Tosefta for Megillah 56:3
עשבים מאן דכר שמייהו חסורי מיחסרא והכי קתני ומכבדין אותן ומרביצין אותן כדי שלא יעלו בהן עשבים א"ר יהודה אימתי בישובן אבל בחורבנן מניחין אותן לעלות עלו בהם עשבים לא יתלוש מפני עגמת נפש
Grass, who said anything about grass!? The baraita is lacking, and the statement should read thus: They should be swept and the floor beaten down so that grass should not grow in them. Judah said: When is this so? When they are still in use; but when they are destroyed, we let grass grow in them, and it should not be plucked, so as not to cause excessive sorrow.
Tosefta Megillah
[With respect to] synagogues, one may not behave frivolously (lit. "light-headed") in them. One may not bring an animal inside them in summer due to the heat, in winter due to the cold, or in the rainy season due to the rains, nor may one eat in them, nor drink in them, nor sleep in them, nor wander around in them, nor adorn oneself in them. Rather, one may read [the Torah], or study the oral law, or give sermons in them. Public eulogies may be eulogized in them. Said Rabbi Yehuda, in what case does this apply? When they are occupied [by congregants]. But when they are in a state of ruin, we leave them alone and let grass grow up in them, due to the anguish of the soul [that they cause to those who see them in disrepair].
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