who knows forty-six?

no. of human chromosomes

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Phillip Seymour Hoffamn was 46 when he died

who knows forty-five?

45 pillars in the House of the Forest of Lebanon, which Solomon built as part of the Temple, and his Palace. this is where he sat and judged cases.
no. of years Joshua lived after first going to land of Israel to spy it out, and then finally conquering it.

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45's, singles, the vinyl record needs to be played at 45r.p.m.

who knows forty-four?

no. of candles used on chanukah (including shamesh)

44 is a happy number.  4² + 4² + 32, 3² + 2² = 13, 1² + 3² = 10, 1² + 0² = 1

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, Jackson Pollock and Baruch Spinoza all died aged 44.

and in bingo, the number forty-four is known as 'droopy drawers' - which makes me very happy.

who knows forty-three?

there is a motorcycle club called Doof Clenas Motorcycle Collective, who ride their Harleys on Highway 43's. To become a member, you need to post a photo of yourself with motorbike next to a highway 43 sign. (the D = 4 and the C = 3) 

there is no M43 motorway in the UK

(I am not making any of this up. but just in case you don't believe me, here's their website)

who knows forty-two?

42 children were mauled to death by the bears miraculously created by Elisha when they jeered at him "Go away baldy!"
no. of Ahaziah's men who Yehu killed when he was getting rid of Ba'al worship and the House of Ahab in the Northern Kingdom
42 name of God, as mentioned in the Talmud and kabbalah
the Gutenberg Bible has 42 lines per page
Lewis Carroll has 42 illustrations in Alice in Wonderland, and the number 42 is encoded throughout
angle, when rounded to whole number, that a rainbow appears

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of course, the answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe & Everything

who knows forty-one?

Rehovam, son of Shlomo, was 41 when he began to reign as king. and began his reign by setting harsh taxes and giving reason for the people to leave and form the Northern Kingdom of israel and follow Yerovam ben Navat
Asa reigned for 41 years in Judah
Jerovam ben Yoash, reigned for 41 years in Northern Kingdom of Israel

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symphony no.41 was the last symphony of Mozart

who knows forty?

forty is very biblical... lots of forty, because 40 = a lot. It is a complete unit, significant and ordered. (unlike the chaotic & grotesque 60...)

days & nights of rain/water falling & rising in the Flood
age Moshe left Egypt, then 40 years with Yitro, then led the Israelits for 40 years
no of days Moshe was up Mt Sinai to receive the first set of tablet, theat he then smashed, then spent another 40 days up Mt Sinai praying for the people to be forgiven, and then went up for another  40 days to receive the second set of tablets.
Saul, David and Shlomo all reigned for 40 years
40 se'ahs in a mikvah
R. Akiva was 40 when he started to study Torah

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no of weeks of human pregnancy

who knows thirty-nine?

no. of main categories of work that is prohibited on Shabbat, derived from 39 types of work that went into building the Mishkan.
King Asa, king of Judah, suffered from a foot disease when he was 39 but did not turn to God but to healers.
actual number of lashes stuck when the Sanhedrin sentenced someone with the punishment of 40 lashes

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similar thing is found in Ancient Rome. The citizens would hit their slaves 39 times, calling it forty save one.
The 39 Steps, novel by John Buchan, film by Alfred Hitchcock. And the number of stairs in my house. which is very pleasing, if slightly tiring when climbing up to my studio at the top of the house.
Neither Cleopatra, Amelia Earhart, Che Guevara, Dylan Thomas, Martin Luther King Jr nor Malcom X saw their 40th birthdays, all dying, or disappearing, aged 39.

who knows thirty-eight?

no. of years the ancient Israelites travelled from Kadesh Barnea to crossing the Zered wadi. During which time all the men of military age who had left Egypt died in the wilderness.

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Carravaggio and Charlotte Bronte died aged 38.
(as did Louis XVI of France, he was executed)

who knows thirty-seven?

normal human body temp is 37°C
no. of plays by Shakespeare

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a tv channel reserved for radioastronomy in the US

who knows thirty-six?

 

Lammed-Vavniks - the hidden righteous on whom the world's existence depends

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in a Maori legend 36 gods made the first human and then the god Tanei breathed life
it is the first number tht is both square and triangular
no. of inches in a yard
atomic number of krypton

who knows thirty-five?

