Moed Katan 26b

מועד קטן כ״ו ע״ב

Learn Moed Katan 26b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The laws of קריעה (tearing for a death): mending, size, location, adding onto a tear, special cases, and the mourner's meal

Overview

This amud is mostly about קריעה, tearing one's garment for a death. It first explains which sewing counts as real mending (only the fine 'Alexandrian' kind) and which stitched spots on a garment a valid tear may be made over. It then covers whether a torn garment may be turned over and mended, and teaches that a buyer is bound by the same ban on mending as the seller. Next it records how long the first tear and an added tear must be, and עולא rules on that. It explains which part of a shared tear may be mended when a father and a son die one after the other. רבי יהודה בן בתירה requires a separate tear for parents, and שמואל rules like him, because קריעה is separate from אבילות. The amud then teaches how far down a tear may go and where to tear once the garment is full. A disagreement follows over whether a second death needs a new tear within seven days or within thirty days, and רבי זירא challenges both views. After more rules about borrowed cloaks, sick relatives, children and in-laws, the amud turns to the mourner's meal on upright or overturned beds, with a story about רבא. It ends by opening a ברייתא about a traveler, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (36)

1. ConclusionThe mending being discussed is Alexandrian mending
2. StatementTearing over stitched spots: when it counts and when it doesn't
3. Statementרב חסדא: only Alexandrian mending counts as whole
4. StatementOne may turn the garment upside down and mend it
5. Statementרבי שמעון בן אלעזר forbids mending even after turning it
6. StatementThe buyer may not mend it either, so the seller must tell him
7. Statementרבי מאיר: a first tear of a טפח, an addition of three fingers
8. Statementרבי יהודה: a first tear of three fingers, an addition of any amount
9. Conclusionעולא rules on the size of the first tear and of an added tear
10. ProofA teaching of רבי יוסי supports עולא's split ruling
11. StatementFather died first, then son: the father's part may never be mended
12. StatementSon died first, then father: the rule flips
13. StatementNews of several deaths at once: one tear for all
14. Statementרבי יהודה בן בתירה: parents need their own separate tear
15. QuestionWhy can't you add onto a parent's tear?
16. ResponseBecause a parent's tear is not subject to additions
17. Statementשמואל rules like רבי יהודה בן בתירה
18. ChallengeDoesn't שמואל always follow the lenient view in mourning?
19. ResolutionMourning and tearing are separate areas
20. StatementHow far may the tear go?
21. ProofA hint from the פסוק: "rend your hearts"
22. StatementWhat to do when the limit is reached or the garment is full
23. StatementA tear at the bottom or sides does not count, except for a כהן גדול
24. StatementNew tear or added tear: seven days versus thirty days
25. Challengeרבי זירא challenges the seven-day view from a woman's tear
26. ResolutionA woman's basting is only for her dignity
27. Challengeרבי זירא challenges the thirty-day view from a parent's tear
28. ResolutionThe father-and-mother tear stays open only out of honor
29. StatementWearing an old tear before the dead is deception
30. StatementTearing a borrowed cloak when one's father dies
31. StatementShielding a sick person from news of a death
32. StatementTearing for a child and for in-laws
33. StatementA mourner should not hold a small child on his lap
34. StatementUpright or overturned beds at the mourner's meal
35. Statementרבא and a visitor who acted too familiar
36. StatementA new teaching about someone who is traveling