זרת (זרות span 9.48–11.28 in[10] 24.08–28.65 cm[10]
Amah (Amot) (אמה (אמות cubit 18.96–22.56 in[10] 48.16–57.30 cm[10]
Ris
stadium
 421.3–501.3 ft 128.4–152.8 m A ris is 2⁄15, or about 0.13, of a mil. According to Rashi (Baba Kama 79b, s.v. שלושים ריס), thirty ris is equivalent to 4 mil. Maimonides concurs in his commentary on Mishnah yoma 6:4, where 90 ris is put at 12 mil.
Mil (Milin) mile 0.598–0.712 mi (in case of Talmud opinion referencing a Roman mile: 0.919 mi[12][13]) 0.963–1.146 km (in case of Talmud opinion referencing a Roman mile: 1.481 km[12]) Time to walk a mil is 18–24 minutes.[14]
parasa (parsa'ot) parasang 2.41–2.85 mi 3.87–4.58 km Distance covered by an average man in a day's walk is 10 parsa'ot. Time to walk a parasa is 72–96 minutes.[14]

See also Rabbi Chaim P. Benish's "Midos V'Shiurei Torah" where he brings an alternative view in understanding the Rambam and therefore suggests that the etzba, according to the Rambam, is 0.748–0.756 in (1.90–1.92 cm). This affects the other measurements in the following ways: tefah 2.99–3.02 in (7.59–7.67 cm); zeret 8.98–9.07 in (22.81–23.03 cm); amah 17.95–18.14 in (45.59–46.08 cm).

Alternatively, according to some early authorities[citation needed] a zeret is two tefahim instead of three.

Talmudic additions

To the somewhat simple system of distance, the Talmud adds a few more units, namely the double palm (Hebrew: חסיט, hasit), the pace (Hebrew: פסיעה, pesiah), the cord (Hebrew: חבל, hebel), the stadium (Hebrew: ריס, ris), the day's journey (Hebrew:דרך יום, derekh yom), and an undetermined quantity named the garmida (Hebrew: גרמידא). The stadium appears to have been adopted from Persia, while the double palm seems to have been derived from the Greek dichas.[1] The relationship between four of these additional units and the earlier system is as follows:

  • 1 double palm (hasit) = 2 palms (tefah)
  • 1 pace (pesiah) = 1 ell (amah)
  • 1 stadium (ris) = 1600 palms (2⁄15 mile) (tefah).
    cubits.[16]
  • 1 day's journey (derekh yom) = 10 parasangs (parasa)

The other two additional units are more ambiguous. The garmida is mentioned repeatedly but without its size being indicated; it is even sometimes treated as an area,[17] and as a volume.[18] The cord is given two different definitions; in the Mishnah it is 50 ells,[19] but in the Gemara it is only 4 ells.[20]

Area

The Israelite system of measuring area was fairly informal; the biblical text merely measures areas by describing how much land could be sown with a certain volume measure of seed, for example the amount of land able to be sown with 2 seahs of barley.[21] The closest thing to a formal area unit was the yoke (Hebrew: צמד tsemed)[22] (sometimes translated as acre), which referred to the amount of land that a pair of yoked oxen could plough in a single day; in Mesopotamia the standard estimate for this was 6,480 square cubits, which is roughly equal to a third of an acre.[9]

"Searah" (Hebrew: שערה) - (pl. searot) hair, square 1⁄36 of a geris

"Adashah" (

lentils
, 1⁄9 of a geris

"Geris" (

hulled fava bean
, a circle with a diameter of about 2 centimeters (0.8 in)

"Amah al amah" (Hebrew: אמה על אמה) - (pl. amot) square cubit 0.232 to 0.328 m2 (2.50-3.53 ft2)

"Beit rova" (Hebrew: בית רובע) - (pl. batei rova) space of 10.5 cubits x 10.5 cubits for sowing 1⁄4 kav of seed (1⁄4 kav containing the volume of 6 eggs).[23] Area varies between 24 and 34.5 m2 (258–372 ft2)

"Beit seah" (Hebrew: בית סאה) - (pl. batei seah) space for sowing a seah 576 to 829.5 m2 (689-992 yd2)

