Moed Katan 21b — the Talmud in English

And we explain:

the mitzva

of laying tefillin

is different,

for it must be fulfilled on the second day.

The Sages taught: During the first three days, a mourner —

is forbidden to perform work.

And even

if he

is a poor man supported by charity .

From then onward —

he performs

work

privately, inside his house .

And the woman,

when she is a mourner, is permitted to be

spinning with a spindle inside her house .

The Sages taught: During the first three days, a mourner —

does not go to the mourner's house

of another in order to comfort him.

From then onward —

he goes

. And

the hall,

he does not sit in the place of the comforters, but in the place of those being comforted,

near the other mourners whom he came to comfort.

The Sages taught: During the first three days, a mourner —

is forbidden to ask about

the

peace of another.

From three until seven —

he returns

a greeting of peace to one who asks about his peace,

but he does not ask

about the peace of others.

From then onward —

he asks and returns greetings in his usual manner .

And we are astonished: Is it so that during

the first three days it is forbidden for

the mourner

to ask about

the

peace of another?

But it was taught: It once happened, and the sons of Rabbi Akiva died.

All Israel entered and eulogized them with a great eulogy.

At the time of their death, Rabbi Akiva stood upon a large bench and said: Our brothers, House of Israel, hear!

Even if

there had died for me

two sons

when they were

bridegrooms —

then

he is comforted [A0084]

[Rabbi Akiva]

because of

because of the

honor

the great

that you performed

for me in the great eulogy that you made for them.

And if you came because of

the honor of

Akiva

alone,

you came, behold, how many

and how many people named

Akiva

are found

in the marketplace,

yet you did not go to engage in eulogizing their son, and you did not go to comfort them.

Rather,

you came for the honor of the Torah that I studied. For

thus you said [Psalms 37]:

«

“His God's Torah is in his heart,”

and therefore his Torah must be honored.

And all the more so, your reward is doubled,

for the comforting and for the honor of the Torah.

And now,

go to your houses in peace .

And it is proven that he blessed them with a greeting of peace, despite the fact that he was a mourner!

And we explain: The honor of the public is different.

We learned in a beraita:

From three until seven —

he returns a greeting and does not ask.

From then onward —

he asks and returns a greeting in his usual manner.

And we raise a contradiction

from a beraita in which it is stated that throughout all thirty days he does not ask about another's peace:

For it was taught:

One who encounters his fellow as a mourner, within thirty days —

he speaks with him words of consolation, but does not ask about his peace.

After thirty days —

he asks about his peace, but does not speak with him words of consolation.

If his wife died and he married another woman [A0136] [and he is permitted to marry a woman when he has no children] —

[and he is permitted to marry when he has no children] —

he is not permitted

[another person]

to enter his house

of the mourner

to speak with him words of consolation,

because of the honor of his new wife, so that her mind should not be weakened when she sees people comforting her husband over the death of his previous wife.

If he encountered

his fellow

in the marketplace,

after he married a woman within thirty days —

his fellow says to him

words of consolation

with restrained speech and a solemn bearing .

And it is proven that it is forbidden to ask about the mourner's peace within thirty days, and all the more so that the mourner himself is forbidden to ask about the peace of another person!?

And we explain: Rav Idi bar Avin said:

The first beraita, which says “from then onward he asks,” means that

he asks about the peace of others —

because

others are dwelling in peace.

But the intention of the second beraita, which says “within thirty days he does not ask about his peace,” is to say that

others do not ask about his peace,

the mourner's, throughout all thirty days — because

he is not dwelling in peace.

And we challenge this:

But from the fact that it teaches

in the first beraita

“he returns”

after three days —

by inference

that others too

ask him

about his peace!

And we explain: The beraita said that he returns a greeting; this refers to those

who do not know

that he is a mourner. But those who know of his mourning should not ask him about his peace.

And we challenge this:

If so,

that you established it as referring to people who do not know that he is a mourner,

there too,

within the first three days, if people who do not know of his mourning ask about his peace, should he not return the greeting to them!?

And we explain:

There,

during the first three days,

he informs them

that he is a mourner,

and he does not return to them,

and he does not return peace to their hearts.

Whereas

here,

after three days,

he does not need to inform them

that he is a mourner, but he may return their greeting.

And we raise a contradiction

from another beraita:

One who encounters his fellow as a mourner, within twelve months —

he speaks with him words of consolation, but does not ask about his peace.

After twelve months —

he asks about his peace, but does not speak with him words of consolation

directly.

But he speaks with him

words of consolation

indirectly,

in an indirect manner .

Rabbi Meir said: One who encounters his fellow as a mourner after twelve months and speaks with him words of consolation, to what is he comparable —

to a person whose leg was broken and healed. A doctor encountered him and said to him: Come along

come now

to me, for I will break it and heal it, so that you will know that my medicines are good.

And it is proven from this beraita that one should not ask a mourner about his peace even after thirty days, until twelve months, and this is difficult against what we learned in the beraita, that it is permitted after thirty days!? And we explain:

It is not difficult.

This

where it is forbidden to ask about his peace throughout twelve months refers

to

mourning for

his father and mother .

This

where it is permitted to ask about his peace after thirty days refers

to

mourning for

other relatives.

And we consider this:

There too,

in mourning for other relatives, why after thirty days should he not speak with him words of consolation at all?

Let him speak with him words of consolation indirectly,

as he speaks indirectly concerning his father and mother after twelve months?

And we explain:

Yes, indeed,

with regard to other relatives, after thirty days he speaks indirectly.

And what is the meaning of “after thirty days

he does not speak with him words of consolation” —

in his usual manner,

in the manner of consolation.

But he speaks with him indirectly.

The Sages taught: A mourner,

who did not begin observing the seven-day mourning with the other mourners, but arrived afterward, within

the first three days:

If he

comes from a nearby place —

he counts with them,

with the other mourners, the count of the seven days, since, because he came from a nearby place, he is considered as though he began sitting with the other mourners .

But if he

comes from a distant place —

he counts

seven

for himself,

from the day on which he began to sit.

From then onward,

if he came after the third day,

even if he came from a nearby place —

he counts for himself

seven days.

Rabbi Shimon says: Even if he came on the seventh day from a nearby place —

he counts with them.

The master said: During the first three days, if he came from a nearby place —

he counts with them.

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yohanan said: And this is when there is

“the head of the household”

in the house,

for then the younger mourner joins the count of the mourner older than him. But if the greatest of the mourners was not in the house, and he arrived after those younger than him had sat for seven days, their count does not count for him, and he must count seven days from the time he sat down .