Bava Batra 100b — the Talmud in English

And if he sold him

a public road,

for example, when the road is between two towns that serve as a passage for people from distant towns, and there is concern that many wagons will meet on the road, he must give him a road with a width of

sixteen cubits,

which is the measure of the public domain for all the laws of the Torah.

The road to the cities of refuge,

the road leading to the cities of refuge must have a width of

thirty-two cubits.

wide.

Rav Huna said: What is the verse?

From where did we learn this measure from the verse?

For it is written

concerning the cities of refuge [Deuteronomy 19:3],

“Prepare for yourself the road.”

And it could have written

“a road,”

but it wrote

“the road,”

to teach us that one must add another road, until its width is the measure of two roads. And an unspecified “road” in the Torah is sixteen cubits; consequently, together they are thirty-two cubits.

We learned in the Mishna:

The king’s road has no measure.

And we explain: That is,

the king breaches

the

fence

of other people in order

to make a road for himself, and no one protests against him!

We learned in the Mishna:

The burial road has no measure.

And we explain: It has no measure

because of the honor of the dead,

for it is not the honor of the dead to limit the number of participants in the funeral procession. Therefore, the road must be wide enough for all those accompanying the dead person to pass through it.

The Sages taught: One who sells

his

grave,

or the

road

leading to

his grave,

or

the place of his standing,

where they would perform a “standing” on the way back from the cemetery,

and his house of eulogy,

the place where they would eulogize him,

when the sons of

the

family bury him

in his grave

against his will

of the purchaser,

because of family blemish.

For it is a disgrace to the family that one of the family members has no burial place. Therefore, the Sages instituted that the sale is void, and they return the purchaser’s money to him.

The Sages taught: One may not reduce the number of standings and sittings for the dead below seven,

for at least seven times they would sit and rise and sit again,

corresponding to

the seven “vanities” stated at the beginning of the Book of Ecclesiastes:

“Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes; vanity of vanities, everything is vanity”

[the plural “vanities” signifies two].

And the reason that they do this seven times is so that, through the crying that they increase there over the dead person, every person will take to heart to repent, for the life of a person is vanity.

Rav Aḥa, son of Rava, said to Rav Ashi: How did they perform it?

How did they conduct the standings for the dead?

He said to him

Rav Ashi:

As it was taught: Rabbi Yehuda said: In

the land of

Judea, at first,

in the beginning,

they would not reduce the number of standings and sittings for the dead below seven.

For example,

after they had sat for a short while near the cemetery, the person appointed for this

would say to them: Stand, dear ones, stand!

And they would continue walking, and after they had walked a short while, the appointed person would say to them:

Sit, dear ones, sit!

And so seven times.

The Sages said to him,

to Rabbi Yehuda:

If so,

since they performed only risings and sittings and did not say any words of eulogy,

even on Shabbat,

when they finished the burial on the eve of Shabbat close to nightfall, it would be

permitted to do so

even on Shabbat, since there is no desecration of Shabbat in this, so why did they not do so?

The sister of Rami bar Pappa,

the sister of Rami bar Pappa,

was married

she had been married

to Rav Avya.

She died,

when she passed away,

he performed

he did

for her

her husband

a standing and sitting.

Rav Yosef said: He erred in two matters.

Rav Avya had made two errors:

1.

He erred —

in that

it is performed only for relatives.

Only the relatives of the dead person [who are not mourners] come to the standings and sittings for the honor of the dead.

And

if

he had performed it even for non-relatives,

2.

and

also

erred —

it is performed

a standing and sitting

only on the first day,

on the day of the burial.

But he performed it

he did it

on the second day.

Abaye said: In this matter also

he too

erred —

it is performed

a standing and sitting

only at the cemetery

[that is, near the cemetery],

but he performed it in the city.

Rava said: In this matter also he erred —

it is performed

a standing and sitting

only in a place where they had the custom.

But there,

in Rav Avya’s place,

they did not have the custom

of performing a standing and sitting.

The objection is raised

from that which was taught in the beraita above:

They said to him: If so, even on Shabbat it is permitted to do so.

And if you say

that only

at the cemetery

do they perform a standing and sitting, as Abaye says,

and

only

on the first day,

the day of the burial, as Rav Yosef says, then

what is the cemetery doing on Shabbat!?

How is it possible that they would bury the dead on Shabbat, and what difficulty would there be for him concerning their performing a standing and sitting on Shabbat?

Rather, certainly it is possible to perform it also on the day after the burial and in the city. And therefore it is possible that they would perform a standing and sitting on Shabbat?

And we answer: Actually, they perform a standing and sitting only on the first day and at the cemetery, and nevertheless it is possible to do this on Shabbat, for example,

in a city near the cemetery, where they brought him,

they brought him for burial on the eve of Shabbat

between sunset and nightfall,

and when they returned to the city, Shabbat had already begun, and they could perform a standing and sitting on the way, since it is still considered the day of the burial.

Mishna:

One who sells a place to his fellow to make a grave for him, and likewise one who accepts from his fellow

undertook

to make a grave for him,

and it was their custom that all the members of the family would be buried in a family cave, each one in a separate niche, inside a coffin.

He makes the interior of the cave

the contractor must make the inside of the cave

four cubits

wide

by six

cubits long. [And likewise, one who sells land for a grave must give the purchaser such an area beneath the ground.]

And he opens into it

he must hew into the walls of the cave

eight niches,

which open into the space of the cave,

three

niches

on this side and three on this side,

in the two long walls of the cave, to the right and left of the opening of the cave,

and two opposite them,

in the middle wall, opposite the opening.

Each niche was one cubit wide, and between one niche and the next there was a space of one cubit, and at the ends of the walls he left half a cubit vacant at the beginning and at the end of every wall.

It follows that in the two long walls, whose length was six cubits, there was room for three niches with the spaces, and in the middle wall, whose length was four cubits, there were two niches, making eight niches altogether.

And

the

niches, their length is four cubits,

three cubits for the length of the dead person, and one cubit for the coffin in which he is placed.

And their height,

the height of the niches

is seven

handbreadths, for the height of the coffin, which is six handbreadths, and another handbreadth so that the coffin will enter the niche comfortably. And also so that there will be a space of one handbreadth between the coffin and the roof of the niche, so that people passing over the cave will not become impure.