Dimensional Oddities in the Mishkan

The first half of the 17th chapter of Maseches Keilim discusses the various units of measure that appear in halacha. Mishnah 10 notes that, although an amah, the cubit-based unit of length, is usually equal to six handbreadth-based tefachim, the amos with which the keilim of the Mishkan were measured were actually only five tefachim in size. Hence, for example, the size of the aron would be only 2.08 X 1.25 X 1.25 amos when measured using normal units, rather than the 2.5 X 1.5 X 1.5 indicated by the pesukim. The opinion of R' Meir differs slightly from that of R' Yehudah stated above, but also acknowledges that for certain parts of the Mishkan, these smaller amos were used. Why is this the case?

There are also several other dimensional oddities that occurred in the Beis HaMikdash. One example of such is the Aron which, according to Megillah 10b, did not take up any space in the Kodesh HaKodoshim. Another, described in the 5th perek of Pirkei Avos, is the miracle that despite everyone being packed together in the Courtyard of the Beis HaMikdash on Yom Kippur, they still had plenty of room to bow down when the kohen gadol pronounced the name of God.

Stephen Greenman notes these oddities in an essay* that appears in _Encounter_, a set of essays published by the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists (H. Chaim Schimmel and R' Aryeh Carmell, ed.). He suggests a potential correlation to the special theory of relativity, which states that as the velocity of an object approaches the speed of light, its length along the axis of its motion decreases asymptotically. Applying this idea to the matter at hand, perhaps the greater holiness of the keilim of the Mikdash causes a condensation of their perceived volume. So, too, when the people in the Azarah heard the name of God pronounced, perhaps their bodies underwent a similar temporary shrinkage. The aron, the center of the holiness of the Beis HaMikdash upon which the shechina rested, is analogous to an object traveling at the speed of light itself, which has no volume at all. Much as special relativity has a negligible effect on our everyday activities, which occur at velocities much lower than the speed of light (roughly 650,000,000 miles per hour), so, too, would this analogous relationship have an imperceptible effect outside of the Beis HaMikdash.

The author provides further data points connecting physical energy and holiness in the article, as well as analogs to the relativistic condensation of time as one approaches the speed of light, but does not pass judgement on whether the juxtaposition of the two concepts is anything more than an intriguing parable.

* "Relativity and the Bet HaMikdash: a metaphorical extrapolation or an intriguing parable?"

Pirkei Avos - Kol Yisroel

What is the origin of the practice of reciting the first piece of the first mishnah of Perek Cheilek prior to learning the week's chapter of Pirkei Avos?

The Rema miPano (cited at the beginning of Peirushei HaRishonim Al Avos) gives an interesting explanation of the practice's origins. The "last chapter" of Pirkei Avos, Perek Kinyan Torah, was appended to the 5 actual chapters of Maseches Avos in order that the resulting 6 chapters can be read on the 6 Shabbosos that fall out between Pesach and Shavu'os, being that the first Shabbos of sefirah always falls out during the chag, and thus does not receive a special chapter of learning.

When the first day of Pesach falls out on Shabbos, though, the first of the seven Shabbosos of sefirah falls out on Isru Chag in Eretz Yisroel, necessitating the addition of another section of learning for the extra Shabbos. The Rema miPano states that the practice developed in Eretz Yisroel in such situations to learn the gemara at the beginning of Perek Cheilek on Shabbos Isru Chag Pesach, based on the mesorah that t'chiyas ha-meisim, which is discussed in this sugya, will occur on Pesach (this is also the reason why we recite the haftarah of the dry bones from Yechezkel on Shabbos Chol HaMoed Pesach). Eventually, this practice evolved by several temporal and spatial degrees to the extent that the first piece of the mishnah is now read everywhere on every Shabbos before learning Pirkei Avos.

Avos 1 - Silence

In the penultimate mishnah of the 1st perek of Avos, it states:

שמעון בנו אומר: כל ימי גדלתי בין החכמים, ולא מצאתי לגוף טוב אלא שתיקה
Shim'on, his (Rabban Gamliel's) son, says: All my days I have been raised amongst the sages, and I have not found anything better for a person than silence.

