Happy 100th Birthday, Daf Yomi

Today, September 11th, is a somber day for recollection in the US, when the anniversary of the attacks on the Pentagon and the Twin Towers is observed. But this year, for those who partake in daf yomi, the one-page (both sides) a day study of the Talmud, the day also commemorates a special and more upbeat occassion. For today, September 11th, 2023, is the one-hundredth anniversary of the start of the very first daf yomi cycle, which began on September 11th, 1923 - which also happened to be the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Rabbi Meir Shapiro

Daf Yomi (the world’s largest, and perhaps by now oldest continual book club) had its origins in a vision by Rabbi (Yehuda) Meir Shapiro (1887-1933). Rabbi Shapiro descended from a line of important rabbis and his talents were noted at an early age. He served in a number of rabbinic positions, before establishing the Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, which would become a major power-house of Jewish learning. Construction began in 1924 and the Yeshiva was officially opened in May, 1924. Until its destruction by the Nazis in it was perhaps the leading Yeshiva in eastern Europe.

Rabbi Shapiro was not content merely with the establishment of the Yeshiva. He had another, perhaps greater vision: the study of one page of Talmud, every day, by Jews all over the world. He first proposed his vision at First World Congress of the World Agudath Israel in Vienna on August 16, 1923. Talmudology recently visited that site, and here is what it looks like today:

Remarkably, film footage of the conference, including unique images of the Chofetz Chaim, was recently discovered. You can see that below - and look for the old building in the new photo.

At the conference, Rabbi Shapiro revealed his plan. Here is what is widely reported as part of his speech:

A Jew travels by boat and takes a tractate of Berakhot in his arm. He travels for 15 days from Eretz Israel to America, and each day towards evening he opens the Gemara and studies the daf. When he arrives in America, he enters a Beit Midrash in New York and finds Jews studying the very same page that he studied that day, which allows him to happily join their study group. . . . Another Jew leaves the United States and travels to Brazil. He returns to the Beit Midrash and finds people immersed in the very page that he studied that day. Can there be a greater unity of hearts than this?

A couple of weeks later, the start of the very first cycle of Daf Yomi began with the first page of the first tractate studied on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. We are currently almost half way through the fourteenth cycle, with tens of thousands of men and women taking part in an ever expanding number of shiurim. With tools like the ArtScroll Schottenstein and Koren translations of the Talmud into several languages, there has never been an easier time to take part. So Happy 100th Birthday, Daf Yomi. And may the name of Rabbi Shapiro forever be remembered for his remarkable contribution to the Jewish People.

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Want more Talmudology on Rabbi Shapiro? Click here.

Kiddushin 25b ~ Can Elephants Jump?

In a discussion of how one acquires ownership of an animal, Rabbi Shimon rules that they must be lifted - literally, lifted.  And then the Talmud asks how exactly an animal is lifted.

קידושין כה, ב 

אלא מעתה פיל לרבי שמעון במה יקנה אמר ליה אביי בחליפין אי נמי בשוכר את מקומו רבי זירא אמר מביא ארבעה כלים ומניחן תחת רגליו

If so, how would one acquire an elephant according to Rabbi Shimon?  Abaye said to him - by means of chalifin [a token exchange of a utensil or piece of clothing to finalize the transaction]. Rebbi Zeira says, the buyer brings in four vessels and places them under the elephant's feet [demonstrating that the elephant has now entered the buyer's domain]. (Kiddushin 25b)

A.H Atwell, National Geographic.

Now leaving aside why the Talmud wondered about elephants when one could ask the same thing about say, cows or a horses, and leaving aside the question of just how Rebbi Zeira would go about getting his elephant to stand with each leg on a pot, the reader surely wants to know if there is um, an easier way to acquire an elephant. And yes, there is. The Talmud offers another helpful way to gain possession of your very own Dumbo. אי נמי בחבילי זמורות - "An alternative is to use bundles of vines." Rashi offers an explanation: the vines are three tefachim [about 30 cm.] heigh, and the elephant is led to stand on them, "and any lifting that is above three tefachim is called lifting [for the purposes of the transfer of ownership]."

