Shemona Asar - mi yodeya?

Question

Who knows eighteen?

Please cite/link your sources, if possible. After about one business day, I will:

Upvote all interesting answers.
Accept the best answer.
Go on to the next number.

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score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 10 '17 at 20:49

6

Shemona Asar was the number of berachot in the Shemona Esrei, before the addition of Birkas HaMinim." (Berachot 28b)

edited Mar 10 '17 at 20:49

ezra

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answered Apr 16 '10 at 16:32

Jeremy

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Corresponding to the 18 mentions of Hashem's name in Psalm 29 and the Shema. https://www.sefaria.org/Berakhot.28b.17 – Kazi bácsi Apr 20 '21 at 08:22

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 16 '10 at 18:11

Eighteen are the minimum (or according to Rambam, the absolute) number of days in a woman's cycle, according to the original Torah law: seven of niddah (Lev. 15:19), and eleven of zivah (based either on Lev. 15:25, or an unwritten halachah le-Moshe mi-Sinai - Talmud, Niddah 72b-73a).

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 19 '10 at 17:46

5

Eighteen is the value (in maneh) of the linen clothing that the Kohen Gadol wore for his first entry into the Holy of Holies each Yom Kippur, according to the majority opinion (Yoma 34b).

answered Apr 19 '10 at 17:46

Alex

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score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 25 '12 at 06:16

4

Eighteen are the years before one gets hitched. (Ben Shemonah Esrei LiChupah: Avos 5:21)

edited Mar 25 '12 at 06:16

Double AA

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answered Apr 16 '10 at 17:01

Yahu

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2

Does? Should? May? – Isaac Moses Apr 16 '10 at 17:09
2

I heard the Biblical hint for this is that "Adam" appears 18 times before the first use of "Ish" – Shalom Apr 16 '10 at 18:39
2

Another one is that the verse about who the Kohen Gadol may marry (Lev. 21:13) starts with the word והוא, whose numerical value is 18 (Baal Haturim on this verse). – Alex Apr 16 '10 at 19:54
Isaac. it is too complicated to get into and besides, none of those words fit the meter of the tune! – Yahu Apr 19 '10 at 03:53
1

Checkmark due to value added by interesting comments. – Isaac Moses Apr 19 '10 at 17:46
I heard the Biblical hint for this is that "Adam" appears 18 times before the first use of "Ish"
- Shalom Correct. [The word,] man is written eighteen times in Parshat Bereshit (the beginning of Genesis) from, "And God said, 'let us make man'" (Genesis 1:26), until "And the Lord God built the side" (Genesis 2:22, when Eve was created). One [use of the word, man] is for itself [such that] eighteen remain to be expounded [in this way]. - Bartenura on Pirkei Avot 5:21. Although one may only count sixteen, see Ikar Tosafot Yom Tov on Pirkei Avot 5:21.
– Kfir May 24 '20 at 23:14

msh210 · Answer 5 · 2012-03-25T15:33:29.270

3

There are eighteen sins for which the punishment is misa bide shamayim but for which one can get lashes. Source: Rambam, Sanhedrin 19.

edited Mar 25 '12 at 15:33

answered Sep 14 '11 at 19:57

msh210

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score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 08 '17 at 21:24

18 are the instances of prayer in the Torah, as enumerated by Rav Saadya Gaon in the introduction to his Siddur: Gen 20:17, 25:21, 32:10, Exo 8:8, 8:26, 9:33, 10:18, 15:1, 32:11, 33:13, 34:9, Num 11:2, 12:13, 14:13, 21:7, 21:17, 27:16, Deu 3:23.

He also mentions that there are 18 days the Torah sanctified as Moadim: 7 for Pesach, 1 each for Shavuot, Rosh haShana, and Yom Kippurim, and 8 for Sukkot.

kouty · Answer 7 · 2017-03-08T23:17:24.453

18 things were enacted at this day (Mishna Shabbat 1, 4)

וְאֵלּוּ מִן הַהֲלָכוֹת שֶׁאָמְרוּ בַעֲלִיַּת חֲנַנְיָה בֶן חִזְקִיָּה בֶן גֻּרְיוֹן כְּשֶׁעָלוּ לְבַקְּרוֹ. נִמְנוּ וְרַבּוּ בֵּית שַׁמַּאי עַל בֵּית הִלֵּל, וּשְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר דְּבָרִים גָּזְרוּ בוֹ בַיּוֹם: ‏

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered May 27 '20 at 01:15

2

Eighteen are the rows of R. Elazar Ben Azaria's beard that turned white.

(Berachot 28a)

answered May 27 '20 at 01:15

Alex

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score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 10 '17 at 16:59

2

There are 18 perakim in maseches Oholos.

answered Mar 10 '17 at 16:59

DonielF

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score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 17 '20 at 20:45

1

Sichon's (the King of the Emorites) thigh bones were eighteen cubits long (Midrash Tanchuma, Buber ed., Devarim appendix 7)

answered Aug 17 '20 at 20:45

Dov

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score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Feb 02 '14 at 02:32

1

Eighteen is the age at which one should finish learning the entire Talmud according to one opinion (15 to start learning (Pirkei Avos), and it is a machlokes (in kiddushin I think) if it takes 3 or 5 years to complete it).

answered Feb 02 '14 at 02:32

Y e z

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Sourcing that machloket in kiddushin would be valuable. (Even better would be to show that the opinions in kiddushin had ever seen the pseudo-mishna in avot about ages.) – Double AA Feb 02 '14 at 05:57
@DoubleAA pseudo-mishna? – Asher May 25 '20 at 02:58
@Asher it's one of those braysas that often gets printed after Avot (there's some after bikkurim too) – Double AA May 25 '20 at 03:00
@DoubleAA That's the 6th perek while this is the end of the 5th perek. i guess it could depend if the yehi ratzon is before or after this mishna-i think the gra puts it after the perek – Asher May 25 '20 at 03:13
@Asher the fact is in all the old manuscripts of mishna, Avot ends before this. – Double AA May 25 '20 at 07:03

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Jan 26 '11 at 17:59

1

Lag B'Omer is on 18 Iyur

answered Jan 26 '11 at 17:59

Gershon Gold

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Only in our fixed calendar (or in the variable calendar if Nisan happened to have 30 days). – Double AA Feb 14 '13 at 23:09

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 14 '18 at 17:27

1

18 [tefachim] was the height of the Menora.

(Menachot 28b)

answered Feb 14 '18 at 17:27

Isaac Moses

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Apr 16 '10 at 20:24

0

18 is the gematriya of chai

answered Apr 16 '10 at 20:24

shlomo

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Also of "Yach". – Double AA Mar 25 '12 at 06:09
3

Also of חטא. – Double AA Feb 15 '13 at 04:28

Shemona Asar - mi yodeya?

Who knows eighteen?

14 Answers14

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