the note on the side of the gmora by hashems anger of 58,888 of an hour says
its really 5,888 like the number of the psukim in the torah. whats the connection between the psukim in the torah and hashems anger?
Reuven Kasierer, silver spring, USA
It doesn't seem that Hash-m's anger has to do with the Pesukim, since Hash-m's anger is only 1, not 5,888. Rather I would suggest that just as we see that the Torah is separated into 5,888 significant parts, so, too, an hour.
D. Zupnik
Actually, the Girsa in the margin is not based on Midrashic sources, but conjecture. Nevertheless, the Girsa of our Gemara itself is not at all certain. Besides the Girsa'os in our Sugya (88,888, 58,888, and according to DIKDUKEI SOFRIM 56,880 or 56,888), the YEFEH EINAYIM cites the following Girsa'os:
Avodah Zarah 4a: 53,848 (56,848 - Tosfos Rabeinu Elchanan; 56,888 - RACH, Dikdukei Sofrim in Avodah Zarah)
Eichah Rabah: 56,548 (and in the Yerushalmi, mistakenly, 56,048)
Tanchuma P. Ki Sisa: 58,650
Midrash Shmuel: 65,048
Yalkut 2:300, 2:555: 88,844
I am not aware of sources for any of the above numbers.
Rabeinu Tam in SEFER HA'YASHER (#691) suggests that the best Girsa might be 13,824, which is 24x24x24 (since there are 24 Onos/hour, and 24 Itim/Onah and 24 Rega'im/Es, see Tosefta Berachos 1:3). However, the TOSFOS RABEINU ELCHANAN in Avodah Zarah (and Piskei Tosfos there #4) argues that there are numerous types of Rega and the one of the Tosefta is not the same as the one in our Gemara, as the Yotzer of Parashas Shekalim implies.
The Yefeh Einayim suggests that perhaps the Girsa should be 82,080, since there are 60 mins./hr. and 18 Chalakim/min. and 76 Rega'im/Chelek, according to the timetables that we use for calculating Kidush ha'Chodesh.
M. Kornfeld