Daf Ditty Shabbes 94 Final

Daf Ditty Shabbes 94 Of Burial and Tikkun

Jewish funeral in Vilnius (1824), National Museum in Warsaw

רמא יבר י ןנחו םושמ ש"ר ןב י יחו זמר הרובקל ןמ הרותה ןיינמ ל"ת יכי " ןימהוה מהוק זר ח בשרםש ןח ב מ רבק נרבקת ו ןאכמ זמר הרובקל ןמ הרותה הרותה ןמ הרובקל זמר ןאכמ ו נרבקת

There are those who say that Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai: From where in the Torah is there a hint to the mitzva of burial? The verse (Deut 21:23) states: “But you shall bury him [kavor tikberennu],” doubling the verb for emphasis. From here there is a hint to the mitzva of burial in the Torah.

1 Sanhedrin 46b

One of the burial options is a sarcophagus which is a stone coffin that apparently rich or important people such as high priests were buried in.

The second coffin called ossuaries were reserved for common people. An ossuary is a small coffin in which the bones of the dead were inside – that means that after a person died, their body was buried in a burial cave and after a certain period of time the bones were removed and placed in an ossuary.

The chiddush of the Gemara is that we might have thought that Rabbi Shimon only exempts the .just for the sake of vacating the deceased from his house תמ person who carries out the

Yet, we see that Rabbi Shimon defines an act as a Melachah she'Einah Tzerichah l'Gufah .even if there is a direct need for the removal of the body in order to bury it הכאלמ

This is also an act from which the person in the house derives no benefit, and for which he has no need. It is still only an act of removing an unwanted situation from his domain.

Meiri asks, however, that burying the dead is a mitzvah, so the person in the house certainly גל הפו צש ר י כ ה does benefit from the removal of the dead from his house in this case. It should be a so why does the Gemara tell us that Rabbi Shimon exempts the person even if the dead is, הכאלמ being taken to be buried?

Although the Yerushalmi concludes that this case is dealing where the dead person was a gentile, and therefore there is no mitzvah of burying him, Meiri dismisses this approach to answer our question.

Rashba explains that even if a mitzvah must be performed, this is not an integral part of the act of removing the dead, and it does not change the nature of the melacha to being on which is purposeful.

Sfas Emes explains that the question of the Meiri could hinge upon the discussion in the Gemara in Sanhedrin (46b) concerning the very nature of burial of the dead.

איעביא והל הרובק םושמ זב י ו אנ ה או וא םושמ הרפכ אוה אוה הרפכ םושמ וא או

§ A dilemma was raised before the Sages: Is burial obligatory on account of disgrace, i.e., so that the deceased should not suffer the disgrace of being left exposed as his body begins to decompose, or is it on account of atonement, i.e., so that the deceased will achieve atonement by being returned to the ground from which he was formed?

יאמל אקפנ ימ הנ רמאד אל יעב אנ הורבקילד אוההל ארבג יא תרמא םושמ זב י ו אנ אוה אל לכ ימכ נ הי יאו תרמא םושמ םושמ תרמא יאו הי נ ימכ לכ אל אוה אנ ו י זב םושמ תרמא יא ארבג אוההל הורבקילד אנ יעב אל רמאד הנ ימ אקפנ יאמל הרפכ אוה אה רמא אל עב י אנ הרפכ אמ הפ ניע ל רא ה אה הפ

One opinion says that the purpose of burial is to serve as an atonement for the person who died. Tosafos there explains that). זב י ו ן שמ ו ם ) The other opinion says that burial is to avoid disgrace the disgrace would be that of the surviving relatives. In other words, it is for the benefit of the living.)

then removing the body on Shabbos to, זב ןוי Explains Sfas Emes, if the reason for burial is due to because the person would still prefer that the entire episode, אש י הכאלמ גל הפו רצ י הכ ה bury it is a not occur, and the task at hand is only to avoid more disgrace.

4 However, if the purpose of burial is to serve as an atonement for the deceased, this melacha as it has positive meaning and significance. Accordingly, our Gemara , גל הפו would be considered 1. זב י ו ן would be of the opinion that Rabbi Shimon holds that the purpose of burial is to avoid

Burial as Kavod Habriyos

Decent burial was regarded to be of great importance in ancient Israel, as one can measure by the frequency with which the Bible refers to the fear of being left unburied. It was regarded as one of the laws of humanity “not to let anyone lie unburied.” The one thing expressed most clearly by Israelite burial practices was the human desire to maintain some contact with the community even after death, through burial in one's native land, and if possible, with one's ancestors.

Jacob's request, “Bury me with my fathers” (Gen. 49:29), was the wish of every ancient Israelite. In harmony with this desire, the tomb most typical of the Israelite period was a natural cave or a chamber cut into soft rock, near the city. Bodies would be laid on rock shelves provided on three sides of the chamber, or on the floor, and as generations of the same family used the tomb, skeletons and grave goods might be heaped up along the sides or put into a side chamber to make room for new burials.

This practice of family burial was common enough to give rise to the Hebrew expressions “to sleep with one's fathers” (I Kings 11:23) and “to be gathered to one's kin” (Gen. 25:8) as synonyms for “to die.”

