248 Limbs?
How insane is Ohr Somayach? Only insane as the rest of the RWUO. That is to say….this meshugeh:
That having been said, the sources specifically link the number of mitzvot to the number of body parts of a person. Here a distinction is made between the positive commandments that are the “dos” and the prohibitions that are the “don’ts”. The idea is as follows: there are 613 mitzvot of which there are 248 dos and 365 don’ts. The 248 dos correspond to what our sources identify as the 248 limbs of the body, while the 365 don’ts correspond to 365 sinews and ligaments. Clearly, there is a connection between the proactive dos and the limbs as instruments of activity, just as there is a connection between the prohibitive don’ts and the restrictive nature of the ligaments.
What sources? Who made this nonsense up? 248 limbs? 365 sinews and ligaments?
These “sources” were wrong. Oh, right, they had big beards and lived a long time ago, so they had to be right.
So silly. Haredism is a very silly religion.
12 comments
I’ve heard this one before - i think they’re doing a typo that its supposed to be bones …. not that it helps much.
Weird. I read the same thing in a book on Chassidism recently…
It made me wonder if the writer was taking great liberties with allusion.
read my blog XD
B”H
I’ve heard this countless times before and not only from Ohr Sameach.
I feel crippled now.
You are born with about 270 bones and by adulthood you have 206 bones (207 when having a boner) as many bones fuse together during childhood. The source of the figure of 248 bones is probably Greek however after the Alexandria library was destroyed by fire (probably started on lag baomer by some of Mohammed’s friends in Egypt) the source was lost. Since you have 32 bones less than 248, why not drop 32 mitzvos. Alternatively you could argue that nature changed. That argument is of course correct. The 5 bones of the coccyx being a vestigial tail are an example of how nature changed over time.
Reb Leibish is pulling numbers out of his ass. The human body is born with at least 300 bones.
What, What !! You want more mitzvos!
Correction - the Coccyx is 4 fused vertebrae
Can’t we simply define the skeleton as one bone?
And if I break a bone, does that mean I can skip on the mitzva assigned to it?
I’ve heard that racoons actually do have a bone in their penis (if anyone cares to know).
Actually it talks about 248 Iburot- which can be translated as limbs, but in this context is more correctly translated as “parts”. However, it is also obvious that this figure is not meant to be medically or scientifically accurate unless you really want to try and claim that Chazal couldn’t count! How can we see this list of body parts is allegorical rather than literal? Go to the Mishnah in Ohalos where the list is given. There you willsee it lists eleven ribs… Now, amongst Chazal were many doctors (including Rambam who was court physician to a number of rulers) and they surely knew basic anatomy and could count to twelve! Instead, the 248 parts are allegorical and an attempt to tie the spiritual to the physical. (Note- even the list of 613 mitzbot is debated- there are versions other than the one we generally use from rambam!)
see http://www.easyrashi.com/Shema_page.htm
follow the pdf files
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