he married two sisters. Then
Moses, on the ground that he was unworthy to enter the land of
promise, or even to be buried in it; and finally Joshua will
plead unworthiness because he had no son. David will then be
called upon to take the cup and bless, and he will respond,
"Yea, I will bless, for I am worthy to bless, as it is said (Ps.
cxvi. 13), 'I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the
name of the Lord.'" P'sachim, fol. 119, col. 2. This cup, as we
are told above, will contain two hundred and twenty-one logs
(which the Rabbis tell us, is the twenty-fourth part of a seah,
therefore this cup will hold rather more than one-third of a
hogshead of wine).

Beruriah once found a certain disciple who studied in silence. As soon
as she saw him she spurned him and said, "Is it not thus written (2 Sam.
xxiii. 5), 'Ordered in all and sure'? If ordered with all the two
hundred and forty-eight members of thy body, it will be sure; if not, it
will not be sure." It is recorded that Rabbi Eliezer had a disciple who
also studied in silence, but that after three years he forgot all that
he had learned.

_Eiruvin_, fol. 53, col. 2, and fol. 54, col. 1.

In continuation of the above we read that Shemuel said to Rav
Yehudah, "Shrewd fellow, open thy mouth when thou readest, etc.,
so that thy reading may remain and thy life may be lengthened;
as it is written in Prov. iv. 22, 'For they are life unto those
that find them;' read not, 'that find them,' but read, 'that
bring them forth by the mouth,' i.e., that read them aloud." It
was and is still a common custom in the East to study aloud.

As an anathema enters all the two hundred and forty-eight members of the
body, so does it issue from them all. Of the entering-in of the anathema
it is written (Josh. vi. 17), "And the city shall be accursed;" by
Gematria amounting to two hundred and forty-eight. Of the coming-out of
the anathema it is written (Hab. iii. 2), "In wrath remember mercy;" a
transposition of the letters of the word for accursed, also amounting by
Gematria to two hundred and forty-eight. Rabbi Joseph says, "Hang an
anathema on the tail of a dog and he will still go on doing mischief."

_Moed Katon_, fol. 17, col. 1.

The human body has two hundred and forty-eight members:--Thirty in the
foot--that is, six in each toe--ten in the ankle, two in the thigh, five
in the knee, one in the hip, th