Yehoshaphat was 35 when he began his reign in Judah.
height in cubits of the 2 pillars Shlomo erected in the Temple - Jachin & Boaz

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35mm film used for basic analog photography and motion pictures
min age for candidates for American Presidency

who knows thirty-four?

the answer is... not many people know 34...  nothing really from any jewish stuff about 34 - although happy to be informed otherwise

there are 34 islands in the Mediterranean
at the start of the American Civil War there were 34 states in the US

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Rule 34  "it if exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions." - rule that there is internet porn for every conceivable topic. I am now awkwardly wondering if there is omer-counting porn... best not think about that too much. 

who knows thirty-three?

no. of years David reigned over Israel and Judah in Jerusalem
no. of vertebrae in the human spine, that carry 33 pairs of nerves
record speed 33⅓ rpm

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33rd day of the Omer - Lag B'Omer, the yaherzeit of Shimon bar Yochai, and on page Shabbat 33 in the Talmud Bavli is the story of Shimon bar Yochai in the cave, after the Monty Python bit - "what have the Romans ever done for us"

who knows thirty-two?

Yehoram b. Yehoshaphat was 32 when he became king in Judah
in kabbalah there are 32 paths of wisdom
no. of teeth, including wisdom teeth, in adult human

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no. earth diameters to reach the moon. (and Geometry means Earth measurement)

who knows thirty-one?

Yoshiayhu reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem. He was possibly the greatest king, the ideal, but his campaign to lead the people into returning to God failed, the people were exiled anyway, and the Temple was destroyed. We still say a kinah mourning him on Tisha B'Av.
planes of existence in Buddhism
31 Songs - book by Nick Hornby writing about his favourite pop songs
max no of days in a month

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apparently it is Turkish slang for male masturbation

who knows thirty?

Joseph was 30 when he met Pharaoh
David was 30 when he became king
Yair, a judge in ancient Israel, had 30 sons, who rode 30 asses, and had 30 cities
and Ibzan, another judge, had 30 sons, 30 daughters, and 30 daughters-in-law (and maybe 30 sons-in-law, the book of Judges doesn't say. Just that his daughters were sent away....)
Samson's parent brought him 30 companions, to whom he set a riddle with a wager of 30 sheets and 30 changes of clothing. Later Samson kills 30 men in Ashkelon.
height in cubits of the Temple
circumference in cubits of the molten sea of Solomon that was in the Temple
30 days Daniel's petition before being thrown into the lions' den
total number of major and minor keys in western tonal music
&
no. of tracks on The White Album

a 30 sided polygon is a triacontagon

who knows twenty-nine?

Hezkiyahu reigned for 29 years as king of Judah.
as did Amaziah b. Yoash.

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29 is the 10th prime number
and the sum of 2² + 3² + 4²
Saturn takes 29 years to orbit the sun
no. of days in February in a leap year
no. of letters in the Turkish, Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian alphabets
Chattanaga Choo Choo departed from track 29
and the song, $29 by Tom Waits

(it is now the 5th week of the omer, hence the pentagram within the icosikaienneagon (which at this size looks more like a circle, but is a 29 sided polygon) As these drawings are so small, I decided not to draw a lines that link all the points to each other, but chose the ones that form pentagrams. and then the beginnings of a smaller inner icosikaienneagon. because it looked nice and I wanted to....)

who knows twenty-eight?

28 year solar cycle that is marked by a ritual every 28 years - Birchat Hachama, blessing of the sun

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Yehu was 28 when he began to reign in the Northern Kingdom of Israel
date in Iyar of Yom Yerusalyim
no. of dominos in standard set
28 sided polygon is an icosikaioctagon

who knows twenty-seven?

no. of letters of the aleph-bet if count the final letters (22 + 5)

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date in Nisan of Yom HaShoah
perfect cube 3x3x3
no. of bones in the human hand
the 27 club, pop musicians who have died at age 27

who knows twenty-six?

