Kiddushin, Birth, Death, Burial, Torah, and Yamim Noraim
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ShareUsing Money for Kiddushin is Learned from Purchase of Burial Plot
האשה נקנית בשלוש דרכים וקונה את עצמה בשתי דרכים נקנית בכסף בשטר ובביאה ... וכסף מנא לן גמר קיחה קיחה משדה עפרון כתיב הכא (דברים כב,יג) כי יקח איש אשה וכתיב התם (בראשית כג,יג) נתתי כסף השדה קח ממני וקיחה איקרי קניין דכתיב השדה אשר קנה אברהם.
A woman is acquired in three ways and acquires herself in two ways. [She is] acquired through money, a document and relations. Through money: Beit Shammai say [this means] a dinar or the equivalent of a dinar. And Beit Hillel say a pruta or an equivalent of a pruta. How much is a pruta? One eight of an Italian issar. She acquires herself through a bill of divorce or if her husband dies. A Yevamah is acquired through relations and acquires herself through halitzah or the death of the Yavam. GEMARAH: A woman is acquired What is the difference here that it is write a woman is acquired and [the later mishna which states] a woman is betrothed?
(יג) כִּֽי־יִקַּ֥ח אִ֖ישׁ אִשָּׁ֑ה וּבָ֥א אֵלֶ֖יהָ וּשְׂנֵאָֽהּ׃
(13) If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,
(יג) וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר אֶל־עֶפְר֜וֹן בְּאָזְנֵ֤י עַם־הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר אַ֛ךְ אִם־אַתָּ֥ה ל֖וּ שְׁמָעֵ֑נִי נָתַ֜תִּי כֶּ֤סֶף הַשָּׂדֶה֙ קַ֣ח מִמֶּ֔נִּי וְאֶקְבְּרָ֥ה אֶת־מֵתִ֖י שָֽׁמָּה׃
(13) And he spoke unto Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying: ‘But if thou wilt, I pray thee, hear me: I will give the price of the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.’
Marriage Connected to Torah, Death, Burial, and the Bathroom
(תהלים לב, ו) על זאת יתפלל כל חסיד אליך לעת מצא:
אמר ר' חנינא לעת מצא זו אשה שנא' (משלי יח, כב) מצא אשה מצא טוב. במערבא כי נסיב אינש אתתא אמרי ליה הכי מצא או מוצא? מצא דכתיב מצא אשה מצא טוב ויפק רצון מה'. מוצא דכתיב (קהלת ז, כו) ומוצא אני מר ממות את האשה וגו'.
ר' נתן אומר לעת מצא זו תורה שנאמר (משלי ח, לה) כי מוצאי מצא חיים וגו'.
רב נחמן בר יצחק אמר לעת מצא זו מיתה שנא' (תהלים סח, כא) למות תוצאות. ...
ר' יוחנן אמר לעת מצא זו קבורה א"ר חנינא מאי קרא (איוב ג, כב) השמחים אלי גיל ישישו כי ימצאו קבר. אמר רבה בר רב שילא היינו דאמרי אינשי ליבעי אינש רחמי אפילו עד זיבולא בתרייתא שלמא.
מר זוטרא אמר לעת מצא זה בית הכסא. אמרי במערבא הא דמר זוטרא עדיפא מכלהו.
