Moed Katan 25a — the Talmud in English

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna that one tears for the dead only his relatives.

And we raised this:

and

even

if

the deceased was

a sage,

one tears for him only his relatives?

And it was taught in a beraita: When a sage dies—

everyone is his relative.

And there is room to wonder about the wording of the beraita: Is it conceivable

that everyone

is

his relative,

of a sage?

Would it enter your mind

to say so?

Rather,

this is what the beraita intends to say:

everyone

is considered

as his relative—

everyone tears for him, everyone bares the shoulder for him, and everyone prepares for him the mourners’ meal in the public square!

And since everyone is considered his relative, and everyone must tear for him, why does the Mishna say that one tears for him only the relatives of the deceased!?

And we answer:

It is necessary;

our Mishna speaks of a deceased person

who is not a sage.

We raised another question:

And if he is a proper person,

is each person obligated

to

tear.

As it was taught: Why do a person’s sons and daughters die when they are young?—

So that he will weep and mourn over a proper person .

And we were astonished: Is it so that, in order that

And we wonder: Is it

so that he will weep and mourn

over a proper person in the future that a person’s sons die? Is it

a pledge that He takes from him,

that they take a pledge from him in advance for this!?

Rather, this is what should be said: A person’s young sons die

because he did not weep and mourn over a

proper person

.

For anyone who weeps and mourns over a proper person—

they forgive him all his sins, because of the honor that he showed him.

And we answer: Our Mishna speaks of a deceased person

who is not a proper person.

And we raised another question:

If he was standing there,

if a person who is not a relative of the deceased is standing there

at the time of the departure of the soul—

he is obligated

also to tear, despite his not being a relative of the deceased. And why does the Mishna say that only his relatives tear!?

As it was taught: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: One who stands over the dead at the time of the departure of the soul—

is obligated to tear. To what is this comparable?—

To a Torah scroll that was burned, for which one is obligated to tear

when he sees it being torn .

And we answer: Our Mishna speaks of a case such as

where no one is standing there,

where a person who is not a relative of the deceased is not standing there

at the time of the departure of the soul.

When Rav Safra’s soul departed, the Sages did not tear for him.

They said: We did not learn

Torah

from him,

from him .

Abaye said to them: Was it taught “

When a teacher dies,

everyone is like his relative”?

Behold,

“When a sage dies,

everyone is like his relative”

was taught.

And furthermore,

behold,

every day his teachings

the teachings of Rav Safra are recited

in our mouths,

in our mouths when we study

in the study hall.

And it turns out that we learn from him, even if we are not his direct students .

They thought,

the Sages thought that there was no remedy for their failure to tear, for

what has happened—

has happened.

And it is impossible to tear after the passage of time.

Abaye said to them: We learned: For a sage, as long as they are engaged in eulogizing him—

they are obligated to tear

for him.

They thought of tearing immediately,

without a eulogy.

Abaye said to them: It was taught: A sage—

his honor is in his eulogy,

and you should wait to tear until the time of the eulogy .

When Rav Huna’s soul departed, they thought of placing

putting a

Torah scroll on his bed,

in order to say about him, “This one fulfilled what is written in this one.”

Rav Ḥisda said to them: A matter

a thing

that during his life

during Rav Huna’s life

he did not hold,

he held that this should not be done—should

now

at this time

we arise to do it for him,

shall we arise and do for him something that he himself held should not be done!?

For Rav Taḥlifa said: I saw him,

I saw

Rav Huna, who wished to sit on a bed,

who wished to sit on a bed,

and a Torah scroll was placed upon it.

And he overturned a jug onto the ground,

Rav Huna turned a jug upside down,

and placed

and placed the

Torah scroll upon it,

upon it, because he held that it is forbidden to sit on a bed upon which a Torah scroll is placed .

Apparently, he holds,

Rav Huna,

that it is forbidden to sit upon a bed upon which a Torah scroll is placed.

The bed did not go out through the gate.

The bed did not pass through the gate.

They thought of lowering it through the roofs.

Rav Ḥisda said to them: This I learned from him: A sage—

his honor

is that they should take out his bed

through an entrance.

