Moed Katan — Daf 25a

גמ׳ ואפי' חכם והתניא חכם שמת הכל קרוביו

הכל קרוביו סלקא דעתך אלא הכל כקרוביו הכל קורעין עליו והכל חולצין עליו והכל מברין עליו ברחבה לא צריכא דלאו חכם הוא

ואי אדם כשר הוא חיובי מיחייב למיקרע דתניא מפני מה בניו ובנותיו של אדם מתים כשהן קטנים כדי שיבכה ויתאבל על אדם כשר

יבכה ויתאבל ערבונא קא שקיל מיניה אלא מפני שלא בכה והתאבל על אדם כשר שכל הבוכה ומתאבל על אדם כשר מוחלין לו על כל עונותיו בשביל כבוד שעשה לו דלאו אדם כשר הוא

אי דקאי התם בשעת יציאת נשמה חיובי מיחייב דתניא רבי שמעון בן אלעזר אומר העומד על המת בשעת יציאת נשמה חייב לקרוע למה זה דומה לספר תורה שנשרף שחייב לקרוע

דלא קאי התם בשעת יציאת נשמה

כי נח נפשיה דרב ספרא לא קרעו רבנן עליה אמרי לא גמרינן מיניה אמר להו אביי מי תניא הרב שמת חכם שמת תניא ועוד כל יומא שמעתתיה בפומין בבי מדרשא

סבור מה דהוה הוה אמר להו אביי תנינא חכם כל זמן שעוסקין בהספד חייבין לקרוע סבור למיקרע לאלתר אמר להו אביי תניא חכם כבודו בהספידו

כי נח נפשיה דרב הונא סבור לאותובי ספר תורה אפורייה אמר להו רב חסדא מילתא דבחייה לא סבירא ליה השתא ליקום (ליה) ליעבד ליה דאמר רב תחליפא אנא חזיתיה לרב הונא דבעי למיתב אפוריי' והוה מנח ספר תורה עליה וכף כדא אארעא ואותיב ספר תורה עילויה אלמא קסבר אסור לישב על גבי מטה שספר תורה מונח עליה

לא הוה נפיק פוריא מבבא סבור לשלשולי דרך גגין אמר להו רב חסדא הא גמירנא מיניה חכם כבודו דרך פתח

סבור לאשנויי מפוריא לפוריא אמר להו רב חסדא הכי גמירנא מיניה חכם כבודו במטה ראשונה דאמר רב יהודה אמר רב מנין לחכם שכבודו במטה ראשונה שנאמר (שמואל ב ו, ג) וירכיבו את ארון האלהים אל עגלה חדשה פרוס בבא ואפקוה

פתח עליה רבי אבא ראוי היה רבינו שתשרה עליו שכינה אלא שבבל גרמה ליה

מתיב רב נחמן בר חסדא ואמרי לה רב חנן בר חסדא (יחזקאל א, ג) היה היה דבר ה' אל יחזקאל בן בוזי הכהן בארץ כשדים

טפח ליה אבוה בסנדליה א"ל לאו אמינא לך לא תיטרוד עלמא מאי היה שהיה כבר

כי אסקוה להתם אמרו ליה לר' אמי ולר' אסי רב הונא אתי אמרו כי הוינן התם לא הוה לן לדלויי רישין מיניה השתא אתינן הכא אתא בתרין

אמרו (ליה) ארונו בא ר' אמי ור' אסי נפוק ר' אילא ור' חנינא לא נפוק איכא דאמרי רבי אילא נפק ר' חנינא לא נפק

דנפק מאי טעמיה דתניא ארון העובר ממקום למקום עומדים עליו בשורה ואומרים עליו ברכת אבלים ותנחומי אבלים דלא נפק מאי טעמא דתניא ארון העובר ממקום למקום אין עומדין עליו בשורה ואין אומרים עליו ברכת אבלים ותנחומי אבלים

קשיין אהדדי לא קשיא כאן ששלדו קיימת כאן בשאין שלדו קיימת ורב הונא שלדו קיימת הוה דלא נפק לא סיימוה קמיה

אמרי היכא נינחיה רב הונא ריבץ תורה בישראל ור' חייא ריבץ תורה בישראל הוה

מאן מעייל ליה אמר להו רב חגא אנא מעיילנא ליה דאוקמתיה לתלמודאי כי הוינא בר תמני סרי שנין ולא חזי לי קרי ומשמע ליה קמיה וידעי בעובדיה דיומא חד אתהפיכא ליה רצועה דתפילין ויתיב עלה ארבעין תעניתא

