Moed Katan 17b — the Talmud in English

And one of them

and he sounded the blasts

at the graves,

because people are not found in the cemetery.

And he read it

and sounded in it

a thousand shofar blasts

a thousand shofar blasts

in forty days.

Go and do so.

The jar burst, and he died; evidently.

And the Gemara explains:

What are the shofar blasts?

Why do they sound shofars at the time of the banishment?

To teach

that they exact payment from him

for his deeds.

And

what are the breaks?

Why do they sound breaks in addition to the blast?

Rav Yitzhak, son of Rav Yehuda, said:

to teach that

they break lofty houses.

For the banishment has the power to break lofty and high houses.

For it was taught in a beraita: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: Wherever the Sages cast their eyes,

such as a banishment, it brings him

either

to

death or

to

poverty.

We learned in the Mishna: “And these may shave during the intermediate days,”

the nazirite

who is impure

and the leper,

who ascended

from his impurity to his purity.

Rabbi Yirmeya asked Rabbi Zeira:

Did they permit them to shave during the intermediate days only

when they had no time

to shave before the festival?

Or perhaps

they permitted them during the intermediate days

even when they had time

to shave before the festival.

He said to him,

Rabbi Zeira:

We have learned

the solution to your problem explicitly in a beraita:

All those concerning whom they said

the Sages that they are

permitted to shave during the intermediate days

that is specifically

when they had no time

to shave before the festival.

But

if

they had

time

before the festival—

they are forbidden

to shave during the intermediate days.

Except for

an impure nazirite

and

a leper,

who

even though they had time

to shave before the festival—they are

permitted

to shave during the intermediate days, in order

that they not delay their offerings.

An impure nazirite and a leper are obligated to bring an offering on the eighth day of their purification, and on condition that they shave. It follows that if we forbid them to shave during the intermediate days [since they had time before the festival], they will not bring the offering during the intermediate days, because the offering comes only after the shaving. Consequently, they will delay bringing it until after the festival.

Therefore, it is preferable not to penalize them for not shaving during the time available before the festival, so that they bring their offering for their purification as soon as possible, even though the appropriate time, namely the eighth day of his purification, has already passed.

A tanna

in a beraita:

The priest and the mourner are permitted to shave

during the intermediate days.

And we raised a difficulty concerning it:

This mourner—

what are the circumstances?

If we say that

the eighth day

of his

mourning

falls on the eve of the festival,

when he had already risen from the mourning of the seven days and could shave on the eighth day in honor of the festival, since the decree of thirty had been removed from him because he observed one day of the thirty-day mourning before the festival.

This is difficult: surely

he should have shaved on the eve of the festival!

And since he needed to shave then and did not shave, why should we permit him to shave during the intermediate days!?

Rather,

lest you say

that his eighth day falls on Shabbat, the eve of the festival,

and he could not shave on the eighth day because of the sanctity of Shabbat.

It is still difficult: surely

he should have

advanced it and

shaved on the eve of Shabbat!

Even though it is the seventh day of his mourning.

Because

Rav Hisda said in the name of Ravina bar Sheila: The halakha is in accordance with Abba Shaul,

who said: One who buries his dead seven days before the festival, the decree of thirty days is removed from him.

And the Sages agree with Abba Shaul when

the eighth day

of his falls on Shabbat, the eve of the festival, that he is permitted to shave

already

on the eve of Shabbat,

despite its being the seventh day, since on Shabbat the mourning of seven is completed and the conduct of thirty begins, and the festival interrupts it. Since he was prevented against his will from shaving on Shabbat because of the sanctity of Shabbat, they permitted him to shave on the eve of Shabbat.

If so, he could have shaved on the seventh day; why should we permit him to shave during the festival?

And we answer:

It is necessary only when his seventh day falls on Shabbat, the eve of the festival.

And in this

the external tanna

of the beraita, who says that he is permitted to shave during the intermediate days,

holds like Abba Shaul, who says that part of the day is like all of it, and

therefore

the day

the

seventh counts for him in both directions,

both as the end of the count of seven and as the beginning of the count of thirty. Since he began observing the mourning of thirty and the festival came and interrupted it, from now he is permitted to shave.

And since it is Shabbat

on the seventh day and he could not shave on it, they permitted him to shave during the intermediate days, since

he is coerced,

as he cannot shave on the seventh day because it is Shabbat.

But

our tanna holds like the Rabbis

, who say: We do not say that part of the day is like all of it, and the mourning of seven has still not ended

before the festival; therefore he cannot shave during the intermediate days, since he had not yet begun observing the mourning of thirty, and the festival did not interrupt the thirty.

And now the Gemara explains who the priest mentioned in the beraita is, who shaves during the intermediate days:

This priest—

what are the circumstances?

If we say that his watch ended on the eve of the festival?

He should have shaved on the eve of the festival!

No, it is necessary when his watch ends during the festival.

Our tanna holds: Since we learned: “At three times

during the year all the watches were equal in the offerings of the festivals and in the distribution of the showbread.”—

it is considered as though his watch did not end during the festival.

But the external tanna holds,

that

even though he is included among those watches,

his watch has nevertheless ended for him.

The Sages taught: All those concerning whom they said that they are permitted to shave

on the intermediate days of the festival—

are permitted to shave during the days of their mourning.

And we challenged it:

But was it not taught: They are forbidden!

Rav Hisda said in the name of Rav Shila: When it was taught here that they are permitted—

it was in a case where successive mourning periods had befallen him.

And we challenged it:

If it is a case where successive mourning periods had befallen him, why particularly “

all those concerning whom they said”?

For

everyone else

also!

For it was taught: If successive mourning periods befell him, one after the other, and his hair became heavy—

he may trim it with a razor

, and he may wash his garment with water.

It was stated concerning it: Rav Hisda said: With a razor, but not with scissors; with water, but not with natron and not with ahal .

Rav Hisda said: This means that a mourner is forbidden to launder.

The Sages taught: Just as they said, “

It is forbidden to shave on the intermediate days of the festival”—

so it is forbidden to cut the fingernails on the intermediate days of the festival; these are the words of Rabbi Judah .

And Rabbi Yosei permits .

And just as they said, “

A mourner is forbidden to shave during the days of his mourning” —

so it is forbidden to cut the fingernails during the days of his mourning,

the words of Rabbi Judah .

And Rabbi Yosei permits it . Ulla said: The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda with regard to mourning, and the halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yosei with regard to the intermediate days of a Festival.

And Rabbi Yosei permits .

Ulla said: The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Judah concerning a mourner, and the halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yosei concerning the intermediate days of the festival.