Daf Ditty Shabbes 136 Yawning and Mirror Neurons

Joseph Ducreux pandiculating (both yawning and stretching); self-portrait c. 1783

"One man's yawning makes another yawn"

Erasmus 1508

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Melodies for "Ring a Ring o' Roses", Alice Gomme, 1898

לַפ ןִמ גָגַּה וֹא וֹלָכֲא יִרֲא — יֵרְבִדּ לֹכַּה יַח ?אוּה אָהְו בַר אָפָּפּ בַרְו אָנוּה הּיֵרְבּ בַרְדּ ַﬠֻשׁוֹהְי וּעַלְקּיִא יֵבְל הּיֵרְבּ בַרְדּ בַרְדּ הּיֵרְבּ יֵבְל וּעַלְקּיִא ַﬠֻשׁוֹהְי בַרְדּ הּיֵרְבּ אָנוּה בַרְו אָפָּפּ בַר אָהְו ?אוּה יַח לֹכַּה יֵרְבִדּ יִדיִא רַבּ ,ןיִבָא וּדַבֲﬠַו וּהְל אָלְגיִﬠ אָתְּליִתּ אָמָמיִבּ .הָﬠְבִשְׁד ְמָאְו יִר :הּיֵל יִא וּתיִחְרָתּיִא הּיֵל דַﬠ אָתְּרוּאְל — וֲה הָ הָ וֲה ! ןַניִלְכָא ,הּיֵנּיִמ אָתְּשַׁה — אָל ןַניִלְכָא הּיֵנּיִמ ןַניִלְכָא אָל

The Gemara raises a difficulty: Is that to say that if the child fell off a roof or was eaten by a lion, everyone agrees that it is considered to have been alive? Didn’t Rav Pappa and Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, happen to come to the house of the son of Rav Idi bar Avin, and he prepared for them a third-born calf on the seventh day after its birth. And they said to him: Had you waited to slaughter it until the evening, we would have eaten from it. Now that you did not wait, we shall not eat from it. Apparently, if a calf is slaughtered before it was alive for

2 eight days and definitely viable, suspicion that it is stillborn remains; the same is true of a child who dies from an accident within thirty days of birth.

. :אָלֶּא קֵהיִפֶּשְׁכּ תֵמָו — יֵרְבִדּ לֹכַּה תֵמ ,אוּה יִכּ יִגיִלְפּ לַפָנְבּ ןִמ גָגַּה וֹלָכֲאַו ,יִרֲא רָמ :רַבָס תֵמ ,אוּה רָמוּ רַבָס יַח אוּה יַח רַבָס רָמוּ ,אוּה תֵמ :רַבָס רָמ ,יִרֲא וֹלָכֲאַו

Rather, Abaye’s statement must be reformulated: When the baby yawned and died, everyone agrees that it is considered to have been dead from the outset. Where they disagree is in a case when it fell off a roof or was eaten by a lion: This Master, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, holds: It is considered to have been dead; and this Master holds that since it did not die on its own, it is considered to have been alive.

Rabbeinu ּ Zerachya HaLevi explains that the phrase yawned and died refers specifically to a case where the baby breathed a bit and immediately died.

However, if it died as a result of illness, the baby is considered like one that fell from a roof and died accidentally.

Other commentaries state that the phrase yawned and died is only a figure of speech, and if the baby died as a result of illness, we assume that its naturally weak constitution was the cause of its death (Rabbeinu Yona; see Me’iri).1

Yawning was a physiological function discussed on Berachot 24b:

.וּ שֵׁמְשַׁמְמ ,וֹדְגִבְבּ לָבֲא אֹל הָיָה .ףֵטַּﬠְתִמ אוּהֶשְׁכוּ קֵהַפְמ הָיָה ַחיִנַּמ וֹדָי לַﬠ וֹרֵטְנַס לַﬠ וֹדָי ַחיִנַּמ הָיָה קֵהַפְמ אוּהֶשְׁכוּ .ףֵטַּﬠְתִמ הָיָה אֹל לָבֲא ,וֹדְגִבְבּ שֵׁמְשַׁמְמ

..and if he (Rebbe) was stung by a louse, he may feel for it and remove it with his garment, but he would not wrap himself in his prayer shawl if it fell during prayer. And when he would yawn, he would place his hand on his chin so that his open mouth would not be visible.

קֵהַגְמ קֵהַפְמוּ — רֲה יֵ הֶז יֵסַּגִּמ .ַחוּרָה שֵׁטַּﬠְתִמַּה וֹתָלִּפְתִבּ — ןָמיִס עַר .וֹל ְו שֵׁי :םיִרְמוֹא רָכּיִנ אוּהֶשׁ .רָﬠוֹכְמ קָרָה קָרָה .רָﬠוֹכְמ אוּהֶשׁ רָכּיִנ :םיִרְמוֹא שֵׁי . וֹתָלִּפְתִבּ — וּלּיִאְכּ קָר יֵנְפִבּ ֶלֶמַּה יֵנְפִבּ קָר וּלּיִאְכּ

Furthermore, one who belches and yawns while praying is surely among the uncouth. One who sneezes during his prayer, for him it is a bad omen. And some say: It is clear that he is repulsive. Also, one who spits during prayer, it is tantamount to spitting in the face of the king. In light of all this, how could Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi have done all that while praying?