God gave the Torah in the 26th generation since creation of Adam & Eve

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no. of letters in the english alphabet

who knows twenty-five?

age the Levites serve in the Temple
measurement in cubits of various items in Ezekiel's vision of the Temple
no. of years King Jehoshaphat reigned in Judah
date in Kislev of Chanukah
&
the M25 - motorway ring road around London. the road to hell.

who knows twenty-four?

no. of books in the Tanach
types of gifts/tithes given to the priests
24 years Ba'asha b. Ahijah reigned in the Northern Kingdom of Israel
no. of bulls offered when the altar in the mishkan was dedicated
hours in the day
TV show 24 - in each episode (which isn't really a full hour) no one needed the toilet or had to charge their mobile phone.
24 carat gold = 100% pure gold

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the number of blackbirds baked in a pie

who knows twenty-three?

no. of judges in a bet din needed for a trial that has capital punishment

& 23 Enigma - most incidents and events are connected to the no.23. although this is also an example of looking for patterns. William Burroughs '23 Sikdoo'
in The Big Lebowski the main characters deliberately choose lane 23 to bowl.
the birthday paradox. In a random group of at least 23 people, there is more than a 50% chance that two people will have the same birthday.
human sex cells have 23 chromosomes, other human cells have 46, arranged in 23 pairs

who knows twenty-two?

22 letters of the aleph-bet, the hebrew alphabet

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no. of verses in each chapter of the book of Eichah (apart from chapter 3 which has 66 verses, 3 x 22)
no. of years Yosef and Ya'acov were separated
date in Nisan of the last day of Pesach, and in Tishrei and the last day of Succot.
22 paths between the Sephirot
22 ÷ 7 = π (approx.)
tarot decks have 22 cards
Catch-22
and in bingo twenty-two is called Two Little Ducks

we are now in the fourth week of the omer, hence the quadrilateral. not a square, that doesn't fit into an icosadigon (22 sided polygon). but 22 barley grains do very neatly form the perimeter of a rectangle within the icosadigon, with a grain on a different intersection of points.

who knows twenty-one?

21 is a card game, called blackjack or pontoon, highest score/ target is 21
a Fibonacci number
the current century
profile 21 is the exemption from Israeli military service

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21grams is the weight of the soul

who knows twenty?

no. of years that Ya'acov worked for Laban

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min age for the census, and to fight
min age for Levite to serve in the Temple
Samson led the Israelites as a judge for 20 years
and length of reign of Pekah, king of Northern Kingdom of Israel,
age Ahaz became king in Judah
no. of years the ark was with the Philistines
height in cubits of doorway in the temple, which extends to height of a beam to enclose an alleyway into an eruv, making it a shared private space and able to carry within it
and the max height of a succah roof.
20/20 vision is to have normal vision at 20 feet away from the object
and a score = 20

who knows nineteen?

19 is the actual number of brachot in the Shemonei Esrei

19 Princelet Street in Spitlefields, East End of London. At one point it was synagogue. it is now a museum, exhibit about immigration to London. It is one of the most fascinating places in London, but is very rarely open. 
average age of soldier in Vietnam -  a fact we know thanks to Paul Hardcastle's hit 19. 
19th Nervous Breakdown - the Rolling Stones 
talking nineteen to the dozen

a nineteen sided polygon is called an Enneadecagon

who knows eighteen?

eighteen is written yod + het, 10 +8. if the letters are reversed then it spells Chai - Life. 18 is seen as a 'lucky' number and charity donations are often given in multiples of 18 to give the recipeient a long life.

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the Amidah is called the Shemonei Esrei, as it was originally composed of 18 blessings
no. of minutes max for matzah to still be considered kosher for pesach
no. of minutes before sunset that can light candles for shabbat
date in Iyar of Lag B'Omer
no. of different materials used for the Mishkan
max no. of wives a king is allowed to have
in Pirkei Avot age to get married

& in most countries 18 is the age one can vote.

who knows seventeen?

17th of tammuz is a fast day, one of the days marking the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. (it is also my hebrew birthday. happy days...)

Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years

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"she was just 17, you know what I mean" - at 12 I wasn't really sure, but Just-17 gave me a rough idea. Just-17 - teen magazine that was launched in 1983, when I was 12. it was essential reading.
min driving age in the UK
in Italian culture, 17 is an unlucky number. fear of the no. 17 is called heptadecaphobia. or however that translates in Italian.

a 17 sided polygon is called a heptadecagon

who knows sixteen?

the number sixteen, like fifteen, when written in hebrew is a name of God. so it is written tet + zayin, 9+7 instead of yod + vav 10 + 6

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ounces in a pound
age of consent
sweet sixteen
min age can join the army in the UK
in chess, each player has 16 pieces
16 personality types in Myers-Briggs
16 used for measuring as it involves just repeatedly halving.