Moed Katan 25b (כה:) — the Talmud in English

When they arrived

at the place where they needed to cross

the bridge

a narrow bridge, on which it was impossible for two camels to pass side by side, but only in a single-file line, one after the other,

the camels stopped,

the camels carrying the biers stood still and did not want to continue on their way onto the bridge.

He said to them,

he asked them,

that Ishmaelite merchant

:

What is this,

what happened to these camels that they are not continuing on their way?

They said to him:

The camels stopped because of

the Sages,

Rabba bar Rav Huna and Rav Hamnuna, who had died,

as each was honoring the other,

each honoring the other by allowing him to go first and cross the bridge, and consequently the camels were prevented from proceeding.

One said: Let my master enter first, and

on the other hand,

the other said: Let my master enter first. .

Said

that Ishmaelite merchant:

It is the law that Rabba bar Huna should enter first.

The camel of

passed

Rabba bar Huna

first.

And the Ishmaelite merchant was punished for slighting Rav Hamnuna.

Therefore:

fell out

the

cheek teeth

of

and two

his teeth

of that Ishmaelite merchant.

A

began delivering a eulogy

for them,

for the arrival of the biers of Rabba bar Rav Huna and Rav Hamnuna,

that young boy,

and said:

The stock of the aged

[Rabba bar Rav Huna, who came from an illustrious stock, being the son of Rav Huna, who had been the exilarch, and he was even greater than the Nasi in Eretz Yisrael]

ascended from Babylonia, and with him

also ascended Rav Hamnuna, who was called

“The Book of Wars,”

which is a designation for a Torah scroll. “

The desert owl and the porcupine”

[an expression of a curse, referring to ruin and desolation, where only the desert owl and the porcupine roam]

were doubled

by the deaths of Rabba bar Rav Huna and Rav Hamnuna.

And the Holy One, blessed be He, did this in order

to see

to display

through the plunder the plunder and ruin that would come from Shinar.

The Holy One, blessed be He, showed that

He had become angry with His world and robbed it of souls.

And He rejoiced

the Holy One, blessed be He,

in them,

in the souls that He had robbed from His world and brought to Him,

like

a groom rejoices in his

bride,

the

new

one.

For the Holy One, blessed be He,

who rides upon the highest heavens, rejoices and delights when a soul

of a person who is

pure and righteous

departs, that certain

eulogist began his eulogy:

Even the

palm trees nodded their heads for the righteous one

who blossomed

like a palm tree.

But we

will turn nights into days

in eulogizing

over

Ravina, who

turned nights into days,

studying Torah at night as well.

He said to

asked

Rav Ashi of bar Kipok

the eulogist:

On that day

when I depart from the world—

what will you say,

how will you eulogize me?

He said to him: I will say,

I will say this:

If a flame has fallen upon cedars—

what shall the mosses on the wall do!?

If

the Leviathan has been caught on a hook—

what shall the small fish do!?

If

a hook has fallen into a raging stream—

what shall the waters of pools do,

said bar Avin

the eulogist to bar Kipok, the eulogist:

Heaven forbid that I should say “

hook and flame”

of the righteous

I did not say this with regard to righteous people.

And what will you say?

I will say

the following:

Weep for the mourners and not for what has been lost.

Since

she

is going

to rest, while

whereas

we

remain

to sigh.

Rav Ashi’s spirits were dampened

by

them,

because of the statements of the two eulogists, one of whom compared him to a flame and the other to something lost,

and

as punishment for causing Rav Ashi’s spirits to be dampened,

their legs were twisted

of the two eulogists.

And since a mishap occurred to them through him,

on that day

that Rav Ashi died—

they did not come

the two eulogists

to eulogize him!

And this is what Rav Ashi said: Neither bar Kipok can perform halitza, nor can bar Avin perform halitza

with his yevama, because one whose leg has been twisted cannot perform halitza.

When Rava would come to the Tigris, he would say to bar Avin: Arise and say something.

Bar Avin would stand

and

say: The greater part of the third

[the Jewish people are called “the third,” and Rava was as important as the majority of the Jewish people]

has come in the waters:

Upon us:

Remember and have mercy! We have strayed from You like a woman

who goes astray

from her husband; do not abandon us like the waters of bitterness

with which a woman suspected of adultery is tested.

Hanin, Yohanan, Zeira, Abba, Yaakov, Yosei, Shmuel, Hiyya, Menahem—

a mnemonic. .

Rabbi Hanin was the son-in-law of the Nasi’s household. He had no children; he prayed for mercy, and he had a child. On the very day that he had

a

son, he died.

That eulogist began his eulogy for him: Joy has been turned into grief, gladness and sorrow have become joined; at the time of his joy he sighs, at the time of his joy

the birth of the child,

his gracious one has been lost,

his father.

They called

him

Hanan, after his name.

When Rabbi Yohanan died, Rabbi

Yitzhak ben Elazar began his eulogy for him: Difficult is the day for Israel like the day when the sun comes out at noon. As it is written

[Amos 8]: “

And it shall come to pass on that day that I will make the sun set at noon.”

And Rabbi Yohanan said: This is the day of Josiah.

When Rabbi Yohanan died, Rabbi Ami sat in mourning for seven and thirty days.

Rabbi Abba, son of Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba, said: What Rabbi Ami did—

he did for himself.

For this is what Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Even for one’s teacher who taught him wisdom—

one sits in mourning for only one day.

When Rabbi Zeira died,

who had been born in Babylonia and raised in Eretz Yisrael:

That eulogist began his eulogy for him: The land of Shinar conceived and gave birth,

to Rabbi Zeira.

The land of the deer

Eretz Yisrael

raised her delight.

Woe to her, said Rakkath

[Tiberias],

for she has lost her precious vessel.

When Rabbi Abbahu died, they brought down

lowered

the pillars of Caesarea’s water,

tears.

For Rabbi Yosei—

the gutters of Sepphoris flowed with blood (364\\) .

For Rabbi Yaakov—

they appeared

were seen

as stars by day. .

For Rabbi Asi—

all the trees were uprooted.

For Rabbi Hiyya—

stones

of

fire

came down

from the sky.

For Rabbi Menahem, son of Rabbi Simai—

the

faces of

the images

melted,

and became flat,

and the figures stamped on the silver coins also became flattened.

For Rabbi Tanḥum bar Hiyya—

all the statues were cut down.

For Rabbi Elishiv—

seventy tunnels were dug

were excavated

in Nehardea.

For by his merit there had been no thieves there during his lifetime.

For Rav Hamnuna—

stones of hail came down

stones

from the sky.

For Rabba and Rav Yosef—

the stones of the Euphrates clashed with one another.

For Abaye and Rava—

the stones

the arches of the bridges

of the

river

Tigris clashed with one another,

as the bridges broke and their parts struck one another. .

When Rav Mesharsheya died—

date palms bore

thorns instead of dates.