! שִבּ אָמָלְ ׁ◌ קֵהַגְמ קֵהַפְמוּ אָל יְשַׁק :אָ ןאָכּ ,וֹסְנוֹאְל ןאָכּ .וֹנוֹצְרִל אָלֶּא שֵׁטַּﬠְתִמ שֵׁטַּﬠְתִמַּא אָיְשַׁק שֵׁטַּﬠְתִמַּא שֵׁטַּﬠְתִמ אָלֶּא .וֹנוֹצְרִל ןאָכּ ,וֹסְנוֹאְל ןאָכּ

The Gemara explains: Granted, with regard to one who belches and yawns, it is not difficult: Here, in the case where Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi did so, it was involuntary and therefore

1 Steinzaltz

3 permissible; here, where it is considered uncouth, is in a case where it is deliberate. However, the contradiction between sneezing in the case where Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi did so and sneezing where it is considered a bad omen is difficult.

Adam Kirsh in his refreshingly irreverent commentary on this pericope uses the physiological act as a window into rabbinic struggles between the halacha (davening) and bodily functions not under control of the will:2

This testimony presents a problem, not because of the apparent insult to Rebbi’s dignity, but for a reason that, in Talmudic terms, is far more serious: It raises a contradiction in the sources. It is assumed that Judah HaNasi—the editor of the Mishnah and its authoritative voice—would not do anything contrary to the law. Yet the Gemara goes on to cite a baraita holding that yawning, sneezing, and spitting during prayer are serious offenses. How to reconcile the law with Rebbi’s practice?

This kind of problem of reconciliation is, I have already come to recognize, the bread and butter of the Gemara. Nothing is more characteristic of the pages I have read so far than the use of imagination and logic to bring apparently contradictory sources into harmony. In the case of Rebbi, the challenge is to reconcile his all-too-human behavior during prayer with the law that forbids it. Lo kashya, “There is no contradiction,” the Gemara triumphantly holds: The law must have been directed against yawning and belching deliberately, while what Rebbi did was unintentional and therefore innocent.

But the rabbis go on to point out, this logic will not work when it comes to sneezes, for sneezes are always unintentional, yet the baraita still holds, “One who sneezes during his prayer, it is an evil omen for him.” How to solve this contradiction? Again, lo kasha: what Rebbi did was an ordinary sneeze, but what the law meant to forbid was a sneeze “from below”—that is, passing gas.

One may feel that there is something too easy about this redefinition of sneezing. After all, if the baraita meant to prohibit passing gas, why didn’t it just say so?

This kind of objection occurs to me fairly regularly in reading the Talmud, when the seemingly plain sense of a text is reinterpreted to meet the necessity of an argument. But I am trying to think my way into the logic of the rabbis, and it seems to me the best way to do this is by challenging my own sense of probability.

But this way of thinking about probability is ruled out by what seem to be the first principles of the rabbis. For these men, what seemed most improbable of all is that a holy man could have broken a law. It is far more probable that the law said something different than what it appears to say.

2 “Let’s Get Physical” In this week’s Talmud reading, the soul addresses God, but the body has its own agenda: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/belief/articles/lets-get-physical

4 The hierarchy of likelihoods is reversed, and that is why the rabbis seize on the possibility of redefining sneezing as “sneezing from below.”

But they implicitly recognize that this is something of a stretch, which is why they go on to bring another piece of supporting evidence. Rav Zeira cites an opinion he was taught, which holds that sneezing during prayer is actually a good omen: “For just as [sneezes] give him satisfaction below, in this world, so do they give him satisfaction above, in Heaven.” (The antinomian possibilities opened up by this saying are fearful, but the rabbis do not pursue them.)

שֵׁטַּﬠְתִמ שֵׁטַּﬠְתִמַּא יֵמָנ אָל ,אָיְשַׁק ןאָכּ ,הָלְﬠַמְלִּמ ןאָכּ .הָטַּמְלִּמ רַמָאְדּ בַר :אָריֵז אָה אָתְלּיִמ ַבִּא אָﬠְל יִל יֵבּ בַר בַר יֵבּ אָנוּנְמַה אָליִקְתוּ יִל יִכּ יֵלּוּכּ :יאַדוּמְלַתּ שֵׁטַּﬠְתִמַּה וֹתָלִּפְתִבּ ןָמיִס הֶפָי ,וֹל םֵשְׁכּ םיִשׂוֹעֶשׁ וֹל תַחַנ ַחוּר ,הָטַּמְלִּמ ָכּ ָכּ ,הָטַּמְלִּמ ַחוּר תַחַנ . םיִשׂוֹע וֹל חַ נ תַ חוּר ַ לִּ מ מְ ﬠַ לְ הָל ַמ ִמ וּ ַח לםִוֹ

The Gemara responds: The contradiction between sneezing in one case and sneezing in the other case is also not difficult: Here, in the case of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, it is referring to sneezing from above, his nose; here, where it is a bad omen, is referring to sneezing from below, flatulence.

