Moed Katan 28 When We Die

We are diving deep today, digging into the topic of death.  Beginning with women's deaths in childbirth and their appropriate burials, we are told that Miriam, like Moses, was killed with a Divine kiss.  A note explains that this image would be inappropriate, and thus we have to find proof texts to understand that Miriam died either like Moses or like Aaron.  Once discussing the death of our ancestors, the rabbis immerse themselves in this topic.

First, they look at the meanings of deaths at different ages.  A ripe age is 60, as that was the age described in a proof text.  Seventy is old age, and 80 requires strength.  The rabbis try to understand when we can attribute death to the punishment called karet, or death at the hand of Heaven.  Karet is one of the most severe consequences that a Jew can suffer.

Some of our Sages believe that the age of death is due to fate - nothing more and nothing less.  The deaths of Rabbi Chisda and Rabba are used as an example.  Both were great scholars.  When each of them prayed for rain, we are told, it rained.  And yet Rabbi Chisda saw sixty marriages in his family, lived with sustenance even for the animals and with great wealth until the age of 82.  Rabba, on the other hand, saw sixty calamities over the course of his life.  All of his children died, and his family did not have enough of the simple food that they ate.  How could this be G-d's will?  Instead, fate controls the lifespan of our Sages.

This opinion is very much in line with modern philosophies regarding G-d's involvement in our lives.  These rabbis would have understood the Holocaust as acts of human depravity rather than acts of G-d's will.  And though we think of the Holocaust as a major defining moment in Jewish understandings of G-d, certainly the Jewish people were subject to similar tragedies (perhaps without the means of the 20th century) by the time that this Gemara was spoken.

The Angel of Death is the next topic that intrigues our rabbis.  They discuss the stories of different rabbis and their interactions with the Angel of Death.  It seems that the Angel of Death can be delayed but not cancelled.  One story tells of Rabbi Chisda, who lived so long because his mouth never ceased speaking words of Torah; the Angel of Death was unable to interrupt him.  Finally, the Angel of Death sat on the ceiling of the study hall, causing the wood to creak.  At that moment, Rabbi Chisda looked up and stopped speaking.  This was enough of a pause for the Angel of Death to take Rabbi Chisda.

A new Mishna, the last of Masechet Moed Katan, tells us how and when women should wail, lament, and clap their hands in mourning.  We learn that on Chanukah, Purim and Rosh Chodesh, women can wail and clap their hands. On intermediate days, Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah and Purim, they may clap their hands and wail but not lament.  Wailing is when all women cry out together.  Lamenting is when one person speaks and the others answer together.  Jeremiah (9:10) tells us that Jews were told to teach our daughters to wail and lament.  Finally, the Mishna teaches that G-d will destroy death forever, wiping away  tears from all faces (Isaiah 25:8).

Women from different communities would cry out different things.  The women of Shekhantziv are said to be very wise; they often spoke in riddles. The rabbis tell us that they would say the following things:

• woe over him who is departing
• woe over the pledge
• woe over over him who is departing, woe over the pledge
• the bone has been removed from the jaw and the water returns to the kettle
• wrap and cover the mountains as the son of the high and distinguished
• lend a cloak fine wool for a free man whose sustenance has been depleted
• runs and tumbles at the ford and he borrows
• our brothers, the merchants, will be examined at their places
• death is like death, and suffering is like interest

The rabbis tell us many different ways that we "do unto others as we would have done to us" with regard to eulogizing, burying, praising, wailing, and being humble.  

A baraita is shared about eulogies for the sons of Rabbi Yishmael.  Four great Sages came to comfort him.  Each one spoke without interrupting the other, speaking of proofs that Rabbi Yishmael's sons will be honoured and that they were important and special people.  Although this seems comforting, it also has an air of competition about it.  Hopefully Rabbi Yishmael was comforted by their words. 

At the end of today's daf, we learn that the prooftext for waiting until a mourner to speak until one responds is in Job.  Job spoke first; only then was he spoken to.  This custom continues today.  The rabbis continue in this vein and speak about who sits at the head of the table in different circumstances. They also speak of who has the honour of reciting Grace over Meals following the supper.