What means that which is written, 'But as for me, let my prayer be unto Thee, O God, in an acceptable time' (Ps. Ixix. 14)? When is an 'acceptable time'? At the time when the congregation prays." R. Jose b. R. Hannina derived it from the following : "Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I answered thee" (Is. xlix. 8). R. Aha b. R. Hannina[7] derived it from the following : "Behold, God despiseth not the mighty" (Job xxxvi. 5)[1]; and it is written, "He hath redeemed my soul in peace so that none came nigh me ; for they were many with me" (Ps. Iv. 19)[2]. There is a teaching to the same effect : R. Nathan said : Whence is it that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not reject the prayer offered by many[3]? As it is said, "Behold, God despiseth not the mighty"; and it is written, "He hath redeemed my soul in peace so that none came nigh me ; for they were many with me." The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Whoever occupies himself with Torah, practises benevolent acts and prays with the congregation, I ascribe it to him as though he had redeemed Me and My son [Israel] from [exile] among the peoples of the world." R. Simeon b. Lakish said : Whoever has a Synagogue in his town, and does not enter it to pray, is called "an evil neighbour"; as it is said, "Thus saith the Lord, As for all Mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit" (Jer. xii. 14). More than that, he causes exile to come upon himself and his sons ; as it is said, "Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them" (ibid.). It was said to R. Johanan[4], "There are old men to be found in Babylon." He was astonished and exclaimed, "It is written 'that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land' (Deut. xi. 21); but not outside the land [of Israel] !" When they told him [that the old men are in the Synagogue early and late,] he said, "It is this which helps them [to live long]." This is like what R. Joshua b. Levi said to his sons : Rise early and stay up late to enter the Synagogue, so that you may prolong your life. R. Aha b. R. Hannina[5] asked, What is the Scriptural authority for this ? "Happy is the man that hearkeneth to Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors" (Prov. viii. 34), after which it is written, "For whoso findeth me findeth life" (ibid. v. 35). Rab Hisda said : A man should always enter two doors in the Synagogue and then pray ; as it is said, "Waiting at the posts of My doors[1]." "Two doors" [literally], dost imagine ! But say [the meaning is], A man should penetrate into the Synagogue a distance which equals the width of two doors, and then offer prayer[2]. "For this let every one that is godly pray unto Thee in the time of finding" (Ps. xxxii. 6). R. Hannina said: "In the time of finding" refers to [the choice of] a wife ; as it is said, "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a great good" (Prov. xviii. 22). In the West[3] when a man marries, they say to him, "Masa' or Mose' ?" — Masa', as it is written, "Whoso findeth [masa'] a wife findeth a great good"; Mose', as it is written, "And I find [mose'] more bitter than death the woman" etc. (Eccles. vii. 26). R. Nathan[4] said : "In the time of finding" refers to Torah; as it is said, "For whoso findeth me findeth life, and obtaineth favour of the Lord" (Prov. viii. 35). Rab Nahman b. Isaac said : "In the time of finding [meso']" refers to death ; as it is said, "The issues [tosa'ot] of death" (Ps. Ixviii. 21). There is a teaching to the same effect : Nine hundred and three varieties of death have been created in the world ; as it is said, "The issues of death." Tosa'ot has that numerical value[5]. The severest of them all is croup, and the lightest is the kiss of death. Croup is like a thorn in a ball of clipped wool which tears backwards[6]. Others say it is like the whirling waters at the entrance of a canal[7]. The kiss of death is like taking a hair out of milk[8]. R. Johanan said : "In the time of finding" refers to burial. R. Hannina' said: What is the Scriptural authority for this? "Who rejoice unto exultation and are glad, when they can find the grave" (Job iii. 22). Rabbah b. Rab Shela said : Hence the popular saying : "Let a man pray for peace even to the last shovelful of earth[2]." Mar Zotra said : "In the time of finding" refers to a privy[3]. In the West, they said that the interpretation of Mar Zotra was the best of all. Raba said to Rafram b. Pappa : Let the master tell us some of those excellent things which thou reportest in the name of Rab Hisda, relating to the Synagogue. He replied, Thus said Rab Hisda : What means that which is written, "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion [Siyyon] more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Ps. Ixxxvii. 