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Radio Mentioned in the Talmud, New York Scholar Recalls

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That the seemingly new discovery of the radio is not a discovery but rather a rediscovery, is the claim of the Jewish scholar and lawyer, Samuel Kahan, in the “New York World” of June 1st.

Mr. Kahan draws the attention of scholars to a Braitha mentioned in the fifth chapter of Youma, which states the following:

“The Rabbis have learned three sounds which travel from one end of the world to the other. They are the sound of the son traveling around the world, the sound of the soul when it leaves the body and the sound of a mob in a large city. Some Rabbis say also that the sound of the woman laboring in childbirth travels from one end of the world to the other; some of the Rabbis say that the sound of the r-e-d-i-i-a also does the same thing.”

The fact that the ancient Talmudic document mentions the radio as a matter of reference only would seem to indicate that it was a matter of general knowledge, which did not need any explanation.

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