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Who knows twenty-one?

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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Isaac Moses
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    Should this be "Esrim Ve-echad" or "Echad Ve'esrim"? – Isaac Moses Apr 21 '10 at 16:42
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    I think you're correct. I think if the number is just 20-something, the 20 goes first. See Numbers 7:88, עֶשְׂרִים וְאַרְבָּעָה פָּרִים . – Shalom Apr 21 '10 at 17:03
  • Echad Ve'esrim. Even in our numbers 21 was originally read as "one and twenty"- After all, our numbers are Arabic and Arabic reads from right to left. – Yahu Apr 21 '10 at 17:03
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    Oops I just gave away my answer for "24." (And it doesn't involve Jack Bauer.) – Shalom Apr 21 '10 at 17:04
  • And take a look at yesterday's sefira count in any siddur - "Echad Ve'esrim Yom ...". – Yahu Apr 21 '10 at 17:05
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    Argh but Exodus 38:24 is תשע ועשרים ככר . So it's "nine-and-twenty talent" (note the singular), but "twenty-four bulls." Is that a gender thing? Or do we put a pure number (uninflected) before monetary sums? This is a job for a real grammarian. – Shalom Apr 21 '10 at 17:10
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    "x-and-twenty" is also the preferred language for the date in a Kesubah. But for both Kesubah and sefirah, it's a pure number, "one-and-twenty day" (not "days"); vs "twenty-and-four bulls." – Shalom Apr 21 '10 at 17:12
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    Yahu: not necessarily. It is true that in Sefiras Haomer we use the form "units+tens," but Magen Avraham 489:5 comments that really it should follow the form used in the local vernacular (he also cites Yoma 55a in this regard, where there is a similar discussion about how the Kohen Gadol counts the sprinklings on Yom Kippur). In Yiddish the units are indeed placed first, and that is probably why indeed our siddurim have it in this form; but after all, in English we put the tens first. – Alex Apr 21 '10 at 17:16
  • Shalom, true. We need to do a bit more research, but for our purposes we are talking about the question "# mi yodeya" and until you assign it to something it is a pure number. – Yahu Apr 21 '10 at 17:17
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    Alex, 1. Look in the Sefaradi siddurim, it puts the units first as well. In English we only started putting the tens first because we read the Arabic symbols in the wrong direction. In Middle-English the term "four and twenty (blackbirds baked in a pie)" was used. – Yahu Apr 21 '10 at 17:20
  • Not that the rhyme is a proof since it could have been said that way to fit the meter, but there are other examples and that is the first that came to mind (Girsah DiYankusah!) – Yahu Apr 21 '10 at 17:22
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    Shalom: Even with pure numbers, not necessarily. We find חמש וששים שנה (Gen. 5:21,23) and חמשה וששים... שקל (Num. 3:50), but ששים וחמש שנה (Is. 7:8). – Alex 0 secs ago – Alex Apr 21 '10 at 17:24
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    Shalom, Alex, Me: Arghhhh! We need to speak to real biblical grammarian who also is at least a Yodeya Sefer. – Yahu Apr 21 '10 at 17:26
  • Yahu: the Ashkenazi vs. Sefaradi difference is probably indeed because of the local difference in the vernacular; in Spanish, after all, you say "veintiuno." As to English - if the change from "four-and-twenty" to "twenty-four" is because of how we read the Arabic symbols, then how come, for example, German - which uses them too - puts the units first? – Alex Apr 21 '10 at 17:27
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    Here's a relevant citation: http://books.google.com/books?id=jZlwYGilLW0C&lpg=PP1&ots=_zkIAAb7qh&dq=%22introduction%20to%20biblical%20hebrew%20syntax%22&pg=PA280#v=onepage&q&f=false and subsequent pages. Apparently both forms are pretty common throughout Tanach. – Alex Apr 21 '10 at 18:01
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    ... and when I posted my original comment, I wasn't sure if anyone would notice it! The context I'm interested in is what form the back pages of the Hagada would have used. – Isaac Moses Apr 21 '10 at 19:24
  • Alex, the Sefardim put the unit first just like the Ashkenazim. – Yahu Apr 22 '10 at 07:06
  • "The numerals are arranged with their lowest value digit to the right, with higher value positions added to the left. This arrangement was adopted identically into the numerals as used in Europe. Languages written in the Latin alphabet run from left to right, unlike languages written in the Arabic alphabet. Hence, from the point of view of the reader, numerals in Western texts are written with the highest power of the base first whereas numerals in Arabic texts are written with the lowest power of the base first." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_numerals – Yahu Apr 22 '10 at 07:10
  • OK, so it seems that Biblically, we could go either way. I skimmed through the Hagada, and could only find one on-point example: R' Akiva's position that the Egyptians were smitten on the sea with "fifty and two hundred" blows. Unless someone convinces me otherwise by then, when I go to the next number later today, I'll switch to little-endian form. – Isaac Moses Apr 22 '10 at 13:11
  • Isaac, one last point (which might clinch it?) : Our gematria numerology system that we seem to have used for quite some time puts the highest power base first. Hence: "Chaf Alef Mi Yodeya?" Seems to read as "Esrim V'ehad". – Yahu Apr 22 '10 at 17:33
  • As Shalom says in the comments below, "עבר יומו בטל קרבנו." I'm going to stick with litte-endian. – Isaac Moses Apr 23 '10 at 13:33
  • Avar "Yomo". Tomorrow is another day, so why not change it? :-) – Yahu Apr 23 '10 at 16:05
  • Some (non-Jewish) Bible scholars have suggested that "twenty-and-one" means "plus or minus, but that's the ballpark", as the focus is on the bigger number. "One-and-twenty" indicates more precision. Interesting idea, not one I'd say is especially contrary to our mesorah. – Shalom Feb 10 '12 at 09:54
  • Just heard R' Hershel Schachter endorse changing Sefirah to "twenty-and-one" as we no longer speak Yiddish (and yes he referenced the blackbirds). He said "one-and-twenty" is more prevalent in Chumash, but "twenty-and-one" wins out in Nach -- reflecting a shift in Hebrew over time. Fascinating. (Just using 21 as an example.) – Shalom Feb 10 '12 at 09:56
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    @Shalom You mean that tonight RHS really said "Hayom Shloshim uShenayim yom shehem..."?? – Double AA May 09 '12 at 06:38
  • Prev: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/1104/esrim-mi-yodeya?r=SearchResults – Kfir Jun 05 '20 at 11:22
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11 Answers11

