Moed Katan 27b

מועד קטן כ״ז ע״ב

Learn Moed Katan 27b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Moed Katan 27b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Honoring the dead and the living at funerals, eulogies on חול המועד, and the proper measure of mourning

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a ברייתא about תקנות that keep the poor and the sick from being shamed at death. The plain bier, incense, and immersing utensils were made the same for everyone, and רבן גמליאל's simple linen shrouds ended costly burials. The גמרא then returns to the משנה about not setting the bier down in the street on חול המועד. רב פפא allows a eulogy for a תלמיד חכם in front of the body, and the day the news arrives counts the same as being in front of the body. Next comes a series of mourning teachings: what הספד, טיפוח and קילוס mean, when visitors must leave a mourner, the mourner's first meal, and the town stopping work for a death. רב warns against mourning too much, and a ברייתא sets the limits of 3, 7 and 30 days. The גמרא explains who deserves heavy crying, and רבי לוי describes how a mourner's fear should fade over time. At the end the גמרא goes back to the משנה about women's biers, and the limit from the חכמי נהרדעא continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (32)

1. StatementEveryone is carried out on a plain bier
2. StatementIncense is placed under every dead person
3. StatementUtensils are immersed after every woman who dies
4. StatementUtensils are immersed after every man who dies
5. Statementרבן גמליאל chooses simple linen shrouds
6. Statementרב פפא: today even cheap cloth is used
7. StatementThe משנה: do not set the bier down in the street
8. StatementA תלמיד חכם may be eulogized even on חול המועד
9. StatementThe permission applies only in front of the body
10. Challengeרב כהנא eulogized רב זביד far from the body
11. ResolutionThe day the news arrives counts as being in front of the body
12. Statementעולא defines הספד, טיפוח and קילוס
13. StatementStomp in a shoe, not a sandal, because of danger
14. StatementVisitors leave once the mourner nods his head
15. StatementA mourner and a sick person need not stand for the נשיא
16. StatementA mourner and a sick person need not wait to be told to sit
17. StatementOn the first day a mourner may not eat his own bread
18. Statementרבה and רב יוסף swapped meals
19. StatementWhen someone dies in a city, no one there may work
20. Statementרב המנונא sees people working while there is a dead person in town
21. ResolutionSeparate groups in town make the work permitted
22. StatementGrieving too much leads to crying over another death
23. ProofThe woman who mourned her son too much
24. StatementA verse sets fixed limits for mourning
25. StatementReal crying is for the one who dies without children
26. Proofרבי יהושע בן לוי visited mourners only for the childless
27. Statementרב הונא: the one who goes away is a repeat sinner
28. Proofרב הונא's view matches another teaching of his
29. ChallengeCan a sin really become permitted?
30. ResolutionIt only feels permitted
31. StatementHow a mourner should feel in the days after the death
32. StatementBack to the משנה: women's biers are never set down