As Rav Zeira said: In the school of Rav Hamnuna I absorbed this matter in passing, and it is equal in significance to all the rest of my learning: One who sneezes in the midst of prayer, it is a good omen for him. Just as the sneeze soothes his irritation, giving him pleasure below, it is a sign that they are similarly giving him pleasure above. Since Rav Zeira sneezed often, he was extremely pleased to hear this.

Now the balance of authorities with regard to sneezing is neutral: One is for it, the other against it. In these circumstances, it becomes more probable than ever that sneezing itself is not prohibited—which means that sneezing as the baraita used the term must actually mean passing gas.

Halachically, however the law is clear:3

שמ נ ה ב ר ו ר ה צ ״ ו : א ׳ - ״צ ז : י ׳י:ז״

)א( אוהשכ ללפתמ - ג"מפב בתכ ה"הד תעשב ש"ק ו ספ ו יק ד :הרמזד י פו " תש הה ת "פ

)א( קהפל ותמ ך וא סנ - ה"ה קוהיגבד ךותמ וא סנ אכיל ארוסיא המו אלד וטקנ רשפא םושמ ובד אכיל יח אבו אבו יח אכיל ובד םושמ רשפא וטקנ אלד המו ארוסיא אכיל סנ וא ךותמ קוהיגבד ה"ה נהל חי ודי יאש ן תחיתפ יפ ו בר כ"כ םגו אוה ןמזל טעומ דואמ כ"אשמ פב והי :קויפ

)ב( ורטנס - יה י נ ו יחל ותחתה ן זחו נ םי םישועה ןכ תעשב רמזה רתומ יפל יאש םנ וכתמ ו נ םי תוסגל אלא םיענהל םיענהל אלא תוסגל םי נ ו וכתמ םנ יאש יפל רתומ רמזה תעשב ןכ םישועה םי נ זחו ן ותחתה יחל ו נ י יה תא לוקה לבא אלש תעשב רמזה :רוסא רמזה תעשב אלש לבא לוקה תא

3 Daf Digest

5 )ג( קורל - לכו רוסאש ךותב הליפתה רוסא וליפא ונחתב םינ רחאלש הליפתה לכד ןמז אלש עספ ל"ה דמועכ ינפליפ מע " ס ל מ לדהית חל י נת ויארס לפהךת וא כ למה ך : מ

)ד( א"א ול וכו ' - גכ ו ן רעטציש הזב ו אהי דורט ותליפתב רחאו הקיקרה יתמי ן ידכ ךוליה א"ד ליעלדכו ןמיסב מס ילכ אדךלה ד ןימ היר חו ולפבדר ה הברטי ןוג ב"צ ט"ס : " "

)ה( אלש אהי הארנ - גכ ו ן דגבב ותחת ן לבא דגבב ילע ו ן יכ ו ן קורהש הארנ רוסא ידמבו יתנ נ ו ןישבולש סעליצאפ סעליצאפ ןישבולש ו נ יתנ ידמבו רוסא הארנ קורהש ן ו יכ ן ו ילע דגבב לבא ן ותחת דגבב ן ו גכ ףא קורהש הארנ רשפא רתומד יכד ו ן שעש יו ךכל ןיא וב םושמ סואימ ןכ בתכ א"מה לבא ראש י רחא ו נ י ם בתכ ו ת ח א לא אמ ת םגש הזב ךירצ ךורכל םוקמ קורה אלש אהי :הארנ ה אשקר ומךרלךר ז ג

)ו( וניאו לוכי 'וכו - יפ ' סואמש ול ועילבהל ותוסכב וא יאש נ ו לוכי ותוהשל ויפב דע נעילביש ו וא אוהש תוסכ תוסכ אוהש וא ו נעילביש דע ויפב ותוהשל לוכי ו נ יאש וא ותוסכב ועילבהל ול סואמש ' יפ האנ םאו נכירצנ ו נעילביש ו וב נדירטי ו :כ"ג וניט ב עלי וניצ םו א

)ז( וקרוז וירוחאל - יה י נ ו ךפוהש נפ י ו חאל ירו ו וא וקרוזש ודיב ירוחאל ו לבא אל יפלכ הלעמ הארנש :רפוככ הארנש הלעמ יפלכ אל לבא ו ירוחאל ודיב וקרוזש וא ו ירו

)ח( כ"שכו נפל י ו - נפמ י ללפתמהש יכש הנ נפל י ו מ"מו םא א"א ול קורל אלא נפל י ו וא ימיל נ ו אוהו רעטצמ רעטצמ אוהו ו נ ימיל וא ו י נפל אלא קורל ול א"א םא מ"מו ו י נפל הנ יכש ללפתמהש י נפמ הליפתב י"ע וניאש לוכי קורל רתומ ול קורל יל ימ נ ו וליפאו נפל י ו : פ לפו וני