Elephants at the circus in Washington DC. in 2016 They demonstrated - just in time - that Rebbi Zeira's suggestion was indeed workable. So long as you have a full time elephant trainer...

Tosafot's Solution - jumping elephants

Tosafot, a collection of medieval commentaries on the Talmud, is dissatisfied with Rashi for a number of reasons. First, if the Talmud had meant to suggest that a platform three tefachim in height be built, it would have said so, and not concocted some contraption using grape vines. Second, the grape vines, are legally considered to be part of the ground itself, so the elephant standing on them would not be separate from the ground, which is precisely what is needed to effect a legal transfer of ownership.    

In light of these objections, Rav Meshulam offers his own explanation of what the Talmud meant when it suggested using vines.

אי נמי בחבילי זמורות. פי' בקונטרס משכחת לה להגבהת פיל בחבילי זמורות הגבוהים מן הארץ שלשה ומעלהו עליהן דהגבהת ג' הגבהה היא דנפיק לה מתורת לבוד ולפירושו בכלים לא מצי למימר דליקני מדין הגבהה שיניח כלים תחת רגליו דסתמייהו אין בעוביין שלשה טפחים ולפי' ר"ת דמפרש דהגבהה בטפח קני צ"ל סתם כלים אין בעוביין טפח וקשה אמאי נקט חבילי זמורות לנקוט אבנים או עצים ומפרש הרב משולם דלהכי נקט חבילי זמורות לפי שהן מאכל פיל כדאמרינן פרק מפנין (שבת דף קכח.) מטלטלין חבילי זמורות בשבת מפני שהן מאכל לפילין ומגביהין לפיל חבילי זמורות למעלה והוא קופץ ומגביה את עצמו מן הארץ ואוכלן ואין לתמוה אי חשיבא הגבהה בהכי דכה"ג אשכחן בפרק שילוח הקן (חולין דף קמב.) כי היכי דליגבינהו ולקנינהו

...Rav Meshulam therefore explained that the Talmud offered the explanation of vines because elephants eat them...and we lift up the vines in front of the elephant , which will jump up to eat them, thereby lifting itself off of the ground...

Elephants stand on tip toe. From here.

There is one small problem with Rav Meshulam's explanation: elephants can't jump. Here is Tony Barthel, curator of Elephant Trails at the National Zoo in Washington DC.  "If you were to look at an elephant’s skeleton, you’ll see that they’re standing on their tippy toes...All the bones are pointed straight down.” This means that they cannot jump, even if they wanted to.  Elephants cannot jump, and they cannot technically even run, since that requires all four legs to be off the ground at once. Why then did Rav Meshulam suggest this explanation, one which is not biologically possible?  Here is Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin's answer, from his Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom:

The answer is that he had no reason to believe otherwise. There were no zoos in medieval Europe, and very few elephants.The emperor Charlemagne, king of the Franks,received an elephant as a gift in 797.Frederick II used an elephant in his capture of Cremona in 1214. King Henry III of England received an elephant from Israel in 1254. Alfonso V of Portugal gave an elephant to Renew d'Anjou in 1477. The Vatican was given an elephant in 1514. But the average person in those times never saw an elephant. Illustrations from that era show that artists, basing themselves on stories,were very unsure about how to depict elephants.They were often portrayed as possessing a body like those of horses or deer, sometimes even with split hooves. Of particular relevance to us is that they are sometimes drawn with the hindlimb structure of lions or dogs, poised with elastic energy. Rav Meshullam ben Nathan, who was born in Provence in 1120 and passed away in Melun in 1180, never saw either a live elephant or an accurate drawing of one. He thus had every reason to believe that, like other animals elephants can jump.

So there you have it. Don’t draw animals that you’ve never seen, and don't suggest biological explanations if you've not studied biology.

