Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 8, scan section 79

assuredly there are my superiors in this city. Oh, your reward will be great. Ye have done homage to the Law ; your presence would suffice to console me, even if I had buried two bride- grooms ; ye appeared here because you thought to yourselves [Psalms, xxxvii. 31]: 'The law of his God is in his heart.'" (Hence we see that it is permitted to greet even within the first three days ?) Where the honor of the public is concerned the case is different. " From the third to the seventh day he may answer, but not greet." There is a contradiction from the following Boraitha : One who meets his friend who is in mourning, if within twelve months he may speak to him words of consolation, but must not greet him ; if after twelve months, he may greet him, but not speak to him words of consolation, unless indirectly. R. Meir said : To what may the case of one speaking to his friend, a mourner, words of consolation after twelve months be compared ? To one whose foot was dislocated, and after having it cured, met a physician who said to him : " Come with me and I will dislocate it again, and cure it in order to prove to you the efficiency of my drugs"? This presents no difficulty. This Boraitha relates to mourning over father or mother ; the former statement relates to mourning over other relatives. But have we not learned in another Borai- tha that he may speak to him words of consolation indirectly ? Our Boraitha may also be explained in the same sense ; viz., " He shall not speak to him words of consolation directly." The rabbis taught : A mourner, during the first three days, if he arrives from a place not distant, may adopt the same compu- tation of the time as the local mourners, but if he arrives from a distant place he must have his own computation ; thenceforth, if he even arrives from a place not distant, he must have his own computation. R. Simeon, however, said : " Even if he arrived on the seventh day, if only from a near-by place, he may adopt the computation of the local mourners." The Master said above : " The first three days, one who arrives from a near-by place," etc. Said R. Hyya bar Abba in the name of R. Johanan : " This is the case only where the eldest of the family is at home at the time." The schoolmen propounded a question : " How is it if the eldest of the family has gone to the cemetery? " Come and hear : R. Hyya bar Abba said in the name of R. Johanan : " Even if the eldest of the house has gone to the cemeteiy, he may com- pute with them (the local mourners)." But have we not learned in another Boraitha that he must have his own computation ? This 20 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. presents no difficulty : One case is when he arrived within the first three days, and the other when he arrived after the first three days. As Rabh said to the inhabitants of Zalpuni : " Those who arrive within the first three days may compute with you ; those who do not, must compute for themselves." Rabha said to the inhabitants of M'huza: "You who do not follow the coffin (to the cemetery, but only as far as the town-gate) may compute (the mourning) from the minute you turn your faces away from the town-gate." 1 The Boraitha states : R. Simeon said, etc. Said R. Hyya bar Gamda in the name of Joseph b. Saul, quoting Rabbi: " The case is only when he arrived before the condolers departed." 2 It is written [Jerem. xxii. 10] : " Weep not for the dead and do not bemoan him." Weep not — that is, not more than suffi- cient; and do not bemoan him — that is, not more than pre- scribed. How so ? During the first three days — weeping; the seven — lamentation ; during the thirty days — not to calender clothes and cut the hair. After that period the Holy One, blessed be He, says: " Be not more merciful than I am." It is written [ibid., ibid.]: " Weep sorely for him that goeth away." Said R. Jehudah: " This means one who goeth away childless." R. Joshua b. Levi had never gone to console a mourner unless the deceased died childless, for it is written [ibid., ibid.]: " Weep sorely for the one that goeth away, for he shall never return any more, and see the land of his birth." R. Levi said: " A mourner the first three days must imagine to himself as if a sword is placed between his shoulders ; between the third and seventh day, as if it is opposite him in a corner; from that day on, as if it passes in front of him in the street."3 " The bier of a woman must at no time be set there " etc. R. Ami said: " For what purpose was the death of Miriam stated closely following the law of the red cow ? To teach that as the red cow atoned for sin, so also does the death of the right- eous." Said R. Elazar: " For the same purpose was the death of Aaron closely written to the description of the priests' garb; viz., as the priests in their garb atoned for the sins, so also does the death of the righteous." CHAPTER V. A. ' Getnara from Moed Katan. a Gemara from Moed Katan. * This illustrates the different degrees in which it must be borne in mind. EBEL RABBATHI, OR SEMA'HOTH. 21 B. It is permitted for others to do work involving things perishable; e.g., his grain may be garnered and thrashed, his tubs may be scoured, and if his olives are turned, R. Jehudah says he may put the first press-block on, etc. The rabbis taught : The following things are prohibited to a mourner: labor, washing, anointing, sexual intercourse, wearing shoes, reading the Law, the Prophets, the Hagiographa, study- ing the Mishna, Midrash, Halakha, Talmud, and Agada; but if, however, the public require his services, he need not restrain himself. As it happened, the son of R. Jose died in Sepphoris, and the latter notwithstanding came to college and lectured the whole day long. Rabba bar bar Hana was once in mourning, and he was inclined not to go out to deliver his usual lecture. Said R. Hanina to him: '* If the public requires one's services, he need not restrain himself." He then wanted to employ an interpreter. Said Rabh to him: " We learned in a Boraitha: ' But he should not employ an interpreter.' ' How, then, shall he do it? As we have learned in the following Boraitha: It happened that the son of R. Jehudah bar Ilai died, and the latter came to college followed by R. Hanania b. Akabia, who took a seat at his side. He (R. Jehudah bar Ilai) whispered (the lecture) to R. Hanania b. Akabia, and the latter to the interpreter, and the interpreter announced it aloud to the public. The rabbis taught : A mourner must not wear phylacteries during the first three days, but from and including the third day he is allowed to do so, and need not remove them on the arrival of new persons. Such is the dictum of R. Eliezer. R. Jehudah, however, said that he must not wear them only dur-