Moed Katan 18a — the Talmud in English

Shmuel said: ![](pamud.bmp "

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the halakha is according to Rabbi Yosei

who permits removing his fingernails

on the Festival, and

permits removing his fingernails

during mourning.

And during mourning the halakha is according to him, because

Shmuel said: The halakha follows the words of the lenient one in mourning .

Pinḥas, the brother of Mar Shmuel, an incident befell him

that his relative died.

Then

entered

Shmuel

to his brother Pinḥas in order

to ask a reason from him,

to speak to his heart and comfort him.

He saw

Shmuel saw

the fingernails

of Pinḥas,

that they were long

for they were grown.

He said to him

Shmuel to Pinḥas:

Why did you not remove them?

Why did you not remove your fingernails?

He said to him

Pinḥas to Shmuel:

If with you [

with him, that is, with you]

there had been

mourning—

would you belittle it to such an extent

as to remove your fingernails during mourning?

It became

this statement of Pinḥas [Ecclesiastes 10]

like “

a blunder that issues from before the ruler,”

and an incident befell Shmuel

that his relative died.

Then

he entered to Shmuel,

Pinḥas his brother, to ask

a reason from him.

To comfort him.

He removed his fingernails,

Shmuel removed his fingernails,

struck them against his face,

and threw them away out of great anger. [But he then gathered them, because one who throws away his fingernails is called wicked. Rashi] .

He said to him

Shmuel to his brother Pinḥas: Why did you open your mouth to say, “If mourning had been with me,” and do you not have

“a covenant is made with the lips”!?

“A covenant is made with the lips”

for a person’s words come to pass. And so we find concerning Abraham our father.

For Rabbi Yoḥanan said: From where [do we know] that a covenant is made with the lips,

that a person’s words come to pass?

As it is stated [

Genesis 22] “

And Abraham said to his young men: Remain here with the donkey, while I and the lad will go as far as there, and we shall bow down and we shall return to you.”

And

indeed

the matter was assisted, for both of them returned,

and Isaac was not slaughtered .

They thought from it:

fingernails

of the hand—

yes,

those it is permitted to remove during his mourning because of their repulsiveness; but fingernails

of the foot—

no,

he may not remove them during his mourning, since there is no repulsiveness in them.

Rav Anan bar Taḥlifa said: It was explained to me personally by Shmuel: It makes no difference whether of the hand or whether of the foot

it is permitted to remove them during his mourning .

Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi said in the name of Rav: But with a genostera,

with scissors,

it is forbidden

to remove them, but only with his fingernails .

Rav Shaman bar Abba said: I was standing before Rabbi Yoḥanan in the house of study on the intermediate days of the Festival, and he removed his fingernails

and removed his fingernails

with his teeth, and threw them away.

Learn from it three things: Learn from it: It is permitted to remove fingernails on the intermediate days of the Festival .

And learn from it

from the fact that he removed them with his teeth, that

there is no repulsiveness in them.

And learn from it: It is permitted to throw them away.

And we challenge this:

Is that so? But it was taught in a baraitha: Three things were said concerning fingernails: One who buries them—

is righteous; one who burns them—

is pious

, one who throws them away—

is wicked.

And

what is the reason

that one who throws them away is called wicked? Because

perhaps a pregnant woman will pass over them and miscarry

her fetus, since there is a property in thrown fingernails that causes the fetus of a woman who passes over them to be miscarried .

If so, the question is difficult: How did we say that we learn from Rabbi Yoḥanan’s action that it is permitted to throw them away!?

And we answer:

A woman

in

the house of study is not commonly found.

Therefore, there it is permitted to throw them away .

And if you would say, sometimes they gather them

so that the fingernails will be collected from the floor of the house of study

and throw them outside,

and there is no concern for this, because

since it has changed

from the place where they were initially thrown—

it has changed,

and they no longer cause harm in the second place .

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: A pair came from Ḥamat

before Rabbi.

And Mar Zutra taught

this matter in a baraitha:

A pair came from Ḥamat before Rabbi.

And they asked him

to permit during mourning the removal of

fingernails—

and he permitted them .

And

I knew Rabbi’s opinion concerning shaving the mustache, that it is permitted to shave it during mourning. [And in the mustache there is no prohibition of shaving the corner of the beard, Rashi.] Therefore

if they asked him

to remove the

mustache—

he permitted them.

And Shmuel said: They also asked him

for permission to shave the

mustache [

the mustache],

and he permitted them.

Avitul the scribe said in the name of Rav:

It is permitted to shave during mourning

the mustache from one corner

of the mouth until

the corner

opposite it, since the hairs of the mustache interfere with eating and drinking and cause repulsiveness.

Rabbi Ami said: And with the mustache that interferes

with eating and drinking alone he permitted shaving, but not the entire mustache .

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: For me

since I am delicate in disposition—the entire mustache

like “

a mustache that interferes”

appears to me.

And Avitul the scribe said in the name of Rav: Pharaoh who lived in the days of Moses, he

his body, was of the length of

a cubit.

And his beard

was of the length of

a cubit.

And his sexual organ,

his cubit was of the length of

a cubit and a handbreadth.

To fulfill what is stated [

Daniel 4] “

And the lowliest of men—

He will establish over it.”

And Avitul the scribe said in the name of Rav: Pharaoh who lived in the days of Moses—

was a magus.

And in tractate Shabbat [75a], Rav and Shmuel disputed the meaning of “magus”: whether he was a sorcerer, or whether he was a heretic devoted to idolatry and one who constantly blasphemed.

As it is stated [

Exodus 7] “

Behold, he has gone out to the water.”

Etc.

His purpose in going out to the Nile was for sorcery, according to the one who says he was a sorcerer; or in order to insult and blaspheme, saying, “The Nile is mine and I made myself,” according to the one who says he was a blaspheming heretic.

We learned in the Mishna:

And these may wash clothes on the Festival —

one who comes from overseas.

Rav Asi said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: One who has only one garment—

is permitted

to

wash it on the intermediate days of the Festival.

Rabbi Yirmeya challenged

from our Mishna:

These may wash on the Festival: one who comes from overseas, etc.

And one should infer from here: only

these—

yes,

they are permitted to wash, but

one who has only one garment—

no,

he was not permitted to wash it!

Rabbi Yaakov said to Rabbi Yirmeya:

I will answer and

explain

and explain

to you

thus:

Our Mishna,

in which we learned “these may wash,” does not come to exclude washing by one who has only one garment.

Rather, its intention is to say that whoever they permitted to wash on the Festival,

even though he has two

garments,

and they have become soiled,

he is permitted to wash them.

And likewise, one who has only one garment is permitted to wash it on the Festival .

Rav Yitzhak bar Yaakov bar Giyori sent in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: linen garments,

whose way is to become soiled,

it is permitted to launder them during the intermediate days of the festival .