Moed Katan 43

הלך גדול הבית לבית הקברות מהו

What if the chief person<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Not necessarily the senior person of the family, but the person in charge of the affairs of the household.');">¹</span> of the household had gone to the place of interment?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And was away for three days. Does he count on his return with the folks at home whose period of mourning commenced as soon as the cortege departed. or does he count from the time of interment?');">²</span>

תא שמע דאמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן אפילו הלך גדול הבית לבית הקברות מונה עמהן מונה עמהן והתניא מונה לעצמו

- Come and hear: For R'Hiyya B'Abba as citing R'Johanan. said that even if the chief person of the household went to the place of interment, he [still] counts with them.

לא קשיא הא דאתא בגו תלתא והא דלא אתא בגו תלתא כי הא דאמר להו רב לבני הצלפוני דאתו בגו תלתא לימנו בהדייכו דלא אתו בגו תלתא לימנו לנפשיהו

[You say] 'He counts with them? ' Why, it is taught [definitely]: 'He counts by himself'! - That is not difficult [to explain]: The former [ruling] obtains where he returned within three [days]; the latter [ruling] obtains where he had not returned within three [days]. Similar it is to what Rab told the sons of Hazzalponi:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. I Chron. IV, 3. Or were these Jewish converts of the Beni-Solibi clan of bedouin Arabs, hailing from the neighbourhood of Zulfa in N.E. Arabia? V. Enc. Brit. s.v. Bedouins, III, (11th ed.) p. 623h. [Obermeyer, p. 298, identifies it with Zalfiun near Sura, the seat of Rab.]');">³</span>

אמר להו רבא לבני מחוזא אתון דלא אזליתו בתר ערסא מכי מהדריתו אפייכו מבבא דאבולא אתחילו מנו:

Those that come [home] within three [days] should count with you; those that do not come [home] within three [days] should count by themselves. Raba told the people of Mahoza: You who do not follow the bier,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [The cemetery was far removed from the town so as not to offend the susceptibilities of the Persians who disapproved of the burial of the dead; v. Obermeyer, p. 174].');">⁴</span>

ר"ש אומר אפילו בא ביום השביעי ממקום קרוב מונה עמהן: א"ר חייא בר גמדא א"ר יוסי בן שאול אמר רבי והוא שבא ומצא מנחמין אצלו

should begin counting [the days of mourning] as soon as you turn your faces from the city gates. R'Simeon says, Even if he came home on the seventh day from a place in the vicinity he counts with them'.

בעי רב ענן ננערו לעמוד ולא עמדו מהו תיקו

Said R'Hiyya B'Gamada that R'Jose B'Saul as reporting Rabbi said: That is [done] only where [on his arrival] he found comforters still present.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'at his side'.');">⁵</span> R''Anan then enquired: What if they [the comforters] had just made ready<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'bestirred themselves'.');">⁶</span>

גמירי חבריה דר' אבא בר חייא מר' אבא ומנו ר' זירא ואמרי לה חבריה דר' זירא מרבי זירא ומנו ר' אבא בריה דר' חייא בר אבא א"ר יוחנן הלכה כרבי שמעון בן גמליאל בטריפות והלכה כרבי שמעון באבל

themselves to get up [and leave] but had not yet left? - This stands over [for a solution]. The fellow-collegiate of R'Abba B'Hiyya had it as a tradition from R'Abba - Who was that [fellow-collegiate]? - R'Zera; and some say that it was the fellow-collegiate of R'Zera who had heard it from R'Zera.

כרבי שמעון באבל הא דאמרן כרשב"ג בטריפות דתנן בני מעים שניקבו וליחה סותמתן כשרה דברי רשב"ג

- And who was that [fellow-collegiate]? - R'Abba son of R'Hiyya B'Abba - who reported R'Johanan [to have stated]: 'The halachah is to follow R'Simeon B'Gamaliel's view on the point of terefoth<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Plur. of trefa, a defect indicating a disease in animals or birds slaughtered for food. Cf. Hul. III, 1ff. thb, ib,');">⁷</span> and the halachah is to follow R'Simeon on the point of mourning'.

מאי ליחה אמר רב כהנא שירקא דמעיא דנפיק אגב דוחקא אמר מאן דהוא איזכי ואסיק ואגמרא לשמעתא מפומיה דמריה

The view of R'Simeon on the point of mourning is this one which we have just cited; and the view of R'Simeon B'Gamaliel on terefoth is that which is taught:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' is more correct than Cf. Hul. 50a.');">⁸</span> 'If intestines had become perforated and mucilage blocks the perforation, it [the animal's flesh] is kasher'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Fit for Jewish consumption, not rejected on account of some organic defect.');">⁹</span>

כי סליק אשכחיה לר' אבא בריה דרבי חייא בר אבא א"ל אמר מר הלכה כרשב"ג בטריפות א"ל אנא אין הלכה אמרי

What is 'mucilage'? - Said R'Kahana: it is the viscous matter inside the intestines which comes away under pressure. Said someone; May I be granted to go up to [Palestine] and learn the legal dictum from the mouth of the Master himself! When he went up he came upon R'Abba son of R'Hiyya B'Abba.

כר"ש באבל מאי א"ל פלוגתא נינהו דאיתמר רב חסדא אמר הלכה וכן א"ר יוחנן הלכה ר"נ אמר אין הלכה

Said he to him: 'Did you, sir, say that the halachah is to follow R'Simeon B'Gamialiel on the point of terefoth'? - He replied: 'I said that the halachah is not so'! And what about the point of mourning', [is the halachah in that case] to follow R'Simeon? - He replied: Opinions are divided on that, as it has been stated: R'Hisda said, [R'Simeon's view is] the halachah, and R'Johanan said likewise; [but] R'Nahman said, [R'Simeon's view is] not the halachah. The [present] halachah however does not follow R'Simeon B'Gamaliel's view in terefoth; but as to the point of mourning.

ואין הלכה כרשב"ג בטריפות והלכה כר"ש באבל דאמר שמואל הלכה כדברי המיקל באבל

the halachah is like R'Simeon's, because of Samuel's dictum that in matters of mourn ing, the halachah is to follow the [view of the] lenient authority'. [Our Rabbis taught]:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So D.S. and many other texts. Cf. Sem. IX.');">¹⁰</span>

על כל המתים כולן מדחה מטתו הרי זה משובח על אביו ועל אמו הרי זה מגונה היה ערב שבת או ערב יום טוב הרי זה משובח שאינו עושה אלא לכבוד אביו ואמו

'[If] for all [other] dead one expedites [the departure of] the bier,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., hastens the interment.');">¹¹</span> he is praiseworthy; but in the case of one's father or mother, he is blameworthy.

על כל המתים כולן רצה ממעט בעסקו רצה אינו

If it was the day before the Sabbath or a festival,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When delay involves keeping the body till the day after their termination.');">¹²</span> [or if pouring rain was falling on it], he is praiseworthy, as he expedites [the interment] out of deference to his father or mother. For all [other] dead, if he desires, he minimizes his business<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., his business affairs (Rashi) before the funeral. Or, according to Han. quoting Palestinian Talmud, he minimizes the expenses of the funeral and lament. Cf. J.M.k. III, 8.');">¹³</span> or if he does not desire,