[Avodah] the physics of giants

[Lisa Liel]

On 11/8/2011 10:41 AM, Zev Sero wrote:
> On 8/11/2011 11:00 AM, Saul.Z.Newman at kp.org wrote:
>>
>> _http://jewishworker.blogspot.com/2011/11/could-avraham-avinu-have-been-as-tall.html_for 
>> those who take medrash literally, the second nes was the supernatural 
>> strength of his skeleton....
>
> Indeed.  However I don't see what choice we have but to accept that Moshe
> Rabbenu was literally ten amot tall, because the maamar chazal about that
> is in a practical context, that this was why he erected the mishkan on 
> his
> own.  Ten amot is not that much by comparison with some of these 
> midrashim,
> but it's surely much more than any person could naturally support.  Even
> the tallest man on modern record, who was a mere 6 amot or so, was a 
> near-
> cripple.

I think that means you misunderstand how Chazal deal with midrashim.  
There's no way in the world that Moshe Rabbenu was 10 amot tall, and 
taking something like that literally is part of the 
de-intellectualization of Judaism that's causing so many Jews to go off 
the derekh.

Are you telling me you honestly can't think of another way to read the 
midrash in that context?  In the first place, his erecting the mishkan 
on his own is midrash itself.  But even if you take it literally, you 
aren't forced to imagine Moshe Rabbenu being some 18 feet tall.

Lisa