[Avodah] Should Shiurim be Corrected to Archeological Data

[Micha Berger]

Back on Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 1:57:10PM EST, I wrote (and other versions
in other years):

> R Chaim Naeh's ammah is 48cm. According to the plaque at Chizqiyahu's
> Water Tunnel <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siloam_inscription> (BTW,
> in kesav Ivri), they dug a canal of 1,200 amos. As the tunnel is 533 m
> long, that's somewhere between 42.6 and 46.3 cm. (As 1,200 is a round
> number, I figure the actual number of amos is somewhere between 1,150 and
> 1,250 amos. Thus the range.)
> 
> So that's one piece of archeological data that says that RCN's shitah for
> the ammah is too BIG.
> 
> Of course, if shiurim are supposed to drift, either because of the "law is
> law" theory or because an ammah is based on contemporary peoples' arms,
> then this may simply mean that the ammah during bayis sheini was lohnger
> than it was in Chizqiyahu's day.

I mentioned this in a Facebook post about a news story in which a
Turkish official said they were returning the inscription, which was
taken during the Ottoman Empire. Since denied by Turkey.

Someone pointed out to me that on wikipedia
<https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%91%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%97>,
they mention academic opinions that the 1,200 ammah was in amos of 5
tefachim, so you would need to add 20%.

If so, the implied ammah would be between 51.1 and 55.6 cm. Or, 20.1"
to 21.9". Which would match the ammah of the AhS and RMF. (A very
satisfying result for someone who learns AhS Yomi.)

HOWEVER, if you look at the gemara, it seems that the 5 tefach ammah was
only used for keili (R Yehudah) or even only some of the keilim (R Meir).
The BHMQ itself was measured in 6 tefach amos. So why would the tunnel,
which is also a land measurement, be in 5 tefach amos?

I can't find the cited articles to see their argument.


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 When we are no longer able to change a situation
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   -- just think of an incurable disease such as
Author: Widen Your Tent      inoperable cancer -- we are challenged to change
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    ourselves.      - Victor Frankl (MSfM)