Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 8, scan section 94

£. ' Taken from Tract Nazir, Palestinian Talmud, as the Mishna here is very complicated, after all the different corrections of the commentaries. 2 There is a law concerning defilement, that a hole of one span which reaches the air draws off the uncleanness. This will be explained in Tract Teharoth. F. 1 It was the custom then that each family had cares for the purpose of burying there the members of the family. The standing place means where the consolers stood or sat after the burial, and it was near the grave, and there was also a place where the lamenters stood. G. l Transferred from Baba Bathra, 100b. a The custom was that when they returned from the burial they used to walk a few steps and then sit down and console the mourners or weep for the dead, and then rise and go on; and to repeat this seven times, so that they should remember the life of a human being is but vanity of vanities. 3 As in our place it is not customary. EBEL RABBATHI, OR SEMA'HOTH. 61 made not less than seven standings and sittings for a dead body, and the funeral director used to say : " Arise, dearests, arise ! " and " Sit down, dearests, sit down ! " Said the sages to him : If that was all, let them do so also on the Sabbath.4 The sister of Rama bar Papa was the wife of R. Ivjah, and she died. He made for her a standing and a sitting. Said R. Joseph : He has erred in two things. First, this do only the relatives of the second degree, who are not obliged to mourn, and he was one of the mourners ; and, secondly, this is to be done only on the day of burial, and he did so on the day after. Said Abayi : He has also erred in this : It is usually done near the cemetery, and he did this in the city. Said Rabha : He erred also in this : It is only done where it is customary, and in his place it was not customary at all. An objection was raised : It is said above that the sages said to R. Jehudah : " If that was all, let them do also on the Sabbath." Now if this is to be done only in the cemetery, and on the first day, can this occur on Sabbath ? The answer was : They meant to say, in a city which is near the cemetery, and when the consolers returned from the funeral which ended at twilight. Whoever reminds a mourner of his dead after twelve months are over, is to be blamed for renewing his wound. Said R. Simeon b. Gamaliel : One whose wife died and has married again within a twelvemonth, one who wishes to talk to him about his dead, shall do so in the market, but not in his house. All eatables may be brought to the house of a mourner — oval- shaped bread, meat, and fish ; and if an assembly does that, also herbs and pulse. Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel said : Where it is customary, even cooked food. H. Ten goblets of wine have the sages ordered in the mourn- ing house : three before eating, to give an appetite ; three during the meal, to soften the food in the stomach, and four after the meal, for the four blessings contained in the after-meal bene- diction. Afterwards they have added four more : one for the sake of the sections of the city who have occupied themselves with the burial ; one for the sake of the presidents of the congre- gations (for their advancing money for the sake of the burial of the poor) ; one for the Temple (to console for its destruction), G. 4 If that was all, without lamentation, it could be done also on the Sabbath, H they returned from burial on the eve of Sabbath at sunset. 62 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. and one in memory of Rabban Gamaliel (who was the first to command to be buried in linen garments, as said above). When the sages have seen that they became drunk, they have restored the original number. One who pronounces the meal benediction in the house of a mourner, what shall he say in the fourth blessing? "The good One who does good to all." R. Aqiba, however, said : " The truthful Judge, the Ruler of His creatures. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good ; because unto eternity endureth His kindness." 1 H. ' This passage is brought here at the conclusion of this tract, as it is usual to conclude each tract with a good expression. END OF TRACT EBEL RABBATHI (GREAT MOURNING) AND THE WHOLE SECTION OF FESTIVALS. Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 1 1012 01249 6891