2)? The Lord loveth the gates distinguished [mesuyyanim] for Halakah more than Synagogues and Houses of Study. That agrees with what R. Hiyya b. Ammi said in the name of 'Ulla : Since the day the Temple was destroyed, there is left to the Holy One, blessed be He, in His Universe the four cubits of Halakah alone[4]. And Abbai said ; At first I used to study at home and pray in Synagogue, but after hearing the statement of R. Hiyya b. Ammi in the name of 'Ulla — "Since the day the Temple was destroyed, there is left to the Holy One, blessed be He, in His Universe the four cubits of Halakah alone" I only pray where I study. R. Ammi and R. Assi, although there were thirteen[5] Synagogues in Tiberias[6], used to pray only between the pillars where they studied. R. Hiyya b. Ammi said in the name of 'Ulla : Greater is he who enjoys the fruit of his labour than the fearer of Heaven ; for with regard to the fearer of Heaven it is written, "Happy is the man that feareth the Lord" (ibid. cxii. 1), but with regard to him who enjoys the fruit of his labour it is written, "When thou eatest the labour of thy hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee" (ibid, cxxviii. 2) — "happy shalt thou be" in this world, "and it shall be well with thee" in the world to come[1]. It is not written, "and it shall be well with thee" about the fearer of Heaven. R. Hiyya b. Ammi also said in the name of 'Ulla : A man should always reside in the same place as his teacher, for so long as Shimei the son of Gera[2] lived, Solomon did not marry the daughter of Pharaoh. But there is a teaching : A man should not reside [in the same place as his teacher]! There is no contradiction ; the former referring to the pupil who submits to his master, the latter to him who does not[3]. Rab Huna b. Judah stated that R. Menahem said in the name of R. Ammi : What means that which is written, "They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed" (Is. i. 28)? This refers to one who leaves a Scroll of the Law [unrolled][4] and goes out [from the Synagogue]. R. Abbahu used to go out between man and man[5]. Rab Pappa asked : How is it between verse and verse [may one go out]? The question remains [unanswered]. Rab Sheshet used to turn his face [away from the Scroll] and study, saying, "We with ours, they with theirs[6]." Rab Huna b. Judah stated that R. Menahem said[7] in the name of R. Ammi : A man should always finish his Parashah with the congregation, twice the Hebrew text and once the Targum[8] —
Grave Conceptually Connected to the Womb
וא"ר טבי א"ר יאשיה מאי דכתיב (משלי ל, טו) שלש הנה לא תשבענה שאול ועוצר רחם:
וכי מה ענין שאול אצל רחם? אלא לומר לך: מה רחם מכניס ומוציא, אף שאול מכניס ומוציא. והלא דברים ק"ו: ומה רחם שמכניסין בו בחשאי מוציאין ממנו בקולי קולות, שאול שמכניסין בו בקולי קולות אינו דין שמוציאין ממנו בקולי קולות?! מכאן תשובה לאומרים אין תחיית המתים מן התורה:
perhaps it is R. Judah's view and ab initio it is not permitted, but post factum it is valid ? This cannot enter thy mind ; because the Mishnah refers to a deaf person exactly as to the mentally defective and minor ; and therefore, as in the case of a mentally defective and minor even post factum [the reading of the Megillah] is invalid, so also if a deaf person has read it, it is likewise invalid. But perhaps the two have to be kept distinct[3]! Still thou canst not possibly maintain that it is in accord with R. Judah ; because from what is stated in the sequel, "R. Judah allows a minor to read [the Megillah]" it is to be inferred that the first part is not R. Judah's view ! But perhaps the whole of it is R. Judah's view, there being two kinds of "minor," and [the wording of the Mishnah] is defective and should read thus : "All are fit and proper persons to read the Megillah except a deaf person, a mentally defective person and a minor. Of whom does this speak ? Of a minor who has not yet reached Initiation[4]; but a minor who has reached Initiation is fit to read it even ab initio. These are the words of R. Judah, for R. Judah permits a minor to read." Having demonstrated that [the Mishnah about the reading of the Megillah] is in accord with R. Judah and post factum it is permissible, but not ab initio, what, however, of the teaching of R. Judah, the son of R. Simeon b. Pazzi : A deaf person who speaks but cannot hear may separate the Terumah ab initio ? Whose view is that? It cannot be R. Judah's, nor R. Jose's. If R. Judah's, post factum it should be allowed, but not ab initio; if R. Jose's, even post factum it should be invalid. Whose view is it then ? R. Judah's and even ab initio it is permissible. What, however, of the following ? There is a teaching : A man must not say Grace after meals in his heart ; but if he has done so, he has complied with the requirements of the law. Whose view is that ? It is not R. Judah's, nor R. Jose's. If R. Judah's, he would allow that to act thus ab initio likewise complies with the requirements of the law ; if R. Jose's, even post factum it is not valid. It is certainly R. Judah's view, and even ab initio it is valid. Nor is there any contradiction[1] ; the latter[2] being R. Judah's own opinion, the other that of his teacher[3]. For there is a teaching : R. Judah says in the name of R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah : He who reads the Shema' must make it audible to his ear ; as it is said, "Hear O Israel." R. Meir said to him : Behold the Scriptures state, "And these words which I command thee this day shall be upon thy heart," i.e. the words depend upon the Kawwanah of the heart. Since thou hast reached so far, thou mayest even suppose that R. Judah agrees with his teacher's