Moed Katan 27a

מועד קטן כ״ז ע״א

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Topic

Mourning practices: overturning beds, the דרגש, the mourner's house, and funeral rules for the honor of the poor

Overview

This amud first finishes a ruling about an אבל who must keep doing business. It then turns to כפיית המטה, overturning the beds during mourning. רבי אליעזר says the beds are overturned when the body leaves the house, while רבי יהושע says it happens when the grave is closed. Further ברייתות teach that the beds are stood up before שבת, are overturned again on מוצאי שבת, and that every bed a mourner owns is overturned, apart from special cases like a storage bed and a דרגש. The גמרא works hard to define a דרגש. It finally explains it as a leather bed with loosenable straps and rules like רבן שמעון בן גמליאל. A mourner who sleeps on the floor instead has not fulfilled the obligation. Next comes a ברייתא about cleaning and spices in a בית האבל. A new משנה then gives funeral rules for חול המועד. The גמרא explains these with a series of תקנות that made rich and poor do the same thing מפני כבודן של עניים, and the last of these continues onto the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (31)

1. StatementA mourner's business: cut back if he can
2. StatementWhen do mourners begin overturning their beds?
3. ProofThe story of רבן גמליאל הזקן's funeral
4. StatementStanding the beds back up on ערב שבת
5. StatementWait until dark to sit on the bed
6. StatementOverturning the bed again after שבת
7. StatementA mourner overturns all of his beds
8. StatementExceptions: a storage bed and a דרגש
9. QuestionWhat is a דרגש?
10. Responseעולא: a good-luck bed
11. Challengeרבה challenges עולא from the king in mourning
12. Rejectionרב אשי rejects רבה's challenge using the mourner's meal
13. ChallengeWhy isn't the good-luck bed overturned like every bed?
14. RejectionNot a problem: a bed not used for sleeping is not overturned
15. ChallengeThe real difficulty: what loops would a good-luck bed have?
16. ResponseA leather-market expert says a דרגש is a leather bed
17. Proofרבי ירמיה explains how a דרגש is built differently from a bed
18. ConclusionThe halacha follows רבן שמעון בן גמליאל
19. StatementA bed with tall posts only needs to be stood up
20. StatementSleeping on a chair, mortar or floor does not count
21. Statementרבי יוחנן explains: he never overturned the bed
22. StatementCleaning is allowed in a mourner's house, but incense and spices are not brought in
23. ChallengeA ברייתא of בר קפרא seems to allow bringing spices in
24. ResolutionThe two ברייתות speak about different houses
25. StatementFood is brought to mourners in plain baskets, not fancy dishes
26. StatementNo mourners' blessing on חול המועד, but comforting still happens
27. StatementThe bier is not set down in the street
28. StatementEveryone brings food in plain willow baskets
29. StatementEveryone serves drinks in colored glass
30. StatementEveryone's face is covered at a funeral
31. StatementRich and poor carried their dead out differently