Law Of Averages
‘Catacombs Are Four Cubits Long’
(Bava Basra 100b)
Our sugya rules that a laborer hired to dig a grave must dig a pit four cubits long. (A cubit is an ancient linear unit based on the length of the forearm, from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, usually from 17-21 inches (43 to 53 cm).) The Rashbam (s.v. Veha’kuchin…) and the Ramban maintain that the measure allows three cubits for an average person’s height and another full cubit for the miscellaneous needs of any burial. However, Tosafos on our sugya (s.v. Vehakuchin…) and in other Talmudic passages contend that an average person is taller than three cubits. Therefore, the need for four cubits is to allow for that increased height and [the thickness of] the planks of the coffin, with little, but sufficient, room to spare. Thus that extra space is far less than a full cubit.
Calculating Halachic Measures
Many poskim have pondered this difference of opinion, assuming, of course, that the Rishonim could agree about average heights. Hence, some commentators explain that their interpretations depend on the halachic definition of a handbreadth (tefach) as, until today, some authorities maintain it equals, in modern terms, 9.6 cm (3.77952 inches), while others claim it is only 8 cm long (3.1496 inches). According to the Rashbam, a handbreadth is 9.6 cm, and as one cubit contains six handbreadths, totaling 57.6 cm, three cubits equal 172.8 cm (68.0314 inches) – enough for an average person, with another cubit for the coffin. Tosafos maintain that a handbreadth is 8 cm. Three cubits, then, equals only 144 cm and they therefore had to assert that an average person is over three cubits tall. In other words, there was never a disagreement about average heights but rather about the calculation of halachic measures.
The Mechitzah
Updating the issue, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, author of Aruch HaShulchan, calculated an average person’s height over 100 years ago at 160 cm (62.9921 inches). Some questioned that estimate, but in his Middos Veshiurei Torah, Rabbi Chaim P. Benish records that a survey of 4,229 Polish and Russian Jews conducted at that time showed an average height of 161.2 cm. An important implication of the topic is the halachic requirement for a standard height for a mechitzah dividing the women’s and men’s sections in any synagogue. All agree that a mechitzah is meant to prevent distraction, and many halachic authorities have relied on our sugya to determine an average person’s height. Nevertheless, the height of a mechitzah may vary where people tend to be taller or shorter (see Responsa Igros Moshe, Orach Chayyim 1:39; Orach Chayyim 4:29; Orach Chayyim 3:23-24; Responsa Minchas Yitzchak 2:20; Responsa Mishneh Halachos 7:12 among others).
