Moed Katan — Daf 8a

דהא עצים ואבנים בעלמא לא מטמאו והכא מטמאו

ורבי אמר אצטריך דאי כתב רחמנא וביום הראות בו הוה אמינא לדבר מצוה אין לדבר הרשות לא כתב רחמנא וצוה הכהן

ואי כתב רחמנא וצוה הכהן הוה אמינא הני אין דלאו טומאה דגופיה אבל טומאה דגופיה אימא מיחזא חזיא ליה צריכא

אמר מר יש יום שאתה רואה בו ויש יום שאי אתה רואה בו

מאי משמע אמר אביי א"כ ליכתוב רחמנא ביום מאי וביום שמע מינה יש יום שאתה רואה בו ויש יום שאי אתה רואה בו

רבא אמר כולה קרא יתירא הוא דא"כ לכתוב רחמנא ובהראות מאי וביום שמע מינה יש יום שאתה רואה בו ויש יום שאי אתה רואה בו

ואביי ההוא מיבעי ליה ביום ולא בלילה

ורבא ביום ולא בלילה מנא ליה נפקא ליה (ויקרא יג, יב) מלכל מראה עיני הכהן ואביי ההוא מיבעי ליה למעוטי סומא באחת מעיניו

ורבא נמי מיבעי ליה להכי אין הכי נמי

ואלא ביום ולא בלילה מנא ליה נפקא ליה (ויקרא יד, לה) מכנגע נראה לי בבית לי ולא לאורי

ואביי אי מהתם הוה אמינא הני מילי טומאה דלאו דגופיה אבל טומאה דגופיה אפילו לאורו נמי קא משמע לן:

מתני׳ ועוד אמר ר' מאיר מלקט אדם עצמות אביו ואמו מפני ששמחה היא לו

ר' יוסי אומר אבל הוא לו

לא יעורר אדם על מתו ולא יספידנו קודם לרגל שלשים יום:

גמ׳ ורמינהו המלקט עצמות אביו ואמו הרי זה מתאבל עליהם כל היום ולערב אין מתאבל עליהן ואמר רב חסדא אפילו צרורין לו בסדינו

אמר אביי אימא מפני ששמחת הרגל עליו:

ולא יערער על מתו: מאי לא יערער על מתו אמר רב כד הדר ספדנא במערבא אמרי יבכון עמיה כל מרירי ליבא:

קודם הרגל שלשים יום: מאי שנא שלשים יום

אמר רב כהנא אמר רב יהודה אמר רב מעשה באדם אחד שכינס מעות לעלות לרגל ובא ספדן ועמד על פתח ביתו ונטלתן אשתו ונתנתן לו ונמנע ולא עלה באותה שעה אמרו לא יעורר על מתו ולא יספידנו קודם לרגל שלשים יום

ושמואל אמר

inasmuch as wood and stones elsewhere are not subject to [ceremonial] uncleanness whereas here [in a house affected by leprosy] they are [made] subject to uncleanness. And [on the other hand] Rabbi says [that this text] is also needed.1 For had the All Merciful prescribed [only], ‘And on a day when [raw flesh] shall be seen in him . . .’ I might have said that postponement [of inspection or pronouncement on the findings] is granted only for the [due observance of a] religious obligation, but not for the sake of an optional [matter]; therefore did the All Merciful prescribe also, ‘And the priest shall command’. Again, had the All Merciful prescribed only ‘And the priest shall command that they empty the house . . ., I might have said that [postponement is granted] in the case of these effects [of the house] because the uncleanness is not that of a person, but where the uncleanness is that of a person I might say that the priest should inspect him, [without delay]: therefore it is necessary [to have both texts]. The Master said: ‘There is a day when you do see it in him and there is a day when you do not see it in him. How is this implied? — Said Abaye, If it is just so,2 the Divine Law should have written: ‘On a day [when]’; what then is the [import of] ‘And on a day [when]’? From this you infer that there is ‘a day’ when you see in him . . . and there is ‘a day’ when you do not see . . . in him. Raba said: The whole text3 is redundant altogether for if it be just so,4 Divine Law might have had ‘And when [raw flesh] is seen [in him]’. What then is the import of the [amplification] ‘And on a day’?5 From this infer that there is a day when you do see it in him and there is a day when you do not see it in him.6 And Abaye?7 He needs that [to teach that the inspection is held] by ‘day’, and not at night.8 And whence derives Raba this [point] ‘by day and not at night’? — It is derived by him from, ‘According to all the sight of the eyes of the priest’.9 And Abaye? — He needs that [text] to exclude a person blind in one eye [inspecting a leper]. But does not Raba also require this text for that same point? — Yea, [he does] so also. But then, whence [does he derive the point] ‘by day but not at night’? — He derives it from, ‘Like as a plague was seen by me in the house’,10 [that is, seen] by me, not by [the aid of] my [candle] light. And Abaye?11 — If he did learn from there, I might have said that these [restrictions] obtain [only] where the uncleanness is not personal [of one's body]; but where uncleanness is that of the body, [it may be inspected] also by one's [candle] light. [Therefore] the [original] text12 conveys it to us [best]. MISHNAH. FURTHERMORE R. MEIR SAID, A MAN MAY GATHER13 HIS FATHER'S AND MOTHER'S BONES,14 SINCE THIS IS [AN OCCASION] ‘OF JOY’ FOR HIM;15 R. JOSE SAYS, IT IS AN [OCCASION] ‘OF MOURNING’16 FOR HIM. A PERSON SHOULD NOT STIR UP WAILING17 FOR HIS DEAD, NOR HOLD A LAMENTATION18 FOR HIM THIRTY DAYS BEFORE A FEAST. GEMARA. AS IT IS A JOY FOR HIM. [The following] was cited in contrast to this: ‘One who gathers his father's or mother's bones holds himself in mourning for them all the day,19 but in the evening he does not hold himself in mourning for them [any longer].’ And R. Hisda commented thereon, even if he had them by him tied up in a sheet.20 Said Abaye, I should suggest [it means], ‘because the joyousness of the feast prevails with him’.21 A PERSON SHOULD NOT STIR UP A WAILING FOR HIS DEAD: What is the meaning of ‘stirring up a wailing for one's dead’? Rab said: In Palestine [it is customary that] whenever a professional lamenter comes round people say, ‘Let all those who are sore at heart weep with him. THIRTY DAYS BEFORE A FEAST. Why [just] thirty days? R. Kahana said that Rab Judah as reporting Rab told him that once it happened that a man saved money to ‘go up for the feast’22 [to Jerusalem] when a [professional] lamenter came and stopped at his door and the wife took her husband's savings and gave them to him, and so he was prevented from going. Then it was that they [the Rabbis] said, One should not stir up a wailing for his dead, nor hold a [funerary] lament for him thirty days before a Feast; but Samuel gave another reason, namely, the analogy of leprosy of houses etc., yet he requires the verse quoted by R. Judah. reserved tomb or mausoleum, where they were kept in cedar or marble coffins. Cf. Sem. XII. another possible meaning, see the discussion later. own old grief on the occasion. A funeral in the town or village provided a good occasion for such a renewed lament, when professional funerary orators, ‘lamenters’ and female dirge-singers, were available. Meir allowed transference and even said ‘it was a joy for him’. Or, that the performance of his filial duty will afford him a sense of satisfaction throughout the remaining festival days (J.M.K.). is introduced by the study and discussion of its laws thirty days before. Pes. 6b.