The Jewish child : its history, folklore, biology, & sociology / by W.M. Feldman ; with an introduction by Sir James Crichton-Browne.
- William Moses Feldman
- Date:
- 1917
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Credit: The Jewish child : its history, folklore, biology, & sociology / by W.M. Feldman ; with an introduction by Sir James Crichton-Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![I.] Introduction 7 out of the ordinary.^ Hence two very tall or very short persons should not mârry, lest their ofíspring's stature be abnormaP (see p. 9). Medium height was the most beautiful, and there is abundant evidence to show that the average height of a Jew in the times of the Talmud was between 5 feet 6 inches and 6 feet. Thus, according to Rashi's Commentary to Sabbath 92a, the height of the Levites up to their shoulders was 3 cubits. But since anthropometric measurements show that the total height of a person equals five-fourths of his shoulder height, therefore the height of Levites must have been cubits=-^^- x 17| ins. =5 ft. 6i ins. Other evidence that the shoulder height of an average person was 3 cubits is found in the question of ritual baths, whose minimum capacity in order to afíord maxi¬ mum immersion, exclusive of the head, is one whose dimensions are — length, 1 cubit; breadth, 1 cubit; depth, 3 cubits. (The capacity of such a bath is 40 saah.)^ Further, the Talmud lays down a law that any person who builds a wall in front of somebody else's window must take care that the wall should be at least 4 cubits lower than the window, in order that he may not be able to look through the window from the top of the wall.^ This gives the maximum height of a person (up to his eyes) as under 4 cubits, or 5 feet 11 inches (which would make his total height less than 6 feet 2 inches). Also, the family graves in Palestine were 4 cubits long,^ which means that the ordinary height of a person was less than 4 cubits—i.e., less than 5 feet ^ Jer. Berachotli ix. ^ Becboroth 450. ^ Pessachim 108a. * ВаЪа Bathra 22&. ® Ihid.^ 100&.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18023022_0040.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