)ט( ל"י םעטהד וכו ' - ורחאהו נ םי וצרת תוטישפב אכהד תעשב ותקיקר קלסמ נממ ו דובכ יכשה הנ כ"שמכו כשכ ה כהדב מ למ תירתש אה ןמיסב 'ג ןינעל ודבכתה םידבוכמ וכו ' כ"ע ןנילזא רתב ןימי ו לאמש לש םדאה כ"אשמ ןמיסב ג"כק יאד ירי ר א גכ ןיבכאמםא שלמ האוחתשהב הוחתשמש ףוסב ותליפת יכשהל הנ כ"ע ילזא נ ן רתב ימי ן יכשד :הנ כד מ רב לא " נישל ולפ ובהחששהותה

)י( אוהו דגנכ הניכשה - ל"ר כ"עש וכ ותנ זא תעב וחתשה י ה תוחתשהל דגנ יכשה הנ איהש הלעמל הרשעמ יכי רע למ ישה כהדנ ותה אלה אל י הדר :הטמל הרי א ל

One is not allowed to yawn while davening — unless the yawn is beyond your control, in which case one should cover his mouth with his hand. Orach Chayim 97:1

Why, does Shulchan Aruch only mention the solution of covering the mouth in the context of yawning? Because with a burp it is not absolutely necessary— or even feasible — to cover your mouth, because a burp takes a much shorter time than a yawn, and, moreover, much less of the mouth is revealed.

Yawning, on the other hand, takes longer and opens the mouth to a much greater extent, and hence the feasibility and requirement to cover your mouth.

Aruch HaShulchan, op cit, on the other hand, asserts that only yawns are sometimes involuntary and beyond your control. Burps, however, can and must be suppressed altogether during davening — just as one would do at a fancy party or other venue in which the burping would be perceived as rude. Accordingly, in the context of burping Shulchan Aruch does not mention the solution of covering the mouth because it is not a solution, as you are required to suppress the burp.

6

The prohibitions against yawning and burping during davening apply to a person davening alone in a private place to the same extent that they apply to a person davening with others in a public place.

For although there are no other people present to be disgusted by these bodily functions, nevertheless, when davening, even by oneself, it is as if one is standing before Hashem, and, therefore the same standards apply. (Tiferes Shlomo on the Rosh to Berochos III: 39)

Dr Jeremy Brown MD

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Rabbinic ambivalence to sneezing and yawning is seen in this blog from my old colleague from medical school in London, Dr Jeremy Brown MD.4

כרב תו נ ג , א ,גנ ת ר אָיְנַתּ יֵמָנ :יִכָה לֶשׁ תיֵבּ ןָבַּר לֵאיִלְמַגּ אֹל וּיָה םיִרְמוֹא ״אֵפְּרַמ״ תיֵבְבּ שָׁרְדִמַּה , נְפִּמ ֵ י לוּטּיִבּ תיֵבּ רְדִמַּה שָׁ ְִַ יבּלטִּ ְִ

This concern for disrupting Torah study was also taught in a baraita: The members of the house of Rabban Gamliel would not say “good health” when someone sneezed in the study hall, due to the fact that it would lead to suspension of study in the study hall.

Simply saying “bless you” after hearing a person sneeze was considered to be inappropriate when it would lead to - an albeit very brief - interruption of Torah. Rashi explains that this word He notes that ” אפרמ – םדאל שטעתמה גרש י ל י ם ל ו רמ סא ו את “ :was said after hearing a person sneeze which means a cure or a , סא ו את - another word people said after hearing a sneeze is assuta remedy. (It is also, by the way, the name of a hospital in north Tel Aviv.)

SNEEZING IN THE MIDRASH, AND IN NURSERY RHYMES

Pirkei De Rabbi Eliezer is a collection of rabbinic stories traditionally ascribed to the first century sage Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, (although scholars believe it was composed around the 8th century). Towards the end is a chapter describing “seven wonderful things that have been done in the world, the like of which have never been seen.” The fourth of these wonders is sneezing:

