Moed Katan 25b

מועד קטן כ״ה ע״ב

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Topic

Famous הספדים and signs of mourning at the deaths of great חכמים

Overview

The גמרא finishes the story of רבה בר הונא and רב המנונא, whose coffins were carried on camels. At a narrow bridge the camels stop, as if each rabbi is giving the other the honor of going first. An Arab who ranks one rabbi above the other is punished, and a child then gives a poetic הספד for the two rabbis. Next come famous הספדים: for רבינא, and the words בר קיפוק and בר אבין planned for him, which hurt רב אשי and brought a punishment on them. After a prayer by בר אבין at the river and a memory list of names, the גמרא tells of the הספדים for רבי חנין, רבי יוחנן and רבי זירא. Along the way it rules that a student mourns even his teacher for only one day. It then lists signs in nature that appeared when great sages died. At the end it introduces a new ברייתא, returning to the הלכות of mourning.

Opening lines

The steps (29)

1. StatementThe camels stop at the bridge
2. QuestionAn Arab asks what is going on
3. ResponseThe rabbis are honoring each other
4. StatementThe Arab decides who goes first
5. ConclusionThe Arab is punished
6. StatementA child's eulogy, part one: the rabbis came from בבל
7. StatementA child's eulogy, part two: Heaven rejoices
8. StatementThe eulogy for רבינא
9. Questionרב אשי asks בר קיפוק what he will say
10. Responseבר קיפוק's three pictures of loss
11. Rejectionבר אבין rejects the hook-and-flame wording
12. QuestionWhat would you say instead?
13. ResponseCry for the mourners, not for the one who left
14. StatementThe eulogizers are punished and cannot attend
15. Statementרב אשי's saying about חליצה
16. Statementרבא asks בר אבין to speak at the river
17. Statementבר אבין's prayer on the water
18. StatementA memory aid for the next stories
19. Statementרבי חנין dies on the day his son is born
20. StatementThe eulogy for רבי חנין and naming his son
21. Statementרבי יוחנן's death is like the sun setting at noon
22. StatementThe פסוק refers to the day of King יאשיהו
23. Statementרבי אמי mourns רבי יוחנן for seven and thirty days
24. Statementרבי אמי's mourning was a personal choice
25. ProofOne mourns even one's teacher for only one day
26. StatementThe eulogy for רבי זירא: born in בבל, raised in ארץ ישראל
27. StatementSigns at the deaths of the sages of ארץ ישראל
28. StatementSigns at the deaths of more sages, mostly of בבל
29. StatementIntroducing a new ברייתא