It is possible for a person to transgress a surprisingly large number of issurim merely by opening his mouth; a large selection of them are listed in the introduction to Sefer Chofetz Chaim. The simplicity of the muscular motion necessary to utter the words makes it very easy for a person to fall into one of these traps without realizing until it is too late. Once words leave his mouth, they cannot be withdrawn. For this reason, Rabban Shim'on ben Gamliel provides us with the wisdom of his years and experience distilled into one simple statement: Just shut up. There are some things that it is a mitzvah to say, and other things that one has to say for the purpose of maintaining one's physical existence, but with these exceptions, one is never compelled to speak. If people would merely turn their default status from talking to not talking, so that any act of speech requires a modicum of forethought, it would do more good in their avoiding issurim than 100 Tish'ot B'Av of Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation videos. The same applies even moreso for written statements, and certainly for electronic statements, which can be spread at a frightening speed. One need not even move one's mouth or find listeners in order to transgress the relevant prohibitions, as one can now do everything that one could previously and more with a simple click of the mouse. If it doesn't have to be said, why say it?

The Tif'eres Yisro'el has an alternative girsa of the mishnah:
ולא מצאתי לגוף טוב מהשתיקה - and I have not found any benefit to be accrued to a person from silence.

When one has the merit of being amongst wise men, or, for that matter, if one views every person as a wise man that one can learn some small amount from, it is tempting to stay silent so that one can learn as much as possible from what the others have to say. However, Rabban Shim'on expresses his skepticism at the benefit of this attitude. If one merely listens to others without responding, he may fall into error due to misunderstanding or misapplication of a statement. By his speaking out loud, others are able to correct his error. It's true that one stands to be thought a fool by opening is mouth, but often the silent one is considered to be a fool by default, so one gains nothing in the end. (A fringe benefit of my participation in the Torah blogosphere and on the AishDas discussion lists has been the opportunity for me to get fisked on a regular basis.) With all due respect to Descartes, thinking alone is not sufficient to prove one's existence.

As usual, there are no easy answers. Being a frum Jew forces us into these impossible, contradictory situations, where the only way to survive is by contemplating and analyzing every step that one takes beforehand, and praying that one's judgement is sufficient for the task.

One in a thousand and Yehuda ben Teima

In Koheles 7:28, Shlomo writes "I have found one man in one thousand, (but a woman from all of these I have not found)." Rashi quotes the famous ma'amar Chazal (Vayikra Rabbah 2:1) that says, "The way of the world is that 1000 enter for mikra (Tanach). From these, only 100 go forth and succeed to be worthy of mishnah. Of these 100, only 10 go forth for gemara, and of those 10 who enter mishnah, only one goes forth for hora'ah." It seems to me to be saying that 90% of Jews should limit their learning to only Tanach, without touching the Torah she-b'al peh, the 9% who have succeeded (I suppose this means achieving mastery of the texts) should move on to the basic text of the mishnayos, and only 1% should move beyond the basic mishnayos to the discussions of the amora'im and the like. Practical halacha would likely not be included in this proscription against learning advanced materials, as such knowledge is necessary in order to properly perform the mitzvos and avoid aveiros, but the vast majority of learning Jews would be entirely ignorant of most of the yeshivish masachos, which would apparently not be a bad thing.

Perhaps one can tie this ma'amar Chazal into the statement of Yehuda ben Teima in the 5th perek of Avos, in addition to the statement of Chazal, derived from the Levi'im, that a student who does not meet with success after 5 years will never find success: A child has between the ages of 5-10 to master mikra. The 10% who do have between 10-15 to master mishnayos. The 10% from that group who do have between 15-20 to master gemara. Beyond that, ben Teima says that a person enters the phase of life "lirdof", to pursue, which is often explained as referring to pursuing a livelihood, as by this point, he should have either been filtered out of the yeshiva system and diverted into the working world, or he should have reached the level of basic hora'ah - but even then, being that one is not allowed to make a parnassah off of Torah, he would have to get a job anyway, like almost all of the Tannaim and Amoraim did. This is contrary to the common practice nowadays, where everyone is pushed on to the more advanced areas of learning, which often leads to a situation where people possess towers of Torah she-b'al peh knowledge built on stilts.

The other way to understand ben Teima would be in dissent to the other two ma'amrei Chazal, saying that *everyone* moves on to Mishnah and Gemara, despite the fact that they may not have acquired the requisite foundation to enable them to learn the more advanced materials properly. Perhaps one can defend the modern practice by drawing analogies between it and this reading of ben Teima, but the previous understanding of ben Teima seems to me to be more logical.