עייליה הוה גני יהודה מימיניה דאבוה וחזקיה משמאליה אמר ליה יהודה לחזקיה קום מדוכתיך דלאו אורח ארעא דקאים רב הונא בהדי דקאים קם בהדיה עמודא דנורא חזייה רב חגא איבעית זקפיה לארוניה ונפק אתא והאי דלא איענש ענש משום דזקפיה לארוניה דרב הונא

כי נח נפשיה דרב חסדא סבור לאותובי ספר תורה אפורייה אמר להו ר' יצחק מילתא דלרביה לא סבירא ליה אנן ניקום נעביד ליה

סבור דלא למישלל קרעייהו אמר להו ר' יצחק בר אמי חכם כיון שהחזירו פניהם מאחורי המטה שוללין

כי נח נפשי' דרבה בר הונא ורב המנונא אסקינהו להתם

GEMARA. [NONE REND etc.] even though [the dead be] a recognized scholar.1 But then, it is taught [otherwise]: If a scholar dies, all are his near of kin?2 ‘All are his near of kin’, say you? — Rather All are like his near of kin. — All rend their clothes on his account and all bare [their shoulders] on his account and all provide a repast for those that mourn on his account in the broad space?3 — It4 is a necessary ruling where the deceased was not a scholar. But then if the deceased was a worthy person, one is [still] in duty bound to rend his clothes, as it is taught: ‘Wherefore do a person's sons and daughters die in infancy? That one should weep and mourn for a worthy person.’ — [You say]. ‘That one should weep and mourn [for a worthy person]’!5 What, levy a distress on one [in advance]?6 — Say rather, ‘Because one has not wept and mourned for a worthy person’. — ‘For7 whoever weeps and mourns for a worthy person, all his sins are forgiven him, on account of the honour he rendered to him [the deceased]’? — It is necessary8 where the deceased is not a [particularly] worthy person. But yet if one stands here, at the time of a person breathing his last, one is [also] in duty bound [to rend his clothes]. as it is taught: R. Simeon b. Eleazar says, One who stands near the dying, at the time when he breathes his last, he is in duty bound to rend [his clothes]: To what is this like? To a scroll of the Law that is burnt,9 when one is in duty bound to rend [his clothes]. — It is a necessary10 ruling where one was not standing there at the time when the dying breathed his last. When the soul of R. Safra11 went into repose, the Rabbis did not rend [their clothes] on account of him,12 since, they said, We have not learnt from him [directly].13 Said Abaye, Is it taught: ‘When a Master died’? The teaching is: ‘When a scholar dies [all are his near-of-kin]’. Besides, we repeat daily the halachic interpretations reported [in his name] at the College! The [Rabbis of the College] then took the view that what was done was done.14 Said Abaye to them, We learned: ‘If a scholar dies, as long as they are engaged in a lament for him they are in duty bound to rend [their clothes]’. They thought then of rending forthwith [their clothes].15 Said Abaye to them, [No], it is taught: ‘A scholar is honoured at the lament held [on his account].16 When the soul of R. Huna17 came to repose, they thought of Placing a scroll of the law on his bier.18 Said it. Hisda to them: Should one do for him now something that he did not countenance in his life-time? For R. Tahlifa19 said: I myself [once] saw R. Huna when he wanted to sit down on his couch, but there was a scroll of the law lying on it, so he put an inverted jar on the ground and put on it the scroll of the law. Obviously he thought that it was forbidden to sit on a couch when there was a scroll of the law lying thereon. Then the bier could not be got through the doorway20 and they thought of letting it down from the roof. Said R. Hisda, I have learnt this from himself: ‘The honour of a scholar requires that his bier should pass through the door’. They then thought of transferring him from this bed to another, but said R. Hisda to them, l have learnt thus from himself: ‘The honour of a scholar requires that he should be taken out on the first bier’. For Rab Judah, as citing Rab, said, Whence is derived the lesson that the honour of a scholar requires that he should be borne on his first bier? From what is said: And they set the ark of God on a new cart21 and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was on the hill.22 They then readied the gateway and brought it out. R. Abba then opened [his funerary address]: ‘Our Master [said he] was worthy that the Shechinah23 should abide with him, but [the fact of his being in] Babylon prevented it’.24 Thereupon R. Nahman, son of R. Hisda — some say it was R. Hanan, son of R. Hisda — referred to [the text]: The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.25 His father tapped him with his sandal, saying to him: Have I not told you not to worry