Moed Katan

As they came to a bridge the camels1 halted. Said a certain Arab2 to those [who accompanied the cortege], What is that?3 — They replied that the [deceased] Rabbis were doing honour to one another: one saying [as it were], ‘You, Sir, proceed first’, and the other saying, ‘You, Sir, proceed first’. Said he, [the Arab]: [In my judgment],4 it is right that [a notable the son of a notable],4 Rabbah son of R. Huna, should take precedence. The camel bearing Rabbah son of R. Huna then passed along first. The molars and teeth of that Arab fell out.5 Then a certain child opened [his funerary oration] thus: ‘A scion of ancient stock from Babylon6 came With records of prowess in combat7 and fame; Twice numerous pelican and bittern8 from far Came for the ravage and ruin9 in Shinear.10 When [God] views His world with displeasure, He seizes [great] souls in exacting measure, Awaiting their coming as new brides, with delight And, riding on Araboth11 in empyrean height, He welcomes the souls of the pure and right’.12 When the soul of Rabina went Into repose, a certain orator opened [his funerary oration] thus: ‘Ye Palms, sway your heads [and deplore] A Saint, a noble Palm13 that is no more Who days and nights in meditation spent; For him, day and night, let us lament.’ Said R. Ashi to Bar-Kipok,14 What would you say on such a day [about me]? He responded thus: ‘If a flame among the Cedars fall What avails the lichen15 on the wall?16 If Leviathan17 by hook be hauled to land, What hope have fishes of a shallow strand? If fish in rushing stream by hook18 be caught What death may in marshy ponds be wrought!’ Said Bar Abin19 to him: ‘[God] forfend that I should talk of "hook" or "flame" in connection with the righteous’. Then what would you say? — I should say: ‘Weep ye for the mourners Not for what is lost: He found him rest; ‘Tis we are let distressed’. R. Ashi was’ offended20 with them,21 and their feet22 were turned.23 On that day [of R. Ashi's demise] they did not come to make a lament for him, and that is what R. Ashi had said: ‘Neither shall Bar-Kipok24 bare [his shoulder] nor shall Bar-Abin24 bare25 [his shoulder, for me]’. When Raba once came to Dagleth [Tekrit],26 he said to Barabin,27 Get up and say something. He rose and said [the following]:28 When more than a ‘third’29 wadeth in water deep Remember the covenant30 and mercy keep.31 We strayed from Thee as a wayward wife;32 Leave us not: as at Marah33 save our life. R. Honin34 was a son-in-law in the Nasi's family. He had no children but he prayed for mercy and had [his wish granted]. On the day when the child was [born] unto him he himself went to his repose, and the funeral orator on that occasion opened [his lament] thus: Joy is turned to sorrow and Gladness linked with sadness. When the time of joy35 came nigh The father heaved a dying sigh: At [the birth of] his Gracious-little-son36 The Gracious-sire's life was done. They gave the child the name of Hanan after his father. When the soul of R. Pedath37 went into repose, R. Isaac b. Eleazar38 opened [his address] thus: This day is as hard for Israel as the day when the sun set at noon-tide, as it is written: And it shall come to pass in that day . . . that I will cause the sun to go down at noon and I will darken the earth in the clear day. And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. . . as the mourning of an only so,39 And, said R. Johanan, that was the day of King Josiah's death.40 When the soul of R. Johanan went into repose R. Ami observed [on his account] the seven [days of mourning] and the thirty. Said R. Abba son of R. Hiyya b. Abba: What R. Ammi did, he did but on his own initiative;41 for thus said R. Hiyya b. Abba, as citing R. Johanan: ‘Even for his master who had taught him Wisdom42 one sits but one day’. When the soul of R. Zera43 went into repose the orator of that occasion opened [his address] thus: ‘The land of Shinear44 was his home of birth The land of Glory45 reared her Darling46 to fame; "Woe is me!" saith Rakath47 in lament, For she hath lost her choicest ornament.’ When the soul of R. Abbahu went into repose the columns at Caesarea ran with tears.48 At [the death of] R. Jose49 the roof gutters at Sepphoris ran with blood. At that of R. Jacob [b. Aha],50 Stars were visible in daytime. At that of R. Assi [all cedars]51 were uprooted; [at the death of R. Samuel b. Isaac]51 all trees were uprooted. At that of R. Hiyya [b. Abba]50 fiery stones came down from the sky; at that of R. Menahem [b. Simai]50 all images were effaced52 and came to be [used] as stone rollers;53 at that of Tanhum son of R. Hiyya [of Kefar Acco]51 all human statues were torn out of their position; at that of [R. Isaac, son of R.]51 Eliashib seventy houses were broken into [by theives] at Tiberias;54 at that of R. Haninuna,55 hail stones came down from the sky; at that of Rabbah and R. Joseph the rocks of the Euphrates kissed each other;56 at that of Abaye and Raba the rocks of the Tigris kissed each other. When the soul of R. Mesharsheya went into repose the palms were laden with thorns.57 Our Rabbis taught: import of the Arab's remarks more fully. V. JEV, 288ff. 12b. parable of a king who sent an eparchos (prefect) to a place which he directed well. Having completed his term, the king gave him another eparchia (province). In the place which he was leaving they praised him that he had directed them well, and in the place that he was entering they (also) praised him, that he was going to rule them well. Likewise, when the Holy One, blessed be He, sent a righteous man into the world to direct the age and he directed it well, on his departure from the world, people are distressed about him (leaving): for so long as the righteous man is among them he prevents tribulation from coming into the world while the Ministering Angels rejoice about his coming to abide among them. (Edition Buber, p. 478) V, 13. Cf. ‘And he (Solomon) spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall’. 25. Cf. Isa. XXVII, 1; Ps. CIV, 25-26. supply?’ — Cf. Jer. XIV, 3: Ezek. XLVII, 11. or marshy shallows, or ‘what is lost’, implying as it were that all his life's best work, the encouragement of scholarship and the careful redaction of the Talmud, are of no lasting value. the idiomatic use of this expression, cf. R. Johanan's similar utterance in a sharp disputation with Resh Lakish who was his junior: ‘We cut off the legs of the youngster’. Me'ila 7b and also Bez. 25b. The traditional interpretation takes it literally, that they both became crippled. V. next notes. supra p. 140, n. 7. The traditional explanation takes the above observation as referring to their ‘lameness’ in connection with a discussion between R. Ashi and Amemar on the possibility of effecting the rite of halizah, i.e., taking off the shoe, by the levir or brother of a deceased childless husband, if he is a cripple where the malformation of his foot is such as to render it impossible to walk or don or take off a shoe, as required by Scriptural law. Deut. XXV, 5-10. According to this interpretation the translation of the sentence is: ‘Neither Bar-Kipok nor Bar-Abin are fit to submit to the rite of halizah. V. Yeb., Sonc. ed. ‘ p. 709. Tigris. Tagrit or Tekrit lies higher up on the Tigris between Mosul and Baghdad and is often mentioned in Syrian literature. bad flooding of the Tigris in spring time, April-May, cf. Ta'an. 14a (bottom). XIX, 24 and Shab. 88a. deaths. Deliver us now miraculously as when the bitter water was healed and sweetened for our forefathers at Marah, Ex. XV, 23-25. infra 28a. from ihbv (graced, favoured). (twice) and Sanah. 14a (Sonc. ed., p. 65). all the images, saying that as he never looked at them in his lifetime he should not see them after he fell asleep’. 23b shows this R. Isaac b. El. to have been with R. Mani of Tiberias. Besides, Nehardea had been in ruins since 259 C.E. 86a where it is related that at Rabbah's death there arose so violent a storm that an Arab with his camel were bodily carried across the Nehar Papa canal. Cf. Obermeyer pp. 166 and 238. orations respectively on the deaths of the above-named scholars, describing the gravity of the loss.]