קרפ י יברד רזעילא 52

תפומה יעיברה , ימ םו ארבנש םלועה אל היה םדא ,הלוח לא א לכב םוקמ היהש םדא םא ךרדב םא קושב שטעו שטעו קושב םא ךרדב םא םדא היהש םוקמ לכב א התיה ושפנ י האצו יריחנמ ו ,תמו דע אבש בקעי יבא נ ו שקבו םימחר לע תאז רמאו נפל י ,ה"בה ובר נ ו לש םלוע םלוע לש ו נ ובר ,ה"בה י נפל רמאו תאז לע םימחר שקבו ו נ יבא בקעי אבש דע ,תמו ו יריחנמ האצו י ושפנ התיה לא חקת תא ישפנ ינממ דע רשא ינא הוצמ תא ינב ינבו יתיב . ו רתענ ול , נש ' ו יהי ירחא םירבדה הלאה ו רמאי רמאי ו הלאה םירבדה ירחא יהי ו ' נש , ול רתענ ו . יתיב ינבו ינב תא הוצמ ינא רשא דע ינממ ישפנ תא חקת לא יל ףסו הנה ךיבא .הלוח משו וע לכ יכלמ ץראה והמתו אלש היה והמכ ימ םו וארבנש םימש ץראו ץראו םימש וארבנש םו ימ והמכ היה אלש והמתו ץראה יכלמ לכ וע ךכיפל יח בי םדא רמול וריבחל תעשב יתושיטע ו יח םי ךפהנש תומ םלועה ,רואל נש ' יא( בו ,אמ י ) יתושיטע ו ויויע א וי( 'נ ,ולםוהתמךהשם ח תשט עב רבלרו ד יי כפ להת א ו ר ה

The fourth wonder: From the day when the heavens and the earth were created no man became ill. Rather, wherever a person happened to be, whether on a journey or in the market, he would suddenly sneeze, and his soul would leave through his nostrils, and he would die.

This continued until our father Jacob came and prayed for mercy concerning this, and he said before the Holy One, blessed be He: “Sovereign of all the worlds! Do not take my soul from me until I have charged my sons and my household.”

4 The National Institutes of Health has selected Jeremy Brown, M.D., to be the first permanent director of its Office of Emergency Care Research (OECR). He is currently an associate professor of emergency medicine and chief of the clinical research section in the Department of Emergency Medicine at The George Washington University (GWU).

8 God was convinced, as it says, And it came to pass after these things, that 1 א ,יִהְיַו יֵרֲחַא םיִרָבְדַּה ,הֶלֵּאָה רֶמאֹיַּו ְל ,ףֵסוֹי נִּה הֵ בָא יִ יִ בָא הֵ נִּה ,ףֵסוֹי '.one said to Joseph: 'Behold, thy father is sick ;הֶלֹח יַּוִ חַקּ תֶא - יֵנְשׁ נָב ,ויָ וֹמִּﬠ -- תֶא - ,הֶשַּׁנְמ תֶאְו - .םִיָרְפֶא And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Gen 48:1

"And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick" (Gen. 48:1). All the kings of the earth heard about this, and they wondered because there had never been anything like this since the creation of heaven and earth.

Therefore, a man is in duty bound to say to his fellow: “Life!” when the latter sneezes, for the death of the world was changed into light, as it is said,

His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the 10 י ,ויָתֹשׁיִטֲﬠ לֶהָתּ ;רוֹא ,ויָניֵﬠְו ,ויָניֵﬠְו .eyelids of the morning יֵפַּﬠְפַﬠְכּ - .רַחָשׁ Job 41:10

"His sneezing flash forth light"

According to this whimsical Midrash, there was a time when death only came suddenly, and was always preceded by a sneeze. No wonder sneezing was so feared.

A soldier hides his yawn from his lady companion in this detail from a painting by Oscar Bluhm titled Ermüdende Konversation, or "Wearisome conversation".

9 In a 1983 paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Selig Kavka noted there is no response after hearing someone “belching, coughing, groaning, hiccupping, retching, snoring, vomiting, wheezing, or breaking wind, even when these symptoms may portend trouble.”

So why sneezing? Perhaps it was because sneezing comes from the rapid movement of air in and out of the body, and air was synonymous with the spirit.

The great Polish Jewish astronomer and historian (we wrote about him in Daf Ditty) David Ganz (d.1613) wrote in his book Tzemach David of a plague that took place in the year 1590. “There was poison and pollution that filled the atmosphere across almost the entire world. When a person would sneeze, he would immediately fall to the ground and die a sudden death.”

According to Jacob Eisenbrok, from that time onward the custom because widespread in every language and culture that that after a person sneezes, we say “assuta” - “may you be cured.”

And there is of course the sinister children’s poem in which sneezing (“ashes” or in some the English versions “atishoo”) is followed by death, (at least according to some historians).

(for instance, “Baa Baa Black Sheep” is about the medieval wool tax, enforced in the 13th century by the King Edward I. With the new rules, a third of the cost of the sack wool went to him, a third went to the church, and the rest went to the farmer. Black sheep were also considered to be bad luck for the reason that their fleeces, not able to be dyed, were less profitable for the farmer.)

Ring-a-ring o' roses, A pocket full of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down

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The invariable sneezing and falling down in modern English versions have given would-be origin finders the opportunity to say that the rhyme dates back to the Great Plague.

A rosy rash, they allege, was a symptom of the plague, and posies of herbs were carried as protection and to ward off the smell of the disease. Sneezing or coughing was a final fatal symptom, and "all fall down" was exactly what happened.5

The line Ashes, Ashes in colonial versions of the rhyme is claimed to refer variously to cremation of the bodies, the burning of victims' houses, or blackening of their skin, and the theory has been adapted to be applied to other versions of the rhyme.6

5 Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, CBE, FBA (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists, who applied modern techniques to children's literature, summarised in their studies The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951) and The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (1959). They were also noted anthologists, and assembled large collections of children's literature, toys, and games.

