Moed Katan 29a — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Hanina said: The departure of the soul from the body is difficult ![](pamud.bmp "

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like the birds of Tzippori:

like the removal of a sailors’ rope that has a knot in its thickness, which is stuck

in the mouth of the

esophagus,

inside the mast of the ship, and it is very difficult to pull the rope out of the mast because of the knot in its thickness.

Rabbi Yohanan said: Like פטירי,

like a wider knot, with which two ships are tied, one to the other, which is placed

in the mouth of the esophagus,

and which is more difficult to remove from the mast.

And Rabbi Levi bar Haita said: One who takes leave of the dead should not say to him “

Go to peace,”

but

he should say to him “

Go in peace.”

And conversely,

one who takes leave

who parts

from

a person

who is alive should not say to him “

Go in peace,”

but “

Go to peace.”

And the Gemara explains the distinction:

One who takes leave of the dead should not say to him “

Go to peace,”

but “

Go in peace” —

as

it is said

to Abraham our forefather: “

And you shall come to your fathers in peace,”

you shall be buried at a good old age.

One who takes leave

who parts

from

a

living person —

should not say to him “

Go in peace,”

but [Exodus 4]

“

Go to peace.”

For David, who said to Absalom [II Samuel 15] “

[II Samuel 15] “

Go in peace” —

he went

Absalom

and was hanged

on a branch of a tree!

But

Jethro, who said to Moses [Exodus 4] “

[Exodus 4] “

Go to peace” —

he went

Moses to Egypt,

and succeeded!

And Rabbi Levi said: Whoever leaves the synagogue

after the prayer

for the beit-midrash,

to study,

and

so too everyone who leaves

the beit-midrash for the synagogue

in order to pray after his study, who goes from strength to strength, since from prayer he continues to Torah, and from Torah he continues to prayer —

merits to receive the presence of the Shekhinah.

As it is said [Psalms 84] “

“

They go,”

those who go

from strength to strength —

they will merit to

appear before God in Zion.”

Rav Hiyya bar Ashi said in the name of Rav: Torah scholars have no rest even in the World to Come.

As it is said “

They go from strength to strength —

they appear before God in Zion!”

We shall return to you, chapter “And These Are the Ones Who May Shave,” and the tractate Moed Katan is completed