Moed Katan 15 Ostracism

As we learn about what is prohibited on the Intermediate Festival Days, the rabbis draw parallels between these days and days spent in mourning.  Today's daf and other parts of Perek III are even permitted as learning material on days when learning is prohibited.  The laws of mourning are outlined throughout these passages.

The rabbis cover a number of mourning practices, but they focus on the larger categories of ostracism, rending clothing, and laundering clothing.  Proof texts are provided to help us understand the origins of these practices.  We learn that ostracism in mourning includes covering one's upper lip, or refusing to speak to or be greeted by other people.  We learn that mourners do not launder their clothing, which becomes black with grime.  We learn that sexual relations are forbidden when in mourning due to an encounter between David and Batsheva.  The proof texts for these practices are clearly interpretations; however, our practices in mourning are solid and unchanged. We have continued to recreate the meaning that our rabbis attached to these rituals two thousand years ago.

Some thoughts about ostracism.  We learn that there are three stages of banishment from the community.  The first is ostracism, or menudeh.  It is a warning.  The second is an intermediary stage called, according to the Ra'avad, shamta.  The most serious stage is excommunication, or mucharah.  The seriousness of banishment is obvious; without community, one cannot survive in the times of the Talmud.  We are told that selling water in dry areas is an acceptable job for one who has been placed outside of the community: a solitary, small business.  

I appreciate that the rabbis note the power of greeting - or not greeting - our neighbours.  Small acts such as these can hold great meaning.  The rabbis understand that without the acknowledgement of our presence, we lose our place within the social structure. Without that grounding; without that context for relationships, we lose our sense of self.  Ostracism was a warning.  I would bet that it usually worked.