"Beit kor" (Hebrew: בית כור) - (pl. batei kor) space for sowing a kor of seed, or what is 30 seah in volume; the area needed is appx. 1.73 to 2.48 hectares (4.27-6.15 acres), or about 23,000 m2 in area.[24]

Volume

The Israelite system of powder/liquid volume measurements corresponds exactly with the Babylonian system. Unlike the Egyptian system, which has units for multiples of 1, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 of the base unit, the Babylonian system is founded on multiples of 6 and 10, namely units of 1, 12, 24, 60, 72 (60 plus 12), 120, and 720.[1] The basic unit was the mina, which was defined as 1 sixtieth of a maris, which itself was the quantity of water equal in weight to a light royal talent; the maris was thus equal to about 30.3 litres, and hence the mina is equal to about 0.505 litres.[1] In the Israelite system, the term log is used in place of the Babylonian mina but the measurement is otherwise the same.[1]

Although they both use the log as the basic unit, the Israelites differentiated their systems of volume measure between dry and liquid states.

Dry measure

For dry measurement, or what is simply a measure of capacity rather than of weight,[25] the smallest unit of which is the beitza (egg), followed by the log (לג),[26] (followed by the kab (קב),[27] followed by the se'ah (סאה),[28] followed by the ephah (איפה), followed by the lethek (לתך), and finally by the kor (כור). The lethek is mentioned only once in the Masoretic Text, and the Septuagint translates it by the Greek term nebeloinou (νέβελ οἴνου), meaning wine-skin. These measurements were related as follows:

  • 1½ eggs = Quarter of a log[29] (also used for a cup of wine)
  • 6 eggs (beitza) = 1 log[29]
  • 4 log (24 eggs) = 1 kab[29]
  • 6 kab (144 eggs) = 1 se'ah[29]
  • 3 se'ah (432 eggs) = 1 ephah[29]
  • 5 ephah = 1 lethek
  • 2 lethek = 1 kor

The kezayit is, by different sources, considered equal to 1⁄2 a beitza, 1⁄3 of a beitza, or not directly related to the other units of volume.

The omer, which the Torah mentions as being equal to one-tenth of an ephah,[30] is equivalent to the capacity of 43.2 eggs, or what is also known as one-tenth of three seahs.[31] In dry weight, the omer weighed between 1.560 kg to 1.770 kg, being the quantity of flour required to separate therefrom the dough offering.[32] In the Torah, it is the Priestly Code which refers to the omer, rather than to the se'ah or kab;[1] textual scholars view the Priestly Code as one of the later sources of the Torah, dating from a period when Egypt and Assyria had much more direct influence over Israel.[33]

According to Ezekiel 45:11 both the eipha and the bath were one tenth an homer (חומר HOMeR, not be confused with the omer). Boadt notes the word homer comes from the Hebrew for an "ass." "It is one ass-load."[34]

Liquid measure

For liquid measure, the main units were the Log, Hin, and Bath, related as follows:

  • 1 Log (לֹג) = 4 Revi'ith (רביעית, lit. 'quarter [Log]')
  • 1 Hin (הין) = 12 Logs[35]
  • 1 Bath (בת) = 6 Hin[36]

The Bath, equal to 72 Logs, is thus the liquid equivalent of the Ephah, also equal to 72 Logs. The liquid equivalent of the omer, which appears without a special name, only being described as the tenth part of a bath,[37] is as much of an awkward fit as the omer itself, and is only mentioned by Ezekiel and the Priestly Code; scholars attribute the same explanation to it as with the Omer — that it arose as a result of decimalisation.[1] The Omer is mentioned as a tenth of an ephah in Exodus 16:36, before the Priestly code.

According to Herbert G. May, chief editor of two classic Bible-related reference books, the bath may be archaeologically determined to have been about 22 liters (5.75 US gal) from a study of jar remains marked 'bath' and 'royal bath' from Tell Beit Mirsim.[38] Based on this, a Revi'ith would measure (approx.) 76 ml or 2.7 fluid oz.