everybody [with this point]? What is meant by the [double expression] ‘Hayoh [hayah]’?26 That it had been [had come] before [he came to Babylon]. When they brought him up thither [to Palestine, for burial] people told R. Ammi and R. Assi27 that R. Huna had come. They said: ‘When we were there [in Babylon] we had not [a chance] of raising our heads because of him;28 now that we have come here he is come after us’.29 They then were told that it was his coffin that had arrived. R. Assi and R. Assi went out [to meet him]; R. Ela30 and R. Hanina did not go out. Some say, R. Ela went out, R. Hanina did not go out. What was the reason of the one who went out? According to what is taught [in the following]: ‘If a coffin is passing [on its way] from place to place they stand in a row31 on account of the deceased, and say the mourners’ benediction on account of him and also offer condolence to the mourners’. What was the reason of the one who did not go out? — According to what is taught [in the following]: ‘If a coffin is passing [on its way] from place to place, they do not stand in a row on account of it, nor say on his account the mourners’ benediction, nor [offer] condolence to the mourners’. These citations contradict one another! — This is not difficult [to explain]; the former [ruling obtains] where the body is intact; the latter where the body is not intact, and R. Huna's body was intact. Why did one not go out [to meet it]? Because he had not been fully informed of this. Then they said, Where shall we lay him to rest? [Said some, Let us lay him at the side of R. Hiyya];32 for R. Huna disseminated Torah in Israel33 and R. Hiyya had likewise disseminated Torah34 in Israel. Who will bring him into [the cave of] R. Hiyya? — Said R. Hagga ‘I shall bring him in, because I sustained [revised] my studies [before him]35 when I was but eighteen years of age, never having experienced the effects of an unchaste dream36 and he made me his attendant37 and therefore I know of his [pious] deeds. For one day the strap of his phylacteries was [accidentally] reversed,38 whereupon he sat fasting forty days’. He then brought him in [to the cave].39 Judah was laid there at the right of his father [R. Hiyya] and on his left was his [twin brother]40 Hezekiah. Said Judah to Hezekiah: ‘Rise from your place, for it is not good manners that R. Huna be left standing’. As he [Hezekiah] rose a column of fire rose with him41 . R. Hagga, seeing that, was overcome with fear, set up the coffins and came away. And the reason that he came to no harm42 [from the pillar of fire] was because he set up the coffin of R. Huna.43 When the soul of R. Hisda went to its rest they [the Collegiates] thought of placing a scroll of the law on his bier. Said R. Isaac to them: What he had disapproved of being done for his master, shall we now do to himself? They then thought that they should not stitch the rent in their garments, when R. Isaac b. Ammi said to them, It is taught:44 In the case of a Scholar, [who died] as soon as they have turned away their faces, at the rear of the bier, they [may] stitch together [the rent]’. When the soul of Rabbah45 son of R. Huna went to its rest and [that of] R. Hamnuna, they took them [both] up thither.46 punished person. Cf. Rashi, Shab. 105b. ruling in our Mishnah. has been taken out of the lantern. Cf. Prov. VI, 33; XX, 27; and Sot. 21a. 24a. (scroll)".’ B.K. 17b. XXIX (XXXI) p. 157: ‘All Israel were gathered and David with them, to bring up the ark. And the halachah had been forgotten by them; said (Ahitophel) and all, The ark came from the field of the Philistines in the cart, likewise in the cart let it come (back) to the house of David’. revise their studies by reciting alone before their master, periodically. Cf. Ber. 11a (R. Hiyya b. Ashi I before Rab). 38b (R. Hiyya b. Abba before R. Johanan), Hul. 86b and Ker. 27a. R. Ash did so every thirty days. (M.K. 28a). Resh Lakish did every forty days. Ta'an. 8a. unto him (I Kings XIX, 21). It is not said ‘and he (Elijah) taught him’, but ‘and he (Elisha) ministered unto him’; hence they said: Greater is (practical) ministration in (connection with) Torah than the teaching (or study) thereof. Elijahu Rabbah, V (ed. Friedmann, p. 23). into the Exilarch's family (Hul. 92a). Furthermore, the Exilarchs of Babylon were senior and held as superior both in civil authority and descent to the Nasi in Palestine, and admitted by Rabbi himself (J. Keth. XII, 3) by R. Hiyya (and his sons). Hor. 11b (Sonc. ed. p. 81) and Sanh. 5a (Sonc. ed. p. 15.) Cf. Bacher, J.E. s.v. Exilarch V, 289a.