Shelosha Ve'esrim - mi yodeya?

Question

Who knows twenty-three?

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.

Answer 1

Twenty three is one of the two days of the Omer on which the Base 7 and Base 10 representations of the count are the reverse of each other, so you end up saying the same two digits, in the same order, twice, when you count.

Answer 2

23 are the judges of a Sanhedrin. (Notice I said "a Sanhedrin" meaning the smallest Beis Din that can apply death penalties as opposed to the Great Sanhedrin that sat in the "Hewn Chamber" in the Beis Hamikdash.) (Sanhedrin, 2ab)

Answer 3

23 cubits (and a fraction) is the difference in elevation between the Spring of Eitam and the courtyard of the Beis Hamikdash.

The importance of this is that this spring was the source for the Kohen Gadol's mikvah, which was situated atop one of the gates (twenty cubits above the courtyard) and which was three cubits tall. In this way the water could flow into the mikvah based on gravity alone, without requiring pumps or the like, which would disqualify it. (Yoma 31a)

Answer 4

23 are the years that Avraham and Sarah spent proselytizing in Charan.

[They started in the year 2000 since Creation, when Avraham was 52 (Avodah Zarah 9a), and they left Charan permanently when Avraham was 75 (Gen. 12:4).]

Answer 5

23 are the days from Rosh Hashanah to Simchas Torah outside of the Land of Israel.

Answer 6

Twenty-three are the books of Tanach that the Talmud says are definitely non-fiction.

(Iyov/Job being the odd man out, one opinion in the Talmud (Bava Basra 15a) is that he never existed.)

Answer 7

Shoftim 10:1-2

וַיָּ֩קׇם֩ אַחֲרֵ֨י אֲבִימֶ֜לֶךְ לְהוֹשִׁ֣יעַ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל תּוֹלָ֧ע בֶּן־פּוּאָ֛ה בֶּן־דּוֹד֖וֹ אִ֣ישׁ יִשָּׂשכָ֑ר וְהוּא־יֹשֵׁ֥ב בְּשָׁמִ֖יר בְּהַ֥ר אֶפְרָֽיִם׃ וַיִּשְׁפֹּט֙ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל עֶשְׂרִ֥ים וְשָׁלֹ֖שׁ שָׁנָ֑ה וַיָּ֖מׇת וַיִּקָּבֵ֥ר בְּשָׁמִֽיר׃ {פ}

After Avimelech, Tola son of Puah son of Dodo, of Yissachar, arose to deliver Israel. He lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. He judged Israel for twenty-three years; then he died and was buried at Shamir.

Answer 8

Melachim II 23:31

בֶּן־עֶשְׂרִ֨ים וְשָׁלֹ֤שׁ שָׁנָה֙ יְהוֹאָחָ֣ז בְּמׇלְכ֔וֹ וּשְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה חֳדָשִׁ֔ים מָלַ֖ךְ בִּירֽוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם וְשֵׁ֣ם אִמּ֔וֹ חֲמוּטַ֥ל בַּֽת־יִרְמְיָ֖הוּ מִלִּבְנָֽה

Yehoachaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Yeru-shalayim. And his mother’s name was Ḥamutal, the daughter of Yirmeyahu from Livna.

Answer 9

If someone eats bread after mariv on motzai Shabbos before havdalah he has to daven mariv again, so 19 for shmonah aser and 4 for birchos hamozen

Answer 10

דויג "Doeg" = 23; Encyclopedia of Biblical Personalities 'Doeg" pg 131; Sanhedrin 106b