Talmudic additions

In Talmudic times many more measures of capacity were used, mostly of foreign origin, especially from Persia and Greece, which had both held dominance over Judea by the time the Talmud came to be created. The definitions for many of these are disputed. Those that were certain (disputed) fractions of the Kab include, in increasing order of size, ukla (עוכלא), tuman (תומן), and kapiza (קפיזא). Those that were larger, in increasing order of size, included the modius (מודיא),[39] geriwa (geriwa), garab (גרב). Of unidentified size were the ardaba (אדרב), the kuna (כונא), and the qometz (קמץ); the latter two of these were said to equate to a handful. Some dry measures were used for liquids as well, e.g. se'eh. The kortov (קורטוב) was used for very small amounts (1/64 of a log).[1]: p. 490 

Mass and money

Genesis 23
)

The Babylonian system, which the Israelites followed, measured weight with units of the talent, mina, shekel (Hebrew: שקל), and giru, related to one another as follows:

  • 1 shekel = 24 giru
  • 1 mina = 60 shekels (later 100 zuz)
  • 1 talent = 60 mina

In the Israelite system, the ratio of the giru to the shekel was altered, and the talent, mina, and giru, later went by the names kikkar (ככר), litra, and gerah (גרה), respectively; litra being the Greek form of the Latin libra, meaning pound.[9][40] The Israelite system was thus as follows:

  • 1 shekel = 20 gerah
  • 1 litra = 60 shekels
  • 1 kikkar = 60 litra

There were, however, different versions of the talent/kikkar in use; a royal and a common version. In addition, each of these forms had a heavy and a light version, with the heavy version being exactly twice the weight of the lighter form; the light royal talent was often represented in the form of a duck, while the heavy royal talent often took the form of a lion. The mina for the heavy royal talent weighed 1.01 kilograms (2.23 lbs), while that for the heavy common talent weighed only 984 grams (2.17 lbs); accordingly, the heavy common shekel would be about 15.87 grams (0.56 oz).[1] According to Josephus, it was the heavy common talent, and its mina and shekel, that was the normal measure of weight in Syria and Judea;[41] Josephus also mentions an additional unit – the bekah – which was exactly half a shekel.

Gradually, the system was reformed, perhaps under the influence of Egypt, so that a mina was worth only 50 shekels rather than 60; to achieve this, the shekel remained the same weight, while the weight of the standard mina was reduced.

denarii, but over time the measurement had enlarged so that it would be worth exactly four denarii.[1]

  • "Pruta" (pl. prutot) - a copper coin (Hebrew פרוטה prutah) - 22 mg (0.34 troy grains)
  • "Issar" (pl. issarim) - a
    As
    ) - 177 mg (2.732 troy grains)
  • "Pundion" (pl. pundionim) - a Roman copper coin (Dupondius) - 349 mg (5.4 troy grains)
  • "Ma'ah" (pl. ma'ot = "money") - a silver coin, (Hebrew gerah) - 699 mg (10.8 troy grains)
In Hebrew it is called a Gerah (as in twenty gerah is a Shekel, Exodus); (litt. grain; also gram derives from it).
  • "Dinar" (pl. Dinarim) - a Roman silver coin (
    Zuz
    , pl. zuzim) - 4.26 grams (0.137 ozt)
In Hebrew, a silver Dinar was called a "Zuz" to avoid confusion with the gold Dinar.
Moses instituted it as the standard coinage. From 8.39 to 15.86 grams (0.27-0.51 troy ounces) of pure silver (Chazon Ish).
  • Main article: Shekel
  • "Pim" - a weight discovered by archaeologists in the form of the pim weight. About 7.6 grams, or 2⁄3 shekel.
  • "Sela" (pl. selo'im) - a silver coin (tetradrachm) - 17.1 grams (0.55 ozt) (a sela equals two shekel).
  • Dinar (pl. dinarim or dinerei) - a Roman gold coin (Aureus) (Hebrew "Dinerei zahav") - 7.99 grams (0.257 ozt) of gold (106.25 grams or 3.416 ozt in silver)
  • "Minah" (pl. ) - a silver coin - 424.87 grams (13.66 ozt) - equivalent with maneh which is 100 zuzim.
  • "Kikar" (pl. kikarim) - as a gold weight, equivalent to a talent of gold - 3000 shekel

Time

Year

Main article: Hebrew calendar

The

Adar II
(in the Babylonian calendar, it was Adar II that was considered to be the intercalary month).