opinion ; and there is no contradiction, one being R. Judah's view, the other R. Meir's[4]. Rab Hisda said in the name of Rab Shela[5]: The Halakah is in accord with R. Judah's view which he reported in the name of R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah, and the Halakah is in accord with R. Judah. It is necessary [to state it in this way] ; for if he had informed us only that the Halakah is in accord with R. Judah, I might have supposed [the Shema' need not be read audibly] ab initio ; therefore he tells us that the Halakah is in accord with R. Judah's view which he reported in the name of R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah[6]. And if he had informed us only that the Halakah is in accord with R. Judah's view which he reported in the name of R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah, I might have supposed that it is essential [for the Shema' to be read audibly ab initio] and there was no rectification [if this had not been done]. Therefore he informs us that the Halakah is in accord with R. Judah[7]. Rab Joseph said : The dispute is only over the reading of the Shema', but with other commandments[1] all agree that [if inaudible] he has not complied with the requirements of the law ; for it is written, "Attend and hear, O Israel" (Deut. xxvii. 9). But it is quoted in objection : One may not say the Grace after meals in his heart ; but if he has done so, he has complied with the requirements of the law ! But if [the statement of Rab Joseph] was reported, it must have been reported as follows : [Rab Joseph said] : The dispute is only over the reading of the Shema' ; for it is written, "Hear O Israel" ; but with other commandments all agree that [if inaudible] he has complied with the requirements of the law. But it is written, "Attend and hear, O Israel[2]" ! That refers to reading the Scriptures[3]. If he had read it without distinctly pronouncing its letters. R. Tabi said in the name of R. Josiah : The Halakah is in accord with the more lenient view in both instances[4]. R. Tabi also said in the name of R. Josiah : What means that which is written, "There are three things that are never satisfied... the grave, and the barren womb," etc. (Prov, xxx. 15 f.) — what is the connection between "the grave" and "the barren womb"? Its intention is to tell thee that as the womb receives and yields up, so the grave receives and yields up. And may we not use the a fortiori argument ? As the womb receives [the seed] in silence and yields up [the child] with loud cries, how much more so will the grave, which receives [the body] with loud cries [of lament], yield up with loud cries ! Hence a refutation of those who assert that the resurrection of the dead is not taught in the Torah[5]. Rab Josiah[6] taught in the presence of Raba : "And thou shalt write them" (Deut. vi. 9) means that the whole [of the first two paragraphs of the Shema'] must be written [in the Tefillin], even the words of the commands[7]. Raba said to him : Should one ask thee whose teaching this is, it is R. Judah's; for he stated with reference to the woman suspected of adultery : One writes the curses but not the words of the command, because in this connection it is written, "And the priests shall write these curses in a scroll" (Num. v. 23), but here [in connection with Tefillin] it is written, "And thou shalt write them," i.e. even the words of the command. Dost thou suppose that R. Judah's reason is because the text states, "[And the priest] shall write"? His reason is because the text states, "[And the priest shall write] these curses," i.e. the curses shall be written, but not the words of the command. It is necessary [to mention this point] ; because it might have entered thy mind that I mean we can draw an analogy from the use of the verb "to write" in the former instance, thus : As there [with reference to the woman suspected of adultery] the curses were to be written and not the words of the command, so here likewise [with the Tefillin] the words of the command were not to be written[1]! Therefore the All-merciful wrote, "And thou shalt write them" i.e. even the words of the command. Rab Obadiah taught in the presence of Raba : "And ye shall teach" (Deut. xi. 19), i.e. let thy teaching be perfect[2] — let one make a brief pause between words which are liable to be jumbled together[3], Raba added to this observation : For instance 'al lebabeka "upon thy heart" ; 'al lebabekem "upon your heart" ; bekol lebabeka "with all thy heart" ; bekol lebabekem "with all your heart" ; 'eseb besadeka "grass in thy field" ; wa'abadtem meherah "and ye will perish speedily" ; hakkanaph petil "the corner, a thread" ; etkem me'eres "you from the land[4]." R. Hamma b. R. Hannina said : Whoever reads the Shema' with distinct pronunciation of its letters, Gehinnom is cooled for him ; as it is said, "When the Almighty scattereth kings therein, it snoweth in Zalmon" (Ps. Ixviii. 15). Read not bephares "[When the Almighty] scattereth," but read bepharesh "When one uttereth [the name of the Almighty] distinctly" ; and read not beZalmon "in Zalmon," but besalmawet "in the shadow of death[1]." R. Hamma b. R. Hannina also said : Why are there found associated
