Moed Katan 27a — the Talmud in English

The Sages taught: One who goes from place to place ![](pamud.bmp "

exact page location")

if he can reduce his business

[business involving a lost matter. Tosafot]—

let him reduce it.

But if not,

as he cannot reduce it,

let him conduct it together with them .

He should not conduct his business by himself, but only in a group with others .

The Sages taught: From when does one overturn the beds?

From when he leaves the entrance of his house, the words of Rabbi Eliezer.

Rabbi Yehoshua says: From when the covering is sealed .

It happened that Rabban Gamaliel the Elder died,

and Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Eliezer instructed, each according to his view, when the bed is overturned:

Once he had left the entrance of his house—

Rabbi Eliezer said to them

to the disciples of Rabban Gamaliel the Elder:

Overturn your beds.

And once the covering was sealed—

Rabbi Yehoshua said to them: Overturn your beds.

They said to him,

the disciples of Rabban Gamaliel the Elder:

We have already overturned

our beds

according to

the instruction of

the Elder

[Rabbi Eliezer].

The Sages taught: From when does one set up the beds on Friday eve,

during the seven days of mourning?

From the afternoon prayer and onward.

Rabba bar Huna said: Even so,

although he sets it up from the afternoon prayer and onward,

he may not sit upon it until it becomes dark .

And on the conclusion of Shabbat, although he has no

mourner

to sit

after Shabbat

except

another

one day

alone—

he again overturns

it .

The Sages taught:

A mourner

who overturns his bed—

he overturns not only his bed, but all the beds that he has inside his house .

And even if he has ten beds in ten places—

he overturns them all .

And even

if there were

five brothers, and one died—

they all overturn .

And if there was a bed designated for utensils—

he need not overturn it .

A dargash,

which is a surface of leather straps upon wooden posts, as the Gemara will explain below—

he need not overturn it, but he sets it upright .

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: A dargash,

although it indeed need not be overturned, since it is nevertheless a bed,

he unties its straps,

the leather straps of the surface,

and it falls by itself .

And the Gemara explains:

What is a dargash?

Ulla said: A bed of good fortune.

For it serves as a bed for good fortune, and it is not used.

Rabba said to him: But if that is so, concerning a king, as we learned: All the people recline on the ground, while he reclines on the dargash .

Is there any matter concerning which until now we did not seat him—

and now we seat him?

Rav Ashi raised an objection to this: What is the difficulty?

It is just as it is with eating and drinking, for until now—

we did not feed him or give him drink, but now—

we feed him and give him drink!

Rather, if there is a difficulty—

this is the difficulty:

For it was taught: A dargash—

he need not overturn it, but he sets it upright .

And if it is a bed of good fortune—

why does he not need to overturn it?

And

was it not taught: One who overturns his bed—

he overturns not only his bed, but all the beds that he has inside his house!

And what is the difficulty?

It is just as it is with a bed designated for utensils.

For it was taught: If there was a bed designated for utensils—

he need not overturn it!

Rather, if there is a difficulty, this is the difficulty:

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: A dargash, he unties its straps,

the leather straps,

and it falls by itself.

And if it enters your mind that it is a bed of good fortune—

what straps does it have?

When Ravin came, a certain one of the Sages said to him—and Rav

Tahlifa from the West was his name, who was commonly found in the tanners’ market: What is a dargash—

a leather bed.

A bed made of leather .

It was also stated: Rabbi Yirmeya said: A dargash—

its weaving is from within; a bed—

its weaving is upon it.

Rabbi Yaakov bar Aha said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: The halakha is in accordance with Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.

And Rabbi Yaakov bar Aha said in the name of Rabbi Asi: A bed whose canopy posts

the wooden posts on its two sides

project

and protrude upward above the bed, and a pole is placed between them, with a curtain stretched over it—

he sets it upright

the bed,

and that is sufficient,

since it is impossible to overturn it completely and stand it upon its two canopy posts .

The Sages taught:

But a mourner who

sleeps upon a chair, upon a large udeyani, or upon the ground—

has not fulfilled

his obligation.

Rabbi Yohanan said:

Because he

did not fulfill the overturning of the bed .

The Sages taught: They sweep and sprinkle water in the mourner’s house, and they wash bowls, cups, saucers, and small pitchers in the mourner’s house

, and they do not bring incense or spices into the mourner’s house.

And we challenge this:

Is that so? But Bar Kappara taught: One does not recite a blessing either over incense or over spices in the mourner’s house.

And the Gemara infers: Only

reciting a blessing is what they do not do; but bringing them—

they do bring them!

And we answer:

It is not difficult:

This—

in the mourner’s house,

where they do not bring incense.

This—

in the house of the comforters,

that is, in the house where the dead person is, in order to remove the odor of the dead [according to Maimonides and the Shulchan Arukh. According to Rashi, it appears that the reading was different].

Mishna:

A. The Sages further enacted that

one may not bring

the foods that the neighbors send

to the house of the mourner for the “meal of recovery” [which they prepare for mourners upon their return from the burial], in a dignified vessel, even on the Festival.

for the mourner’s meal [which is given to mourners when they return from the burial], in an honorable vessel, even during the intermediate days of a Festival.

Not in a tabla,

an ornate tray,

nor in an askutla,

a silver or gold vessel,

nor in a kanon,

something like an ornate cylinder,

but

only

in baskets

made from the interweaving of peeled willow branches.

And they enacted this so as not to shame the poor, who come to receive the meal of recovery but do not have special vessels; and they decreed that all should send their foods for the meal of recovery in vessels found in everyone’s possession equally.

And one does not recite

when returning from the funeral procession

the blessing of mourners [

in tractate Ketubot 8b]

on the Festival.

But they stand

the escorts, after the burial of the dead person,

in a line,

even on the Festival,

and comfort

the mourners who pass before them.

And they dismiss the public

—they say to them: Go to your homes in peace.

B.

One may not leave

on the Festival

the bier

of the deceased

in the street

of the city in order to eulogize him, so as

not to accustom people to eulogizing.

So that they will not come to eulogize on the Festival, on which it is forbidden to eulogize.

Nor

do they leave in the street the bier

of women

ever,

even on weekdays,

out of respect,

and the matter will be explained in the Gemara [at the beginning of page 28a].

Gemara:

The Sages taught: At first,

before the enactment of the Sages stated in the Mishna,

they would bring

for the meal of recovery

at the house of the mourner,

each according to his ability:

The wealthy

would bring their portion

in kalatot,

vessels

of silver and of gold.

And

the

poor

would bring

in baskets of peeled willow branches.

And the poor would be ashamed

to come with their vessels among the wealthy, who carried ornate vessels.

Therefore

the Sages enacted

that

everyone should bring in baskets of peeled willow branches,

which are found in everyone’s possession,

out of respect for the poor.

The Sages taught: At first,

before the enactment of the Sages,

they would serve drinks in the house of the mourner,

according to the honor and ability of the mourners.

The wealthy

would serve drinks

in

cups

of clear glass, and the poor in colored glass.

And the poor would be ashamed.

The Sages enacted

that

everyone should serve drinks in colored glass, out of respect for the poor.

At first, they would uncover the faces of

the

rich dead, and cover the faces of

the

poor dead, because their faces would be blackened by

hunger when there was a

famine.

And

the

poor

who were alive

would be ashamed.

They enacted that they should cover everyone’s face, out of respect for the poor.

At first, they would take out

the

rich dead on a dargesh,

a bier made of leather straps that emerge from the wooden parts of the bier,

and

the

poor

dead they would take out

on a keliva,

a bier of the dead woven from simple ropes.