6 “Mary, Mary Quite Contrary” might be about Bloody Mary, the daughter of King Henry VII, and the concerns of murder and torture of the Protestants. Queen Mary was a faithful Catholic, and her garden was a reference to the graveyards which were filled with Protestant martyrs. The ‘cockleshells’ were thought to be devices of torture that were attached to the male genitals, and the ‘silver bells’ were thought to be thumbscrews

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THE MEANING OF SNEEZING IN OTHER CULTURES

The Romans apparently had a similar custom to the Jews and would say “Absit omen” ("Evil spirit be gone!") after someone sneezed. In his review of the topic, J. Askenasy, then at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, noted that Hippocrates attributed a dialectic dualistic interpretation to sneezing.

He claimed that sneezing was dangerous before or after a lung illness but was beneficial to other diseases (Prognosticon 41:22). In the first century BCE, Discorides reported the dangerous relationship between epileptic seizures and copious sneezing. Hippocrates wrote in Aphorisms section 6:13 that 'Sneezing, in the case of a person with hiccup, cures the hiccup'. This true feature was understood 2,000 years later by means of the reciprocal inhibition phenomenon. Celsus emphasized the beneficial aspect of sneezing during convalescence from illness (Medic2:3). This belief still exists today among the Zulu tribes.

Many cultures have their own superstition surrounding sneezing which are delightfully described in a London magazine in 1881.

To this day, in Ireland and in parts of Scotland, the custom prevails. My housekeeper, a Devonshire woman, tells me it is still observed by the peasantry in that county. During the past century it was considered a gross breach of propriety not to salute a person on his sneezing. A friend of mine has told me that his father, as a little boy, was presented to the Pope, and was promised on his next visit, two days subsequently, a medal blessed by his Holiness. He and his father were present when the cardinals were

12 assembled together. He happened to sneeze, when, to his surprise and delight, their eminences rose and bowed to him. The result was so agreeable that he extemporized several sneezes which were similarly honoured. His father was so mortified at the practical joke that he refused to present his son again to the Pope, and the little fellow therefore paid dearly for his amusement and lost the intended present from his Holiness. Not very long ago an Englishwoman, travelling in Italy, who had heard a married lady friend who sneezed saluted by those present, not understanding Italian, or the precise meaning of the phrase used, subsequently astounded a bishop who sneezed near her, by the courteous wish Figlio maschio ! (May it be a boy !)

GOOD SNEEZING

If all this led you to think that sneezing is always a bad omen, the Talmud thinks otherwise. In a few pages (Berachot 57b) during a lengthy discussion about the meaning of dreams we will read the following:

,הָﬠיֵז ,לוּשְׁלִשׁ ,יִרֶק ,הָניֵשְׁו .םוֹלֲחַו שׁוּטִּﬠ — :ביִתְכִדּ ויָתוֹשׁיִטֲﬠ״ , שׁוּטִּﬠ : הָשִּׁשׁ רָבְדּ םיִ ןָמיִס הֶפָי וֹחַל ,הֶל וּלֵּא ןֵה וּלֵּא ,הֶל לֵהָתּ ״רוֹא לֵהָתּ There are six good omens for the sick: Dreaming about sneezing, sweating, diarrhea, a seminal emission, sleep, and a dream. These are all alluded to in Scripture: Sneezing, as it is written: “His sneezes flash forth light” (Job 41:10),

So, while sneezing while awake was worrying, a dream in which you sneezed was considered lucky.

13 But sometimes sneezing - even when awake - was a sign of good things. In the Book of Kings (Kings II 4:34-35), Elisha famously revives a young boy whose birth he had prophesied.

יַּו ִ רַהְג ויָלָﬠ םָחָיַּו רַשְׂבּ ׃דֶלָיַּה בָשָׁיַּו ֶלֵיַּו תִיַבַּבּ תַחַא הָנֵּה תַחַאְו הָנֵּה לַﬠַיַּו יַּו ִ רַהְג ָﬠ ָל וי ַ ו ְ י רוֹז רֵ ַ ה ﬠַנּ רַ בֶשׁ־דַﬠ עַ ﬠְ פּ מָ םיִ םיִ מָ ﬠְ פּ עַ בֶשׁ־דַﬠ רַ ﬠַ נּ ַ ה רֵ רוֹז ְ י ַ ו וי יַּו ִ חַקְפ רַﬠַנַּה ׃ויָניֵﬠ־תֶא ׃ויָניֵﬠ־תֶא רַﬠַנַּה חַקְפ

Then he mounted [the bed] and placed himself over the child. He put his mouth on its mouth, his eyes on its eyes, and his hands on its hands, as he bent over it. And the body of the child became warm. He stepped down, walked once up and down the room, then mounted and bent over him. Thereupon, the boy sneezed seven times, and the boy opened his eyes.