Week

The Israelite month was clearly broken up into weeks, since the

Genesis creation (and biblical references to Shabbat) describe a seven-day week. The seven-day cycle is not seen as a cycle in nature and is rather a custom biblically originating from Genesis 1:3–2:3
.

The modern Hebrew calendar follows a seven-day weekly cycle, which runs concurrently but independently of the monthly and annual cycles. The origin of Hebrew seven day week and the Sabbath, as well as the true meaning of the name, is uncertain. The earliest Biblical passages which mention it (Exodus 20:10 and 24:21; Deut. 5:14; Amos 8:5) presuppose its previous existence, and analysis of all the references to it in the canon makes it plain that its observance was neither general nor altogether spontaneous in either pre-exilic or post-exilic Israel. It was probably originally connected in some manner with the cult of the moon, as indeed is suggested by the frequent mention of Sabbath and New-Moon festivals in the same sentence (Isa. 1:13; Amos 8:5; H Kings 6:23).[42]

The names for the days of the week are simply the day number within the week. In Hebrew, these names may be abbreviated using the numerical value of the Hebrew letters, for example "Day 1, or Yom Rishon".

Day

In addition to "tomorrow" (machar) and "yesterday" (etmol), the Israelite vocabulary also contained a distinct word for two days ago (shilshom). Maḥaratayim ("the day after tomorrow"), is a dual form of machar, literally "two tomorrows". In the Bible, the day is divided up vaguely, with descriptions such as midnight, and half-night.[43][44][45] Nevertheless, it is clear that the day was considered to start at dusk.[46]

By Talmudic times, the Babylonian system of dividing up the day (from sunset to sunrise, and sunrise to sunset), into hours (Hebrew: שעה, sha'ah), parts (Hebrew: חלק, heleq, plural halaqim), and moments (Hebrew: רגע, rega, plural rega'im), had been adopted; the relationship of these units was:

  • 1 part (heleq) = 76 moments (rega'im) (each moment, rega, is 0.04386 of a second; 22.8 rega'im is 1 second)
  • 1 hour (sha'ah) = 1080 parts (halaqim) (each heleq is 3⅓ seconds)
  • 1 day = 24 hours (sha'ah)

To complicate matters,

relative hour, states that there are always 12 hours between the break of dawn
and sunset, so these measurements are averages. For example, in the summer, a day time hour is much longer than a night time hour.