From here, the thirteenth century Book of the Marvels of the World (Livre des Merveilles du Monde). Note the bent hind legs of the elephant, which suggest the ability to jump.

[An expanded version of Rabbi Dr. Slifkin's essay can be found here.]

Kiddushin 25a ~ Polydactyly

This is the first of two posts for Kiddushin 25 which will be studied on Thursday September 7th.

קידושין כה, א–ב

 א"ר חייא בר אשי אמר רב היתה לו יתרת וחתכה עבד יוצא בהן לחירות, אמר רב הונא והוא שנספרת על גב היד

Rav Hiyyah bar Ashi said in the name of Rav: if a slave had an extra finger and his master cut it off, the slave is freed on account of this act. Rav Huna said this only applies if the extra finger is in line with the others [lit. counted alongside the hand].  

Polydactyly (from the Greek daktylos, meaning finger), is a developmental abnormality in which there are more than the customary five fingers or toes at the end of the arms and legs. It has long been recorded in ancient civilizations - and is even mentioned in our own Hebrew Bible. Do you know who is described there as having a total of twenty four fingers and toes? (Click here to find out.)

Polydactyly is classified by the location of the extra digit: If it is found on the thumb or big toe, it is called preaxial polydactyly. If it is found on the the little (fifth) finger or toe it is called postaxial polydactyly.  Accessory digits in-between are classified according to their location and where they join the hand or finger. Syndactyly, on the other hand (!) occurs when there are fewer than five fingers or toes on each limb. (We will discuss syndactyly when we study tractate Bechorot, (daf 45a), on November 2nd 2026,  הבעל"ט.)

Rav Huna's Classification, and Swanson's classification

There are many different ways to classify polydactyly - although the most commonly used is the 1964 Swanson classification system, a modified version of which was adopted by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand in 1976. 

But Rav Huna, who died in Babylon around the year 296 CE, developed his own classification system long before Swanson, and it is based on simple observation: does the extra digit seem to begin in line with the other fingers, or does its origin seem to lie above them?  For Rav Huna, an extra digit that originated beyond the metacarpal-phalyngeal joint (the knuckle for our non-medical reader) in the hand, or beyond the metatarsal-phalageal joint in the foot did not have the legal status of a normal digit.  So an act of assault by the owner of a slave in which this kind of digit was amputated would not legally count as sufficient cause to allow the slave to gain his freedom.  With this information, look at the drawings below and decide in which case the loss of the extra digit would be sufficient cause for the slave to be freed.

Various forms of postaxial (ie. not on the big toe) Type A polydactyly of the foot, ranging from a partially duplicated fifth intermediate phalanx (top left) to a fully developed sixth digit, including the metatarsal (bottom right). From Case DT. Hill RJ. Merbs CF. Fong M. Polydactyly in the Prehistoric American Southwest.  Journal of Osteoarchaeology 2006: 6: 221–235.

If the slave had an extra fifth toe outlined in Figures 2-6, its loss would result in the slave going free. In all these cases, the extra digit arises in line with the base the the other toes (and in Figure 6, the extra toe is joined to an extra metatarsal). But in Figure 1, the extra fifth digit arises from the distal end of the fifth distal phalange (or, for our non-medical reader, the tip of the pinky); in this case its traumatic amputation by the slave's owner would not result in the slave gaining his freedom. 

This categorization appears to be another previously unrecognized medical first in the Talmud: Rav Huna's classification of polydactyly.   

“היתה לו אצבע יתירה וחתכה, אם עומדת בסדר האצבעות יוצא לחירות ”

— שולחן ערוך יורה דעה הלכות עבדים סימן רסז סעיף כט

Polydactylous feet from Newspaper Rock in Indian Creek State Park, Utah. These carvings in rock are called petroglyphs, and were made by native Americans as long as 1,500  years ago.