In this story, sneezing is not a sign of impending death, as it is in Pirkei De Rabbi Eliezer. Instead, it was a sign of resurrection.

Two women ironing, one with a yawn, by Edgar Degas

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Not so Yawning:

The custom of covering your mouth while yawning is common in several cultures, but so far, from searching secular sources, I have not found any such customs or requirements with Jewish origins.

In Yawning: comparative study of knowledge and beliefs, popular and medical, O. Walusinski writes:7

According to [Pierre] Saintyves, Islam sees yawning as a sign of Satan entering the body and sneezing as a sign of his leaving the body. [...] "The Prophet told us that yawning is prompted by Satan and gave us the order to avoid it whenever possible. When it becomes inevitable, we must close our mouth with our hand."

Similar practices and ideas exist in India, and later in Europe during the Bubonic Plague where the practice was instead signing the cross in front of their mouth.

Since Antiquity, yawning has held as little interest for philosophers, psychologists and physiologists, as it has for teachers, moralists and physicians.

Around 590 AD, during the times of Pope Gregory the Great, a bubonic plague epidemic raged through Europe, decimating the population and inspiring numerous superstitions:

“Yawning was fatal then, and the habit of signing the cross in front of the mouth originated during the times of the plague. [...]

There was a plague they called inguinal, because a bubo appeared in the groins, causing men to die suddenly in the streets, in their houses, at play, during a meal.

Their souls left their bodies when they sneezed or yawned. This is why we said ‘God bless you’ to those who sneezed. Those who yawned made the sign of the cross over their mouths”.

Even the skeptical Michel de Montaigne concerned that he made the sign of the cross before his mouth while yawning, given evidence for the education’s power.

In Austria, in the case of a yawning baby who was not able to perform the sign of the cross, an older person would perform this gesture in front of the infant’s mouth in order to prevent illness and bad luck.8

7 8 ) Seuntjens W. On Yawning or the hidden sexuality of the human yawn. Thesis. Amsterdam 2004.Vrije

15 In his treatise on wind, De flatibus liber, Hippocrates9 noted that “the continual yawning of apoplectics proves that air is the cause of apoplexies”, thereby confirming his theory that “wind is the cause of all diseases”.

In 1739, Hermann Boerhaave, in his Praelectiones academicae10, explains that

“yawning and pandiculation favour the equitable distribution of spiritus in all the muscles and unblock the vessels of which sleep, or rest may have slowed the functions”,

and that their action fights “against the excessive pre-eminence of the flexor muscles and returns everything to its place”.

In his 1755 book De perspiratione insensibili, Johan de Gorter11 was the first to describe yawning as accelerating blood flow, supposedly to improve the oxygenation of the brain, in response to cerebral anemia.

Well into the 20th century, there were regular references to this notion, even though it had never been demonstrated. Even someone as knowledgeable and inquisitive as Professor JM Charcot the founder of modern neurology, repeated this maxim without any critical analysis in his Leçons du Mardi à la Salpêtrière in 1888.

9 ) Hippocrate. Opera omnia. Anuce Foes Ed. Francfurt/Main. 1595. Wechel héritiers d'André. 379p. (http://www.bium.univ- paris5.fr/histmed/medica.htm).

10 Boerhaave H. Praelectiones academicae in proprias institutiones rei medicae. 1741-1745 Gottingae. A. Vandenhoeck (imp.) 4 vol.

11 de Gorter J. De perspiratione insensibili. Patavii. 1755. J. Manfrè. 328p. 11°) Provine RR, Tat

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Jena Pierre Charcot teaching a class of medical students 1888 "A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière" by Pierre Aristide André Brouillet. This painting shows Charcot demonstrating hypnosis on a "hysterical" Salpêtrière patient, "Blanche" (Marie "Blanche" Wittmann), In Medicine

And yet, few things are as common as yawning. Everyone yawns 5 to 10 times a day. Yawning is a recognized behavior in almost all vertebrates from birds to humans, one which starts in the womb and continues until death.

Although yawning often procures a sense of well-being for the yawner, attempting to mask this behavior is standard practice.

Yawning (oscitation)12 most often occurs in adults immediately before and after sleep, during tedious activities and as a result of its contagious quality.13 It is commonly associated with tiredness, stress, sleepiness, boredom, or even hunger.

In humans, yawning is often triggered by the perception that others are yawning (for example, seeing a person yawning, or talking to someone on the phone who is yawning). This is a typical example of positive feedback. This "contagious" yawning has also been observed

12 The Latin term used in medicine is oscitatio (anglicized as oscitation), from the verb oscito "to open the mouth". Pandiculation is the act of yawning and stretching simultaneously

13 Guggisberg AG, Mathis J, Herrmann US, Hess CW. The functional relationship between yawning and vigilance. Behav Brain Res. 2007;179(1):159-166.

