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Shabbos 152b

שבת קנ״ב ע״ב

Shabbat 152b

Learn Shabbos 152b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 152b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

What happens to the body and soul after death: awareness, purity, the fate of צדיקים, בינונים and רשעים, and bodily decay

Overview

This amud opens with the end of a story: רב יהודה made sure a man with no mourners was comforted during שבעה, and the man thanked him in a dream. רבי אבהו then teaches that the dead know what is said in front of them until the grave is closed. רבי חייא and רבי שמעון ברבי disagree about how long that awareness lasts, and each one brings a פסוק. A ברייתא teaches that the soul must be returned to הקב״ה as pure as it was given, and it uses a parable of a king who lent out royal garments. רבי אליעזר adds that the souls of צדיקים are stored under the כסא הכבוד, while the souls of רשעים are slung back and forth. שמואל adds that בינונים go to דומה but have rest. רב מרי says even צדיקים turn to dust, and a story about the buried רב אחאי בר יאשיה shows that a person free of קנאה stays whole until one hour before תחיית המתים. Finally, רבי אבהו answers a מין: שמואל could be brought up by the בעלת אוב because it was within twelve months of his death. That ברייתא continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

כׇּל יוֹמָא הֲוָה דָּבַר רַב יְהוּדָה בֵּי עַשְׂרָה,

Every day Rav Yehuda would take a group of ten

וְיָתְבִי בְּדוּכְתֵּיהּ.

and they would sit in his place.

לְאַחַר שִׁבְעָה יָמִים

After seven days

אִיתְחֲזִי לֵיהּ בְּחֶילְמֵיהּ דְּרַב יְהוּדָה,

the dead man appeared to Rav Yehuda in his dream

The steps (28)

  1. Statementרב יהודה comforts a man who had no mourners
  2. StatementThe dead know what is said in front of them
  3. Statementרבי חייא and רבי שמעון ברבי disagree about how long the awareness lasts
  4. ProofSource for the view that awareness lasts until the flesh decomposes
  5. ProofSource for the view that awareness lasts until the grave is sealed
  6. StatementReturn the soul as pure as it was given
  7. StatementParable of the king's garments: the setup
  8. StatementParable of the king's garments: the king's reaction
  9. StatementThe king's verdict on the wise and the foolish servants
  10. StatementApplying the parable to the righteous
  11. StatementApplying the parable to the wicked
  12. Statementרבי אליעזר: souls of the righteous are stored under the Throne of Glory
  13. Statementרבי אליעזר: souls of the wicked are slung across the world
  14. Questionרבה asks about people in between
  15. Responseרב נחמן quotes שמואל: middling souls go to דומה but have rest
  16. Statementרב מרי: even the bodies of the righteous become dust
  17. StatementDiggers disturb a grave on רב נחמן's land
  18. Challengeרב נחמן asks how his body is still whole
  19. Rejectionרב אחאי dismisses רב מרי's authority
  20. Challengeרב נחמן brings a verse from קהלת
  21. ResolutionBones of someone without envy do not rot
  22. Statementרב נחמן feels his body and invites him inside
  23. RejectionThe dead may not leave until ה׳ opens the graves
  24. Challengeרב נחמן brings a verse from the תורה
  25. ResolutionTurning to dust happens one hour before resurrection
  26. ChallengeA heretic asks how שמואל could be brought up from the dead
  27. ResolutionIt happened within twelve months of שמואל's death
  28. ProofA ברייתא shows the soul goes up and down for twelve months