[Avodah] How many bones in the human body?

[Akiva Miller]

.

R' Marty Bluke asked:

> The Gemara in  bechoros 45 says that the human body has 248
> bones and that women have 4 additional bones, 252 in total.
> The modern consensus is that an adult has 206 bones the same
> number for men and women.
>
> What explanations are given to resolve these discrepancies
> besides nishtane hateva?

To me, the simplest answer lies in the definition of "a bone".

For example, there might be something that the modern consensus counts as
mere cartilage or something else, while the Gemara counts it as a bone. And
there might be things that the modern consensus counts as one single bone,
while the Gemara counts it as two or more.

By the way, a careful reading of R' Bluke's first sentence will suggest
that according to the Gemara, women are not human. For more on this topic,
I highly recommend Sarah Rudolph's recent article, "Words Matter", at
https://www.ou.org/life/inspiration/words-matter/

Akiva Miller
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