17 in chimpanzees, dogs, cats, birds, and reptiles and can occur between members of different species. Approximately twenty psychological reasons for yawning have been proposed by scholars but there is little agreement on the primacy of anyone. In pre-term and near-term infants, the incidence of yawning and also the frequency, decreases during the day and with age (Giganti, et al., 2007)14. This is probably due to circadian and homeostatic control of sleep and wakefulness.

In non-primates, the incidence of yawning is higher before than after sleep (Walusinski & Deputte, 2004). In particular, in rats, cholinesterase inhibitors such as E2030, can induce yawning.

Scopolamine, (a centrally acting anti-muscarinic drug), has been seen to block E2030-induced yawning but not E2020-induced yawning. This suggests that central cholinergic and dopinergic mechanisms may be involved in E2020-induced yawning.

Drug-induced yawning may serve as a compensatory brain cooling mechanism when natural regulation fails (Prasad, 2008). Gallup and Gallup (2007) have suggested that yawning may regulate brain temperature in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Although patients often experience disturbed sleep patterns with MS, there is evidence of irregular thermoregulation (Fleming & Pollak, 2005).

The yawn may be a physiological trait emerging from a vestigial reflex that coordinates aggressive social behavior (Prasad, 2008). However, Walusinski and colleagues (2010) have shown that the onset of yawning can coincide with involuntary rising of the paralyzed arm in stroke, leading the authors to coin the term “parakinesia brachialis oscitans”.

Patients with depression have elevated brain temperature levels; with mania, brain temperature tends to fall (Salerian, et al., 2008). This has led researchers to investigate whether reducing the dose of antidepressant lowers brain temperature and reduces the incidence of yawning (Gutiérrez-Álvarez, 2007). The link between brain-stem ischemia and excessive yawning is also well documented (Wimalaratna & Capildeo, 1988) and suggests that neural mechanisms are involved.

Contagious yawning

Fifty per cent of us yawn within 5 minutes of seeing another person yawn. It is suggested that yawning is an innate action that recognizes a particular behavioral state. Indeed, Mental Attribution Theory provides an explanation along the lines that we simulate another’s behavior if we empathy with their perceived emotional state. Hence, if we are aligned with them at some emotional level, then we might actually yawn after they yawn.

14 Giganti, F., Hayes, M. J., Cioni, G., et al. (2007). Yawning frequency and distribution in preterm and near-term infants assessed throughout 24-h recordings. Infant Behavior & Development, 30, 641-647.

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During a yawn the tensor tympani muscle in the middle ear contracts. This creates a rumbling noise perceived as coming from within the head; however, the noise is due to mechanical disturbance of the hearing apparatus and is not generated by the motion of air. Yawning is sometimes accompanied, in humans and other animals, by an instinctive act of stretching several parts of the body including the arms, neck, shoulders and back.

In animals, yawning can serve as a warning signal. For example, Charles Darwin, in his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, mentioned that baboons yawn to threaten their enemies, possibly by displaying large canine teeth.

Similarly, Siamese fighting fish yawn only when they see a conspecific (same species) or their own mirror-image, and their yawn often accompanies aggressive attack.

Guinea pigs also yawn in a display of dominance or anger, displaying their impressive incisor teeth. This is often accompanied by teeth chattering, purring and scent marking. Adelie penguins employ yawning as part of their courtship ritual. Penguin couples face off and the males engage in what is described as an "ecstatic display", opening their beaks and pointing their faces skyward. This trait has also been seen among emperor penguins. Researchers have been attempting to discover why these two different species share this trait, despite not sharing a habitat. Snakes yawn, both to realign their jaws after a meal and for respiratory reasons, as their trachea can be seen to expand when they do this.

Dogs, and occasionally cats, often yawn after seeing people yawn and when they feel uncertain. Dogs demonstrate contagious yawning when exposed to human yawning. Dogs are very adept at reading human communication actions, so it is unclear if this phenomenon is rooted in evolutionary history or a result of domestication. Fish can also yawn, and they increase this behavior due to lack of oxygen.

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Recently, the mirror neuron system of the brain, a collection of neurons in the right posterior inferior frontal gyrus has been suggested to be involved in contagious yawning.15 Mirror neurons are considered to be important for perception and understanding of motor actions, which is a pre- requisite for “true-imitation,” that is, the exact copying of a goal directed behavior.16

15 Schürmann M, Hesse MD, Stephan KE, Saarela M, Zilles K, Hari R, et al. Yearning to yawn: The neural basis of contagious yawning. Neuroimage. 2005;24:1260–4. Arnott SR, Singhal A, Goodale MA. An investigation of auditory contagious yawning. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2009;9:335–42.

16 Rizzolatti G, Craighero L. The mirror-neuron system. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2004;27:169–92.

20 Mirror neurons are a class of neurons, originally discovered in the premotor cortex of monkeys, that discharge both when individuals perform a given motor act and when they observe others perform that same motor act.

Ample evidence demonstrates the existence of a cortical network with the properties of mirror neurons (mirror system) in humans.

The human mirror system is involved in understanding others' actions and their intentions behind them, and it underlies mechanisms of observational learning.

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