Berachos 19b

ברכות י״ט ע״ב

Berakhot 19b

Learn Berachos 19b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Berachos 19b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

כבוד הבריות vs. Torah law: the consolers' row, כלאים in public, and the sources that seem to let honor override prohibitions

Overview

The גמרא first explains the משנה's rule about consolers standing in a row (שורה), who are exempt from קריאת שמע. A ברייתא gives two tests. The תנא קמא asks whether the row can see the mourners, and רבי יהודה asks whether the people came for the mourner's sake. The גמרא then asks a wider question: does כבוד הבריות push aside Torah law? רב rules that someone who finds כלאים on his clothes must take them off even in the market, because 'there is no wisdom against ה׳'. Wherever there is חילול השם, we do not give honor even to a רב. The גמרא tests this rule against three sources. Walking a טמא path for a mourner is explained as a בית הפרס, which is only rabbinic. כהנים jumping over coffins to greet kings broke only a rabbinic decree. The ברייתא saying dignity overrides a 'Torah prohibition' really means rabbinic laws, which lean on לא תסור. The lost-object case is a real Torah exception, but it is about money, so it cannot teach rules about איסור. Finally, the גמרא begins a ברייתא about a נזיר and a מת מצוה, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (22)

1. StatementWhich row of consolers is exempt from קריאת שמע
2. Statementרבי יהודה: it depends on why they came
3. StatementFinding כלאים on your clothes in public
4. ProofThe source: no wisdom against ה׳
5. ChallengeChallenge: walking on an impure path for a mourner's honor
6. Resolutionרבי אבא: the path is only impure מדרבנן
7. ProofProof that בית הפרס is only a rabbinic impurity
8. Challengeכהנים jumping over coffins to greet kings
9. Resolutionרבא's rule: a handbreadth of space blocks impurity
10. ResolutionThe ban is rabbinic, and kings' honor sets it aside
11. ChallengeA ברייתא says dignity overrides a Torah prohibition
12. Resolutionרב בר שבא says the ברייתא means the prohibition of לא תסור
13. ChallengeThe students laugh: לא תסור is also a Torah law
14. Resolutionרב כהנא explains: the ברייתא really means rabbinic rules
15. ProofA new source: sometimes you may ignore a lost object
16. ProofWhen you may ignore a lost object
17. ChallengeWhy doesn't 'no counsel against ה׳' apply here?
18. ResolutionThe Torah itself made this exception
19. ChallengeCan we learn a general rule from this?
20. ResolutionMoney laws can't teach prohibition laws
21. ProofNew proof: the נזיר and 'his sister'
22. ProofThe verse limits the ban to relatives, not a body with no one to bury it