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.
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