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The Torah states no numerical divisions for the day. The closest numeric we find is that there are 7 days in the week, and that the start of the "day" begins with "erev" (and there are debates on when that begins.) When and from where did the concept, in Judaism, of dividing the day into 12 "parts" called a "sha'ah" begin? We see such a concept in discussions of when to burn chametz and when to stop eating it (on erev Pesach), for example.

msh210
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DanF
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  • Babylon. Who said there is any Jewish significance to that division? – Double AA May 07 '14 at 19:22
  • The gemoro does say that the planets 'change' every hour. So it is not just a means of dividing the day. It does have some purpose and Jewish significance – preferred May 07 '14 at 19:22
  • DanF, without indicating in the question that Judaism divides the day into 12 hours (does it? where?), this question seems to have nothing to do with Judaism at all. – msh210 May 07 '14 at 22:30
  • @preferred Judaism uses hours because everyone else does. We could have used microseconds or petaseconds. – Double AA May 07 '14 at 22:35
  • @msh210 The Talmud describes how Adam was created; in each hour one thing happens. – Ypnypn May 07 '14 at 22:43
  • @Double AA what about the gemoro in shabbos I mentioned. Also rosh hashono. – preferred May 07 '14 at 22:43
  • @ msh210 ditto, – preferred May 07 '14 at 22:44
  • @Ypnypn You mean how one thing happens every 3600000000 microseconds? – Double AA May 07 '14 at 22:58
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    @DoubleAA The fact is, it wasn't 3500,000,000 microseconds, but rather an amount of time which fits well into hours. This may indicate something. – Ypnypn May 07 '14 at 23:01
  • @Ypnypn It may indicate that God wanted to evenly divide the 12 things he had to do that day. (BTW there is very little reason to believe that Aggada is meant to be literal, in which case you have no question at all.) – Double AA May 08 '14 at 03:51
  • start of the "day" begins with "erev" - This is disputed as well, at least in theory. (See Rashbam on Bereishit.) – Shmuel May 09 '14 at 06:09

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