Moed Katan 29a
מועד קטן כ״ט ע״א
Learn Moed Katan 29a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.
Open Moed Katan 29a in Gemara Clarity
Topic
Parting words to the dead and the living, and going 'from strength to strength' to close the מסכת
Overview
This last amud of מסכת מועד קטן opens with the end of a statement from the previous page. That statement compares something very hard to a rope being forced through a narrow ring, and it comes in two versions. Then רבי לוי בר חייתא teaches how to say goodbye. To a dead person you say 'לֵךְ בְּשָׁלוֹם' (go IN peace), and to a living person you say 'לֵךְ לְשָׁלוֹם' (go TO peace). The גמרא proves the first half from a פסוק about אברהם. It proves the second half from two stories: דוד told אבשלום 'go in peace' and it ended badly, while יתרו told משה 'go to peace' and משה succeeded. Next, רבי לוי teaches that whoever goes between the בית הכנסת and the בית המדרש merits to greet the שכינה, based on 'They go from strength to strength.' רב reads the same פסוק to mean that תלמידי חכמים never stop rising, even in עולם הבא. The amud closes with the הדרן, finishing the perek and the whole מסכת.
Opening lines
כְּצִיפּוֹרֵי בְּפִי הַוֶּושֶׁט.
Like a knotted rope through the opening of a narrow ring.
רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן אָמַר:
Rabbi Yochanan said:
כְּפִטּוּרֵי בְּפִי וֶושֶׁט.
Like a thick ship's rope through the opening of a narrow ring.
וְאָמַר רַבִּי לֵוִי בַּר חַיְתָא:
And Rabbi Levi bar Chayta said:
The steps (7)
- StatementTwo versions of a comparison: like a rope pulled through a narrow ring
- StatementHow to say goodbye to the dead and to the living
- ProofSource for 'in peace' for the dead: what ה׳ told אברהם
- ProofSource for 'to peace' for the living: דוד and אבשלום versus יתרו and משה
- StatementGoing from the בית הכנסת to the בית המדרש brings a person close to the שכינה
- Statementתלמידי חכמים never stop going higher, even in עולם הבא
- ConclusionHadran — Closing the perek ואלו מגלחין and מסכת מועד קטן