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Twenty-one are the books of Tanach that use the "normal" system of trop (cantillation).

(Actually, 21 and a fraction, since the first 36 and the last 11 verses of Iyov - the framing narrative - use it too.)

Alex
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    The other books with the different system being Psalms and Proverbs. Together with Job, they're known as ספרי אמ״ת. – Shalom Apr 21 '10 at 17:23
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    In my yeshivah days, the joke went:

    Q. What do Tehillim, Mishlei, and Iyov have in common?

    A. In Tehillim, it's often difficult to see the connection between one chapter and the next. In Mishlei, it's often difficult to see the connection between one verse and the next. In Iyov, it's often difficult to see the connection between one word and the next!

     – Alex Apr 21 '10 at 19:22
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    That must have been some Yeshiva, if students were familiar with Tehilim as a book or with Mishlei or Iyov at all. Gush? – Isaac Moses Apr 22 '10 at 13:13
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    Nope, Oholei Torah (in Brooklyn). There were boys there who knew their way around Tanach pretty well. – Alex Apr 22 '10 at 17:52
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Twenty-one are the days when we recite the complete Hallel (outside of Israel): the first two days of Pesach (and according to some customs, also the first two nights), two days of Shavuos, nine of Sukkos/Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah, and eight of Chanukah. (Erachin 10a)

Alex
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There are twenty-one sins for which one can get kares or lashes, but not court-imposed death. Source: Rambam, Sanhedrin 19.

msh210
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21 are the days between the seventeenth of Tammuz and the ninth of Av.

Ariel
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Twenty-one is the Gematria of "ach", which serves to diminish. When it says the Flood left "ach Noach", the diminution combined with the onomatopoeia indicate that Noah was retching blood. (Yuck!)

Shalom
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The letters engraved into the luchot cut through from one side to the other. The holes in the center of the letters Mem and Samech (ם & ס) were held up by a miracle. This occurs 21 times on each side of the luchot (& only in the first five commandments). (Parshat Va'etchanan)

related

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zaq
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Twenty-one is the age below which the Rambam recommend medically against drinking alcohol.

(Better late than never?)

Yirmeyahu
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    Give us a link or at least the source please! – Yahu May 18 '10 at 06:27
  • I'm afraid I saw it in an English language compilation many years ago, but it stood out because of the significance of 21 in US law. It is probably in the Mishneh Torah and I intend on trying to locate it. Just to be clear, I don't think it was meant as an issur which would proscribe any drinking by those under the age of 21, and I'm not sure that by contemporary standards 21 has any particular medical significance. – Yirmeyahu May 18 '10 at 07:03
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    It could be in one of Rambam's medical treatises which by the way are available in English. – Yahu May 21 '10 at 05:02
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    Codified by the Kitzur SA 32:18. –  Jan 15 '18 at 19:49
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21 are the days of dealing with tzara'as (in most cases).

Shalom
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21 is the number of times the word ברית or some variation thereof appears in sefer Tehillim (You can count yourself here, make sure not to count repeat results)

Y     e     z
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  • Why is this significant? – Double AA Feb 03 '14 at 22:17
  • @DoubleAA I could give you a lengthy explanation, but why is it less significant than the number of holes in the luchos that were held up? Or this -http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/1143/4794 – Y     e     z Feb 03 '14 at 23:11
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    @Yez if you can provide an explanation of any length, doing so would make this answer more valuable. – Isaac Moses Dec 19 '16 at 19:03
  • @IsaacMoses I'll make you a deal. You explain to me why the linked answer has 8 upvotes and no complaints while this one has zero upvotes and two complaints and I will inconvenience myself to write up the meaning of it. And if the answer is because that one quotes a medrash, that doesn't show me anything about why it is significant. – Y     e     z Dec 20 '16 at 03:50
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    @Yez Here, have some points. If you have worthwhile or interesting information relevant to this answer, I request that you add it, so as to enrich the Internet, which is why we're here. – Isaac Moses Dec 20 '16 at 04:21
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21 are the verses in Ovadiah.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Double AA
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21 is the public drinking age (in the U.S. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/23/158.html ) and this is enforced by all states with many making exceptions for under 21 drinking in private settings, small groups, parental permission and for sacramental (kiddush, havadalah, bris milah, etc.) purposes.

Yahu
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