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Moed Katan 21a

מועד קטן כ״א ע״א

Learn Moed Katan 21a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Moed Katan 21a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Laws of the אבל: standing for קריעה, the ban on Torah learning and its exception for teaching the public, and when a mourner may wear תפילין

Overview

This amud opens by asking whether a mourner must stand when doing קריעה. A challenge comparing קריעה to חליצה is answered by looking at how each פסוק is worded. רמי בר חמא brings a proof from איוב, but the גמרא pushes back that איוב may have done more than he had to. A proof from דוד המלך meets the same pushback, until a ברייתא and the answer 'כעין ארצה' show that דוד only lay on his overturned bed, so that proof stands. The גמרא then lists what an אבל may not do, including all Torah learning. The exception is that he may teach if the public needs him, but without setting up his own תורגמן. Finally, רבי אליעזר and רבי יהושע argue about when an אבל may put on תפילין, and each side's פסוק is explained. עולא rules partly like each one, and the amud ends with a challenge to רבא that is answered on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֶלָּא מֵעַתָּה:

But now, if that is so:

״וְעָמַד וְאָמַר לֹא חָפַצְתִּי לְקַחְתָּהּ״,

"And he stands and says: I do not wish to take her,"

הָכָא נָמֵי?

here too [must he stand]?

וְהָא תַּנְיָא:

But isn't it taught in a ברייתא:

The steps (27)

  1. ChallengeChallenge from חליצה: does 'standing' in a verse really require standing?
  2. ResolutionThe answer: the wording of the two verses is different
  3. Statementרמי בר חמא: קריעה is done standing, learned from איוב
  4. RejectionPushback: maybe איוב did more than he had to
  5. ProofA new proof: דוד המלך stood and tore
  6. RejectionThe same pushback: maybe דוד also did extra
  7. RejectionA ברייתא shows lying on the ground is not required of a mourner
  8. Resolutionדוד was only close to the ground, on his overturned bed
  9. StatementWhat a mourner may not do, and the exception for teaching the public
  10. Proofרבי יוסי taught all day after his son died
  11. Statementרבה בר בר חנה is told to give his lecture while mourning
  12. ConclusionA mourner may teach, but without a תורגמן
  13. QuestionSo how can a mourner be heard?
  14. ResponseThe whisper chain of רבי יהודה בר אילעאי
  15. StatementWhen may a mourner put on תפילין?
  16. Statementרבי אליעזר's source: the days of mourning for משה
  17. Statementרבי יהושע's source: 'a bitter day'
  18. ChallengeWhat does רבי יהושע do with the 'days' of mourning for משה?
  19. Resolutionמשה was different
  20. ChallengeWhat does רבי אליעזר do with 'a bitter day'?
  21. ResolutionThe sharpest bitterness is one day
  22. Statementעולא rules partly like each תנא
  23. QuestionDoes the אבל take off his תפילין on the second day?
  24. Responseעולא said he removes them even a hundred times
  25. ProofA ברייתא says the same thing
  26. Statementרבא: once he puts them on, he does not take them off
  27. ChallengeChallenge: רבא himself ruled like the three-day opinion