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^
    Jewish Encyclopedia
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Tosefta (Kelim Baba-Metsia 6:12–13)
  3. ^ a b Mishnah with Maimonides' Commentary, (ed. Yosef Qafih), vol. 1, Mossad Harav Kook: Jerusalem 1963, Kila'im 6:6 [p. 127] (Hebrew)
  4. ^ a b Mishnah with Maimonides' Commentary, (ed. Yosef Qafih), vol. 3, Mossad Harav Kook: Jerusalem 1967, Middot 3:1 [p. 291] (Hebrew)
  5. ^ Mishnah - with a Commentary of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (ed. Yosef Qafih), vol. 1, Mossad Harav Kook: Jerusalem 1963, s.v. Kippurim 6:4
  6. ^ Ezekiel 40:5
  7. ^ Ezekiel 43:13
  8. ^ 2 Chronicles 3:3
  9. ^
    Peake's commentary on the Bible
  10. ^ a b c d e f g See also Rabbi Chaim P. Benish's "Midos V'Shiurei Torah" where he brings an alternative view in understanding the Rambam and therefore suggests that the etzba, according to the Rambam, is 0.748–0.756 in (1.90–1.92 cm). This would affect the other measurements in the following ways: tefah 2.99–3.02 in (7.59–7.67 cm); zeret 8.98–9.07 in (22.81–23.03 cm); amah 17.95–18.14 in (45.59–46.08 cm).
  11. Nathan ben Abraham
    's Mishnah Commentary
  12. ^ a b Bar-Hayim, David (Rabbi). "The 18-Minute Matzah Fallacy: Do You Really Have To Finish in Under 18 Minutes". Machon Shilo - The Home of Torat Eretz Yisrael. Machon Shilo. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  13. ^ A Roman mile (mille passuum) consisted of a thousand paces of two steps each.
  14. ^ a b "MyZmanim Sources". MyZmanim.com. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  15. ^ "Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement". Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  16. Chazon-Ish. Moreover, Josephus, in his Vita (§ 12), says that Bethmaus (Heb. בית מעון) was distant from Tiberias four stadia, or what was actually one biblical mile
    ; meaning, each stadia equalled roughly 500 cubits.
  17. Baba Batra
    , 27a
  18. Erubin
    , 14b
  19. ^ Erubin, 5:4
  20. ^ Erubin, 58b
  21. ^ 1 Kings 18:32
  22. ^ Isaiah 5:10
  23. ^ See Appendix II - D (Liquid and Dry Measure) in Danby's translation of the Mishnah. There, it says explicitly that 1 log is the equivalent of 6 eggs, and that 4 logs is the equivalent of 1 kab. This would mean that one-fourth of a kab is equivalent to the volume of 6 eggs.
  24. ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 2, Jerusalem 1971, s.v. Agricultural Methods and Implements in Ancient Ereẓ Israel (p. 395).
  25. Hallah
    2:6 (p. 240).
  26. ISBN 0 19 815402 X, who, like all the earlier and later rabbinic writers, prescribe 6 kabs to each seah; 4 logs to each kab; the content of 6 eggs to each log. According to Maimonides in Mishnah Pe'ah
    8:5, it is possible to test the trigonometric calculations for the volume of one log (= the volume of 6 eggs), by filling up a space 4 fingerbreadths x 4 fingerbreadths in breadth (the finger's breadth being appx. 2.5 cm), with a depth of 2 fingerbreadths and 7⁄10 of another fingerbreadth.
  27. Mishne Torah
    (Hil. Bikkurim 6:15).
  28. ISBN 0 19 815402 X
    , who, like all the earlier and later rabbinic writers, prescribe 6 kabs to each seah; 4 logs to each kab; the content of 6 eggs to each log.
  29. ^
    Kiara, S. (1987). Ezriel Hildesheimer (ed.). Sefer Halachot Gedolot (in Hebrew). Vol. 3. Jerusalem. p. 402.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    ), s.v. הלכות חלה
  30. ^ Exodus 16:36
  31. Aramaic Targum
    of pseudo-Jonathan ben Uzziel on Exodus 16:36 who says: "an omer is one-tenth of three seahs." Omer is also isaron In Hebrew measures, 1 seah is equal to the capacity of 144 eggs. Three seahs are the equivalent of 432 eggs; one-tenth of this is 43.2 eggs (The Mishnah, ed. Herbert Danby, Oxford University Press: Oxford 1977, Appendix II, p. 798)
  32. Bnei Barak
    ) brings down the traditional weight used in Yemen for each dirham, saying that it weighed 3.36 grams, making the total weight for the required separation of the dough-portion to be 1 kilo and 770.72 grams.
  33. ^ Richard Elliott Friedman, Who wrote the Bible?
  34. ^ The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy, Printice Hall, 1990 ISMN 0-12-614934, p. 327
  35. ^ Mishnah - with a Commentary of Moses ben Maimon (ed. Yosef Qafih), vol. 3, Mossad Harav Kook: Jerusalem 1967, s.v. Introduction to Tractate Menahoth, p. 67 (Hebrew); a log has the capacity of six eggs. A hin is the equivalent of 12 logs.
  36. ISBN 978-0-8028-2126-3
    .
  37. ^ Ezekiel 45:14
  38. ^ The Interpreter's Bible, Buttrick ed., Abingden Press, Nashville, 1956, volume VI, p. 317 (p155 in the Internet Archive copy of the text)
  39. Babylonian Talmud
    , Gittin 57a; traditionally associated with the seah.
  40. OCLC 912074
    .
  41. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, volume 14, 106
  42. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Sabbath". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  43. ^ Exodus 12:29
  44. ^ Judges 16:3
  45. Psalms 119:62
    )
  46. ^ A noted contrarian position on the start of the day can be found in Rashbam's comment to Genesis 1:5.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Frank, Rabbi Yitzḥak (1991). The Practical Talmud Dictionary. Jerusalem, Israel: The Ariel Institute.
    ISBN 978-0-87306-588-7
    .

External links

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