Kiddushin 16b ~ Measuring Puberty

קידושין טז, ב

בן תשע שנים שהביא שתי שערות שומא מבן ט' שנים ויום אחד עד בן י"ב שנה ויום אחד ועודן בו שומא ר' יוסי בר' יהודה אומר סימן בן י"ג שנה ויום אחד דברי הכל סימן 

If a nine year old grows two hairs [in the pubic region] the growth should be attributed to a mole [and not as a sign of sexual maturity]. [If these hairs grow] from the age of nine years and one day until twelve years and one day, and they are still there [when the child reaches twelve, one opinion is that they should be attributed to a] mole, and Rabbi Yossi bar Rabbi Yehuda says they are a sign of sexual maturity. [If these hairs grow] when the child is thirteen years old and one day, then everyone agrees they are a sign of sexual maturity...(Kiddushin 16b)

Pre-Modern Descriptions of Puberty

The way in which children develop into adults has fascinated us for centuries.  In fact, the earliest surviving statement on human growth dates back to the sixth century BCE, (not long after the prophet Jeremiah lived) and is by the Athenian poet Solon. One critic described his poem as combining "scientific sense with philosophical probability (if not, regrettably, with poetic elegance)." Here is Solon:

A young boy acquires his first ring of teeth as an infant and sheds them before he reaches the age of seven years. When the god brings to an end the next seven year period, the boy shows the signs of beginning puberty. In the third hebdomad, [ a period of seven years] the body enlarges, the chin becomes bearded and the bloom of the boy's complexion is lost. In the forth hebdomad physical strength is at its peak and is regarded as the criterion of manliness; in the fifth hebdomad a man should take thought of marriage and seek sons to succeed him. In the sixth hebdomad a man's mind is in all things disciplined by experience and he no longer feels the impulse to uncontrolled behavior. In the seventh he is at his prime in mind and tongue and also in the eighth, the two together making fourteen years. In the ninth hebdomad, though he still retains some strength, he is too feeble in mind and speech for the greatest excellence. If a man continues to the end of the tenth hebdomad, he has not encountered death before due time.

Hippocrates believed that puberty could be delayed in areas where "the wind is cold and the water is hard". Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel (d. 70CE) would have agreed, because he thought that the growth of pubic hair was hastened in those who used the bathhouse regularly.  But it is especially interesting to compare Aristotle's writings on puberty with those of the Talmud (which of course were codified several hundred years later).

In man, maturity is indicated by a change in the tone of the voice, by an increase in size and an alteration in appearance of the sexual organs, and also by an increase in size and alteration in appearance of breasts, and above in the hair growth above the pubes.

Aristotle (d. 322 BCE) seems to have put a lot of weight on the growth of pubic hair, just like the rabbis of  in the Talmud did many years later. Galen, who died in 199 CE, was cautious about timing the onset of puberty: "Some begin puberty at once on the completion of the fourteenth year, but some begin a year or more after that" (De Sanitate Tuenda, or p288 of this translation). Jumping forward several centuries, we find that girls in Tuscany in 1428 were allowed to marry aged eleven and a half, although they were forbidden to live with their husbands until they were twelve. However the Bishop of Florence (later canonized as Saint Anthony) declared that cohabitation was allowed "provided the girl had reached puberty." 

The Tanner Scale

Today, the stage of sexual maturity in children is most commonly measured using the Tanner scale, described by the British pediatrician James Tanner, who died in 2010.  (He wrote a fascinating History of the Study of Human Growth as a sort of a hobby, but his day job was working as a Professor at the Institute of Child  Health in London.)  Here is how Tanner described his scale in boys, (from his original paper published in 1970):

Stage 1: Pre-adolescent. The velus [sic] over the pubes is no further developed than that over the abdominal wall, i.e. no pubic hair.

Stage 2: Sparse growth of long, slightly pigmented downy hair, straight or slightly curled, appearing chiefly at the base of the penis. This stage is difficult to see on photographs, particularly of fair-headed subjects...

Stage 3: Considerably darker, coarser, and more curled. The hair spreads sparsely over the junction of the pubes. This and subsequent stages were clearly recognizable on the photographs.

