Moed Katan

But if that is so,1 [the text]: And if he stand and say, I like not to take her,2 [will be interpreted] similarly? But surely it is taught: [And if she loose the shoe from off the foot of a grownup levir], whether he be standing or sitting or stooping, [the ceremony is valid]?3 . — He replied: [It is because] there it is not written, ‘And he stood and said’;4 whereas here [in our instance] it is written, ‘And Job rose and rent his mantle’. Rami b. Hama said: Whence [is it derived] that the rending [of a garment] is to be done standing? From what is said: And Job rose and rent his mantle. But perhaps what he did was something extra? For should we not say so, [what of the next thing Job did], And he shaved his head, [should we] likewise [have to conform with it]? — Rather it is [to be derived] from here: Then the king arose and rent his garments.5 But here too, perhaps, what he did was something extra? For should you not say so [what of the next thing he did], And he lay on the earth,5 [should we] likewise [have to conform with it]? Whereas it is taught: ‘If a mourner sat on a bed,6 on a chair7 or on a stall for urns [and cans],8 or even goes to the extreme9 of sleeping on the bare ground, he has not discharged his duty [to the dead]’. And, explained R. Johanan, [It is] because he has not carried out the [custom of] overturning the bed? — He replied: [It means that David lay] as it were on the ground. Our Rabbis taught: The following things are forbidden to a mourner: He is forbidden to do work, to bathe or anoint himself, to have [marital] intercourse, or don sandals; he is forbidden to read the Pentateuch, Prophets or Hagiograplia, or to recite the Mishnah, or Midrash and halachoth or the Talmud or aggadoth.10 If, however, the public have need of him, he need not abstain. There was all actual case, when a son of R. Jose of Sepphoris11 died, he went into the Beth Hamidrash12 and expounded there all day long; [also13 when a daughter of Rabbi died at Beth-Shearim, he went into the Beth Hamidrash and expounded there all day long]. Rabbah b. Bar Hanah had a bereavement [and] he thought he ought not to go out to [give] his lecture. Said Rab to him, We learned:14 ‘And if the public have need of him he does not refrain’. He then thought of calling upon his ‘expositor’ [assistant].15 When Rab said to him, ‘We learned:14 ‘Provided only that he does not place [at his side] an expositor [assistant]’. But then how is he to do? — After the manner taught [in the following]: ‘It happen ed, that when a son of R. Judah b. Il'ai died, he went into the Beth Hamidrash and R. Hananiah b. ‘Akabia also went in and sat him down at his side: he then whispered to R. Hananiah b. ‘Akabia and R. Hananiah b. ‘Akabia [whispered] to the Turgeman and the Turgeman spoke aloud to the public’. Our Rabbis taught: ‘[During] the first three days a mourner is forbidden to put on phylacteries.16 From the third day onward, the third day included, he is allowed to put on phylacteries and he does not17 [have to] take them off at the entry of fresh personages [visitors]:18 this is R. Eliezer's opinion. R. Joshua says, A mourner is forbidden to put on phylacteries [during] the first two days. From the second day onward, the second day included, he is allowed to put on phylacteries; but at the entry of fresh personages [visitors] he takes17 them off.19 Said R. Mattena: What is the reason for R. Eliezer's view? — Because it is written: And the days of weeping in the mourning of Moses were ended.20 Said R. Ena: What is the reason for R. Joshua's view? — Because it is written: [And I will turn your feasts into mourning . . . And I will make it as the mourning for an only son] and the end thereof as a bitter day.21 But as to R. Joshua. surely it is written: [And the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses] were ended? — He may reply. The case of Moses was different; the mourning for him was [more] intense. And what of R. Eliezer too, surely it is written, ‘And the day thereof [I will make] as a bitter day’? — The poignancy of the bitterness is but on one day. Said ‘Ulla: The halachah follows R. Eliezer in regard to taking off [the phylacteries]22 and R. Joshua in regard to putting on [the phylacteries].23 They enquired: What of the second day [of mourning]. according to ‘Ulla? Does he [at the entrance of fresh personages] have to take them off, or does he not [have to] take them off? — Come and hear: ‘Ulla said: He takes them off and puts them on [the second day] even a hundred times’.24 Likewise it is taught: Judah b. Tema Says, He takes them off and puts them on even a hundred times. Raba said, Having put them on he does not take them off. But was it not Raba who said [above],25 The halachah follows our Tanna [of the Mishnah],26 who says [that the minimum observance of formal mourning is] three [days]? buckets. This derivation fits in with the requirements of all the passages where this obscure word occurs. B.B. 144a and vhbrhg J.B.B. IX, 4; Tosef. Kel. 587, 22 and Sifra, Mezora II, Weiss 75c. Cf. however, Dictionaries and S. Krauss, T A. I., 273 n. 60 and addenda III, 361. lecturer of the day and expound the theme to the listeners in several groups. He was called Amora or Turgeman (Meturgeman) _ expounder, interpreter (dragoman). ‘days’, ‘weeping’, ‘mourning’.