248 "Members" in the Human Body - The Bartenura's Definition

I require elucidation on the Mishnah (Taharot 1:8) where it enumerates 248 "אברים" in the human male. (252 in women). What does that term mean - anatomically? The Mishnah starts its count of 248 by enumerating "members" of the foot. [Click on the above image to enlarge it.]

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The Mishna says:
"Man comprises 248 'אברים': 
30 in one foot, 6 in each digit (5 x 6 = 30); 10 in the ankle, ... etc."

According to the Mishna, then, each foot comprises 40 (30 + 10) "אברים".

Obviously "Eivarim" cannot mean BONES, because the number of bones in each foot is 26. (7 in the ankle, and 19 more more distally.) The Mishnah's total count is 14 more than the foot's number of bones!

Below the ankle, the Mishnah says "6 in each digit" (5 x 6 = 30). It cannot mean bones because anatomically the 5 digits comprise 19 bones. The Mishnah's count exceeds this bone count by 11!

Each ankle has 7 tarsal bones; Not 10. The Mishnah's count is 3 more!

Looking into the MUSCLE groups involved also does not match the Mishnah's count of "אברים".

So "member", "limb" or "component" - whatever you want to call it - what is it? What does the Mishna mean by the term "Eivarim" (אברים)?

We can begin to flesh out an answer by the definition of אבר
as given by the Bartenura:
צריך שיהיה בהם בשר וגידים ועצמות ובכך הוא נחשב אבר
That is, an "Eiver" must have bones, sinews and muscle, as a composite, to be called אבר.

Perhaps, then, אבר means a group of these tissues that collectively subserves a function. The foot therefore must have 30 such functions. If so, different functional units (אברים) probably overlap in their anatomical components with other such functional collective units.

Now consider this: In order for a skeletal muscle to work, it has to cross a joint. Which means that two bones are a minimum necessary to achieve function! And of course two muscles and two tendons are also the very minimum required for the joint to move. So notice the accuracy of the Bartenura's use of nouns in the plural!

By function I mean movement; Which implies these movements take place across joints! So in deciding what an אבר is, we ought to concentrate on the joint involved!

Here's what one sports medicine site writes about "Foot and Toe Movements".

Toe movements take place at the joints. These joints are capable of motion in two directions: plantar flexion or dorsiflexion. In addition, the joints permit abduction and adduction of the toes.

The foot as a whole (excluding the toes) has two movements: inversion and eversion. All the joints of the hindfoot and midfoot contribute to these complex movements that ordinarily are combined with movements at the ankle joint.

Thus we have 1) plantar and 2) dorsal flexion, as well as 3) inversion, 4) eversion, 5) adduction and 6) abduction of the toes, in conjunction with the ankle. That's 6 movements - for 5 toes = 6 x 5 = 30. Is this what the Mishna meant? I just don't know. If anybody can give me an explanation I'd be much obliged.

More perplexing is the incongruity between "Eivarim" and the anatomy of the knee. The KNEE joint gets a count of FIVE in the Mishnah. Are 5 different movements possible at the knee joint? The following chart suggests YES!

Here's a chart I found on the knee's movements (and muscles involved). Note that there are FIVE - just as the Mishnah states!


Does the rest of the Mishnah appear to coincide with the above "movements hypothesis"? I'd appreciate your input to determine the real English meaning of an "Eiver"?

A further contemplation: The 248 “Eivarim” relate to the 248 Positive Commandments of the 613 Commandments. The other 365 Negative Commandments relate to something else.

What's a commandment? That which asks of you to behave in real time. Whether it be walking, talking, moving limbs or handling objects, to concur with God's desires. The action of avoiding or not doing, as prescribed by the other 365 commandments, similarly effects the environment in positive ways as per God's wishes.
This is what halachah is all about. We are changing the environment as we live out our Torah lives. We don't yet see the incredible changes we are achieving, but our tradition teaches us to expect the Era of Redemption to dawn upon us quickly, and then we'll see what we wrought.

Obviously these "members" of our anatomy, as when, for example, we don tefillin, our windings involve "limbs", our "eivarim". That is, THE DEFINITION OF EIVER CANNOT BE A STATIC CONCEPT AS IT IS IN MEDICAL ANATOMY, but rather the definition seems to include motion, I suppose.

Gush Katif Remembered

The Mishna (Taanit 4:6) lists 5 calamities that struck Jews on Tisha B'Av. Some 500 years ago, also on this day, Jews were banished from Spain.

Then came, on this day, yet another banishment, in ways even more painful. In 2005 (it was scheduled on Tisha B'Av, but actually took place the next day), Jews were brutally evicted from their residences, businesses and properties of Gush Katif. Many were third generation citizens.

You would think a Jewish government would know something about significant Jewish dates. Yet they chose Tisha B'Av to do their dirty work. Jews of Gush Katif were told Tisha B'Av was the final day, by which time they were required to abandon their birthrights.

The 5 calamities the Mishna lists that befell on Tisha B'Av are: The decree to forbid entry to the Holy land for the generation of the desert; The 1st and 2nd Temples were destroyed; The city of Beitar was captured; And, Jerusalem was smashed to rubble after the destruction.

For generations other unfortunate events occurred on Tisha B'Av, the harshest of them being the expulsion from Spain. On August 2, 1492, King Ferdinand of Spain proclaimed that no Jewish foot may remain on Spanish soil.

Then came the recent expulsion from Gush Katif. It's one thing when Gentiles oppress Jews. Jewish law tells us "Esav hates Yaakov", so we can somewhat understand the cruelty committed.

But how can we begin to fathom cruelty when a Jew commits such atrocity to another Jew? Can we compare an eviction of Jews perpetrated by Gentiles in a Gentile nation to one where a Jewish government in a Jewish country does the same to its own people?

What further aggravated this eviction was the handover of the birthrights to Israel's worst enemies - an act so perverted it boggles the mind! And, to add salt to the wound, the birthrights robbed from Jews and handed to the Arabs was meant to resolve a border conflict that had wrought much tension. The proponents of the expulsion so argued. Those against the expulsion knew full well it was a delusion, with a horrible payback. The latter were right because it created what today is a much more dangerous state of affairs, with greater risks to life.

The exile we are in is both a physical exile and a psychological one. As long as Jews see themselves as just another nation, relating to their Judaism as an incidental fact, without taking pride in the vast heritage and delight that Torah and Jewish tradition offer, the exile mentality will persist - and Jews may well fall victim yet again to such aberrant behavior (God forbid!); For Jewish destiny cannot steer a path to redemption hitched on desires for assimilation. The Jewish soul cannot smooth a path against its innate grain by subverting the Torah injunction "And they shall be a people onto themselves" (Num 23:9).

There's an internal exile and an external one. May we soon see the day when Jews become proud to be Jewish, proud of their heritage, proud of their Torah and customs, thereby divesting their internal exile. With that achieved, the external exile too will vanish - to yield for all Jews and all mankind a long-awaited, eternal utopia.