Mesorat%20hashas for Bava Batra 203:6

ומדהא באלכסונא הא נמי באלכסונא עשרים ותרתי הויין חדא באלכסונא אמרינן תרי באלכסון לא אמרינן

it should be eighteen?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The length of each grotto is six cubits and that of the court also six. ');">¹⁶</span> It may, in fact, be according to the Rabbis but there is a possibility that he made the search diagonally.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Though the length of the grotto is only six cubits, the diagonal of the area of the graves (the sepulchral chambers) thus searched would be longer. The diagonal of four, (respective lengths of chambers), by six, (length of grotto wall), is more than seven cubits in length √(42 + 62) = √52, say roughly eight cubits. Add length of court (six cubits) and length of corresponding grotto (six cubits) and the total obtained is roughly twenty. ');">¹⁷</span> But since the one [grotto is assumed to be searched] diagonally, the other also [should be assumed to be searched] diagonally [and, consequently, the distance] should be twenty-two [cubits]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Eight for the diagonal of each grotto and six for the court. ');">¹⁸</span> — One diagonal [search] is expected; two diagonal [searches] are not.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since no corpses were found in the first. ');">¹⁹</span>

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