They thought of changing,

of transferring him

from the wide bed

from the broad bed upon which he had been lying

to a bed

that was narrow.

Rav Ḥisda said to them: This is how I learned it from him: A sage—

his honor

is that they should take him out

on the first bed

that they placed him upon.

For Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: From where is it derived that a sage’s honor is on the first bed?—

As it is stated [

II Samuel 6], “

And they placed the Ark of God upon a new cart” .

Open the gate,

widen the gate,

and take it out.

Rabbi Abba began the eulogy for him: Our master was worthy that the Divine Presence should rest upon him, but Babylonia caused it for him

not to rest upon him.

Rav Naḥman bar Ḥisda objected, and some say Rav Ḥanan bar Ḥisda:

Behold, it is written in the Book of Ezekiel [chapter 1],

“

And it is proven that the Divine Presence also rests in Babylonia!?

His father tapped him with his sandal. He said to him:

Is it

not what I said,

did I not tell

you, ‘Do not disturb the world’

with questions?

What is “

came

the word of the Lord”?

That it had already come,

that the Divine Presence had rested upon him when he was in the Land of Israel .

When they brought him up there, they said to Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi: Rav Huna is coming.

And they understood that he was arriving alive, because they had not told them of his death.

They said,

Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi:

When we were there,

in Babylonia,

we were unable to raise our heads from before him.

We could not raise our heads because of his greatness—and

now that we have come here,

now that we have come to the Land of Israel,

he has come after us,

he has come after us?

They said to them: His coffin has come!

Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi went out

to accompany it.

Rabbi Ila and Rabbi Ḥanina did not go out.

Some say: Rabbi Ila went out, and Rabbi Ḥanina did not go out.

The one who went out—

what is his reason?

For it was taught: A coffin being transported from place to place—

they stand before it in a row, and they recite over it the blessing of mourners and the consolation of mourners .

The one who did not go out—

what is the reason?

For it was taught: A coffin being transported from place to place—

they do not stand before it in a row, and they do not recite over it the blessing of mourners or the consolation of mourners.

They contradict one another!

It is not difficult.

Here—

where his skeleton remains.

Here—

where his skeleton does not remain.

And Rav Huna—

his skeleton remained.

And this one

who did not go out—

they did not finish explaining to him

that his skeleton remained.

They said: Where shall we place him,

in whose grave?

Rav Huna disseminated Torah in Israel, and Rabbi Ḥiyya was one who disseminated Torah in Israel.

And Rav Huna’s place was beside Rabbi Ḥiyya.

They said:

Who will bring him in,

to bury him beside Rabbi Ḥiyya?

Rav Ḥagga said to them: I will bring him in, for I established my learning when I was eighteen years old, and he never saw a seminal emission from me.

And I would make it heard before him,

I would make teachings heard before Rav Huna,

and I knew his deeds.

And I recognized his great deeds, such as:

One day the strap of the tefillin was reversed,

so that the black side was toward his body,

and he sat over it for forty fasts .

He brought him in

Rav Haga to bury him.

Was lying

he was lying there in the burial cave,

Judah

son of Rabbi Hiyya

to the right of his father, and Hezekiah

his son

to his left.

Judah said to Hezekiah: Rise from your place, for it is not proper that Rav Huna be standing

for Rav Huna was standing .

While he was standing

Judah—

a pillar of fire stood together with him.

Rav Haga saw him; if you wish,

he was frightened by the pillar of fire,

he raised it

he stood up

his coffin

of Rav Huna, so that it would separate between him and the pillar of fire and it would not harm him,

and he went out and came.

And this that he was not punished

Rav Haga, who succeeded in being saved from the pillar of fire, was only—

because he raised the coffin of Rav Huna

so that it would separate between them.

When Rav Hisda died, they thought of placing a Torah scroll on his bed,

to place a Torah scroll on his bier.

Rabbi Yitzhak said to them: A matter that his teacher does not hold, shall we arise and do it for him!?

They thought not to close up their rents

over him.

Rabbi Yitzhak bar Ami said to them: In the case of a Sage, once they have turned their faces away from the bier—

they close them up .

When Rabba bar Huna and Rav Hamnuna died—

they brought them up there,

to the Land of Israel.

to the Land of Israel.