There is no explicit biblical evidence as to how soon after death burial took place, but it is likely that it was ordinarily within a day. This was dictated by the climate and by the fact that the Israelites did not embalm the dead. Cremation was not practiced by the ancient Israelites.

In Talmudic times, burial took place in caves, hewn tombs, sarcophagi and catacombs; and a secondary burial, a re-interment (likkut aẓamot) of the remains in an ossuary, sometimes took place about one year after the original burial. (An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains.

A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary.) Jewish custom insists on prompt burial as a matter of respect for the dead.

According to one Kabbalistic source, burial refreshes the soul of the deceased, and only after burial will it be admitted to God's presence. The precedents set by the prompt burials of Sarah (Gen. 23) and of Rachel (Gen. 35:19) are reinforced by the Torah's express command that even the body of a man who had been hanged shall not remain upon the tree all night, but “thou shalt surely bury him the same day” (Deut. 21:23).

1 Daf Digest Shabbes 94

Some delays in burial are justified: “Honor of the dead” demands that the proper preparation for a coffin and shrouds be made, and that relatives and friends pay their last respects.

Funerals may not take place on Shabbat or Yom Kippur; and although the rabbis at one time permitted funerals on the first day of a festival, some modern communities prefer postponement.

Where there are two interments at the same time, respect demands that the burial of a scholar precedes that of an am ha-areẓ (“average citizen”), and that of a woman always precedes that of a man.

The duty of burial, although primarily an obligation incumbent on the heirs, ultimately rests with the whole community. In Talmudic times, communal fraternal societies for the burial of the dead evolved out of an appreciation of this duty

During COVID Pandemic recently the law of burial on Shabbos was relaxed in Bucharest.2

Man in image of God

רמולכ נפמ י המ הז ולת י נפמ י ךריבש וכ ' : נת אי רמוא מ"ר ולשמ לשמ המל רבדה המוד נשל י םיחא םימואת םימואת םיחא י נשל המוד רבדה המל לשמ ולשמ מ"ר רמוא אי נת : ' וכ ךריבש י נפמ י ולת הז המ י נפמ רמולכ ריעב תחא דחא ימ נ והו ךלמ דחאו אצי יטסילל ו ת הוצ ךלמה והואלתו לכ האורה ותוא רמוא ךלמה ולת י הוצ הוצ י ולת ךלמה רמוא ותוא האורה : למה ך ו ה ו ר י ד ו ה ו מ § The Mishna teaches: That is to say: Were the dead man’s corpse to remain hanging, reminding everyone of his transgression, people would ask: For what reason was this one hung? They would be answered: Because he blessed God, a euphemism for blasphemy, and the name of Heaven would be desecrated.

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir says: The Sages told a parable: To what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to two brothers who were twins and lived in the same city. One was appointed king, while the other went out to engage in banditry. The king commanded that his brother be punished, and they hanged his twin brother for his crimes. Anyone who saw the bandit hanging would say: The king was hanged.

The king, therefore, commanded that his brother be taken down, and they took the bandit down. Similarly, people are created in God’s image, and therefore God is disgraced when a corpse is hung for a transgression that the person has committed. (Sanhedrin 46b)

RASHI on the verse

And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and 22 בכ יִכְו - הֶיְהִי ,שׁיִאְב אְטֵח טַפְּשִׁמ - תֶוָמ -- ;he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree ְו מוּה :תָ ָתיִלָתְו ,וֹתֹא לַﬠ - .ץֵﬠ

2 https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/bucharest-jews-can-bury-coronavirus-dead-on-shabbat-to-avoid-cremation-a-rabbinical- authority-rules

6 his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but 23 גכ ֹל א - ןיִלָת וֹתָלְבִנ לַﬠ - ,ץֵﬠָה יִכּ - רוֹבָק רוֹבָק thou shalt surely bury him the same day; for he that is וּנֶּרְבְּקִתּ םוֹיַּבּ אוּהַה -- יִכּ - תַלְלִק ,םיִהֱא ,םיִהֱא תַלְלִק hanged is a reproach unto God; that thou defile not thy land ;יוּלָתּ אֹלְו ,אֵמַּטְת תֶא - ,ְתָמְדַא רֶשֲׁא הָוהְי הָוהְי רֶשֲׁא ,ְתָמְדַא which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an ,יֶהֱא ןֵתֹנ ְל .הָלֲחַנ }ס{ inheritance. {S}

Deut. 21:23

Rashi explains that it is a disgrace for the King when a person's corpse is left to hang. A person is made in His image, and the Jewish people are His children. Rashi apparently understands that the parable of the identical twins expresses the special relationship which Hashem has with the Jewish people. When a Jew is hanging, it is as if the image of Hashem is hanging. In order to prevent this disgrace, Beis Din is commanded not leave the person hanging.