Stage 4: Hair is now adult in type, but the area covered by it is still considerably smaller than in most adults. There is no spread to the medial surface of the thighs.

Stage 5: Adult in quantity and type, distributed as an inverse triangle of the classically feminine pattern. Spread to the medial surface of the thighs but not up the linea alba or elsewhere above the base of the inverse triangle.

“There has been less discussion in the literature as to whether the appearance of pubic hair has advanced in females, although this does seem to be the case, pubarche having advanced by at least 6 months. The PROS study found stage II pubic hair to be apparent in African-American females at a mean age of 8·78 years and 10·51 years in whites.”

— Slyper, AH.The pubertal timing controversy in the USA, and a review of possible causative factors for the advance in timing of onset of puberty. Clinical Endocrinology (2006) 65, 1–8

Tanner also described other signs of sexual maturity, since growth of pubic hair is not the only maker.  In boys, for example, Tanner used a five-stage system for genital growth: in stage one, the  "testes, scrotum, and penis are of about the same size and proportion as in early childhood," whereas in stage two, "the scrotum and testes have enlarged and there is a change in the texture of the scrotal skin..."  Tanner noted that the stages of pubic hair development and the stages of genital development differ, so that a boy may reach full genital maturation sooner than he reaches stage five on the pubic hair scale.  

From Marshall A. Tanner JM. Variations in the pattern of pubertal changes in boys. Archives of Disease in Childhood 1970. 45: 13-25.

Tanner's work reveals what we already know intuitively. Maturity, whether sexual or emotional, is a process that takes time and proceeds through many stages. The rabbis of the Talmud relied predominantly on one marker of adulthood:  sexual maturity as evidenced by a minimal of pubic hair growth.  But they used it in conjunction with the age of the child.  They also understood that the onset of these signs might be sooner in some children and later in others.

Sequence of events in puberty in girls (top) and boys. From Marshall A. Tanner JM. Variations in the pattern of pubertal changes in boys. Archives of Disease in Childhood 1970. 45:22.

In most European countries, the age of the onset of puberty (as measured by the onset of menstruation) has fallen by about a year per century. Boys also seem to be developing earlier than previously, possibly by more than a year. Data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) study of boys aged 8 –19 years, suggests that the mean age of onset of male genital development based on visual inspection is now about nine years for African-Americans and ten years for white boys.

Another First?

Last year we analyzed talmudic statements of R. Hiyya (who lived in the second half of the second century,) and Rava, (d. 350CE) who appear to have been the first to report an association between obesity and delayed puberty in boys.  They claimed that puberty may be delayed in boys who are underweight, and this association has now been confirmed. As we noted then, none of the researchers has credited these talmudic sages for being the first to notice these associations. But Rava and R. Hiyya were first, and firsts count for something in science. The Baraita in today's daf  may be the first recorded discussion of the lower limits of sexual maturity. But the rabbis of the Talmud used other markers of maturity, like breast development which is discussed in Masechet Niddah (47a).They distinguished between "lower" and "upper" signs of puberty, and so presaged the work of Tanner. (The rabbis also ruled that "all girls who are examined are examined by women". Thank heavens.)

There were several reasons why the Talmud had to codify the stages of physical maturity.  Among these were to allow a father to decide to whom his daughter would marry.

A father who declares...my daughter is twelve years and a day is believed in order to marry the child off...(רמב׳ם הל׳ אישות ב:כג)

Today, any notion that a child under the age of twelve (or sixteen for that matter) would be mature enough to marry is utterly repugnant to us. But according to the UN in developing countries, one in every three girls is married before reaching the age of eighteen, and one in nine is married by the age of fifteen.  When we read the Talmud we often get a glimpse into a Jewish world very different from our own. But some practices of that world still exist outside of the Jewish community today, to the shame of us all. 

From United Nations Children’s Fund, Ending Child Marriage: Progress and prospects, UNICEF, New York, 2014.