Moed Katan 25a

מועד קטן כ״ה ע״א

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Topic

Tearing clothes and honoring the dead, especially a חכם, with stories of the funerals of רב ספרא, רב הונא and רב חסדא

Overview

The משנה taught that only relatives tear their clothes over a death. The גמרא narrows this step by step. Everyone tears for a חכם, everyone tears for an אדם כשר, and anyone present at the moment of death must tear. So the משנה covers only someone who was none of these, when the person was not there at the death. Then come stories that teach how to honor a חכם who died. אביי tells the חכמים to tear for רב ספרא at his הספד. רב חסדא directs רב הונא's funeral: no ספר תורה on the bier, out through the doorway, and on his first bier. רב הונא is eulogized and brought to ארץ ישראל, where the גמרא settles two ברייתות about honoring a coffin, and he is buried beside רבי חייא. The amud closes with רב חסדא's funeral and the start of the story of רבה בר הונא and רב המנונא, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (44)

1. ChallengeDoes the rule apply even to a Torah scholar?
2. ChallengeRereading the ברייתא: everyone is like a relative
3. ResolutionThe משנה is about someone who was not a scholar
4. ChallengeEven for an upright person, everyone must tear
5. ChallengeQuestioning the wording: is a pledge taken in advance?
6. ResolutionCorrected reading: because he did not mourn
7. ResolutionThe משנה is about someone who was not upright
8. ChallengeSomeone present at the moment of death must tear
9. ResolutionThe משנה is about someone not present at death
10. StatementThe חכמים did not tear for רב ספרא
11. Rejectionאביי: you tear for any חכם, and you did learn from him
12. RejectionIt is not too late while the הספד goes on
13. ConclusionTear at the time of the הספד, not right away
14. StatementWhen רב הונא died, they wanted to put a ספר תורה on his bier
15. Rejectionרב חסדא objects: don't do for him what he didn't hold of while alive
16. ProofProof from רב תחליפא: רב הונא would not sit on a bed with a ספר תורה on it
17. StatementThe bier won't fit through the door, so they plan to lower it from the roof
18. Rejectionרב חסדא: a חכם must be taken out through the doorway
19. StatementThey plan to move him onto a different bier
20. Rejectionרב חסדא: a חכם stays on the first bier
21. ProofSource from a פסוק: the ארון on a new cart
22. ConclusionThey break open the doorway and carry him out
23. Statementרבי אבא's הספד: רב הונא was worthy of the שכינה
24. ChallengeA נביא Who Prophesied in בבל
25. StatementHis Father Quiets Him
26. Resolutionיחזקאל Had Already Prophesied
27. Statement'רב הונא Is Coming!'
28. StatementWho Went Out to Meet the Coffin
29. ProofWhy some חכמים went out to meet the coffin
30. ProofWhy the other Sage did not go out
31. ChallengeThe two ברייתות contradict each other
32. ResolutionIt depends on whether the skeleton is intact
33. Resolutionרב הונא's skeleton was whole, but one Sage wasn't told
34. QuestionWhere should רב הונא be buried?
35. ResponseBury him next to רבי חייא
36. QuestionWho will bring him into the cave?
37. Responseרב חגא volunteers and explains why he is fit
38. Statementרב חגא brings רב הונא into the cave and a pillar of fire rises
39. ResolutionWhy Rav Chagga was not harmed
40. StatementAt רב חסדא's death, they plan to put a Torah scroll on his bier
41. Rejectionרבי יצחק rejects the ספר תורה plan
42. StatementThey plan not to baste their torn garments
43. Rejectionרבי יצחק בר אמי: for a חכם, one may baste once turning away from the bier
44. Statementרבה בר הונא and רב המנונא are brought to ארץ ישראל