RAMBAN on the verse argues that the parable of the twins does not refer to the unique relationship between Hashem and the Jewish people. The Ramban writes that when Yehoshua commanded that the executed kings of Canaan be taken down and buried

And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the 27 זכ יִהְיַו תֵﬠְל אוֹבּ ,שֶׁמֶשַּׁה הָוִּצ ַﬠֻשׁוֹהְי ַﬠֻשׁוֹהְי הָוִּצ ,שֶׁמֶשַּׁה אוֹבּ תֵﬠְל יִהְיַו sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off םוּדיִרֹיַּו ֵמ לַﬠ ,םיִצֵﬠָה ,םֻכִלְשַׁיַּו לֶא - the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had ַה הָרָﬠְמּ רֶשֲׁא וּאְבְּחֶנ - ;םָשׁ יַּ ו וּמִשָׂ נָבֲא םיִ םיִ נָבֲא וּמִשָׂ יַּ ו ;םָשׁ hidden themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the ,תוֹלֹדְגּ לַﬠ - יִפּ ,הָרָﬠְמַּה דַﬠ - ,םֶצֶﬠ םוֹיַּה םוֹיַּה ,םֶצֶﬠ {cave, unto this very day. {S .הֶזַּה }ס{

Josh. 10:27 he might have done so because of this parable of the two brothers. This clearly implies that the parable applies to gentiles as well. Although the Ramban rejects Rashi's explanation, he says that the true explanation is a secret ("Sod," which he does not divulge).

MAHARSHA here asks that the Ramban raises a strong question on Rashi's explanation. If Yehoshua ordered that the kings of Canaan be buried and not left to hang, clearly the parable applies to all people and not only to Jews.

The Maharsha answers that there are two prohibitions against leaving a dead person hanging longer than necessary: "Lo Salin" and "v'Lo Setamei Es Admascha" -- "and you should not defile your land" (ibid.). Rashi understands that the problem of "Lo Salin" is that when a Jew, whom Rebbi Meir's parable considers a "twin brother" of Hashem, is hanging, it is a disgrace to the King. However, the verse of "v'Lo Setamei Es Admascha" prohibits leaving a dead person hanging specifically in Eretz Yisrael. Rashi agrees that any dead person, even a gentile, is included in the prohibition against defiling Eretz Yisrael.

7 BEN YEHOYADA suggests a different explanation for this parable. He explains that the twins refer to the Neshamah and the body. Just as the physical body has 248 limbs and 365 sinews, the Neshamah has corresponding spiritual characteristics, and thus they are called twins.

The Neshamah is referred to as the king, and the body is referred to as the thief. The Ben Yehoyada apparently means that the prolonged hanging of the body disgraces the Neshamah, and it therefore is prohibited.3

This parable implies the similarity in appearance of the bandit with the king, implying the similarity of appearance of the divine with the human forcing the burial because of the possible desecration of the king’s reputation for those who might have mistaken the death of God rather than the mortal. For this reason, burial is for the purpose of avoiding divine disgrace…

Even more radical a notion is the anthropomorphic identity of God with man as follows:

רמא יבר ריאמ העשב םדאש רעטצמ יכש הנ המ ושל ן תרמוא נלק י ישארמ נלק י יעורזמ םא ןכ םוקמה רעטצמ לע ןמד מ ערטמםקה כם יוז ינק שר ינקתמא ש מה כ עצ דשהש ימ ב מ לש םיעשר ךפשנש לק רמוחו לע ןמד לש םיקידצ םיקידצ לש ןמד לע רמוחו לק ךפשנש םיעשר לש

Rabbi Meir said: The phrase “for he that is hung is a curse [kilelat] of God” should be understood as follows: When a man suffers in the wake of his sin, what expression does the Divine Presence use? I am distressed [kallani] about My head, I am distressed about My arm, meaning, I, too, suffer when the wicked are punished. From here it is derived: If God suffers such distress over the blood of the wicked that is spilled, even though they justly deserved their punishment, it can be inferred a fortiori that He suffers distress over the blood of the righteous.

אלו ז ו דבלב ורמא אלא לכ ילמה ן תא ותמ רבוע אלב השעת ילה והנ בכל ודו איבהל ול ורא ן םיכירכתו וניא רבוע ילע ו ויערו וי ייכו ןוא לאבל ד

And the Sages said not only this, that an executed transgressor must be buried on the same day that he is killed, but they said that anyone who leaves his deceased relative overnight with-out burying him transgresses a prohibition. But if he left the deceased overnight for the sake of the deceased’s honor, e.g., to bring a coffin or shrouds for his burial, he does not transgress the prohibition against leaving him unburied overnight.

Here the Talmud suggests that the divine mourns and suffers alongside man and because of man’s distress. Here it is the Shechinah who is crying out.

3 Daf Advancement Forum Sanhedrin 46, Y. Montrose

8 Burial for the Sake of the Soul

The Prague hevrah kadisha attends to a man at death. Unknown painter, ca. 1772. Image from the Jewish Museum of Prague

רַתָבּ ,אָקְפָנְדּ ןאַמ יִהיִא אָשְׁפַנ קָבַּדְּתִאְדּ הָּבּ א''ס( )לבקתתו לְבַּקיִו אָפוּגְבּ א''ס( )הווגב אָהְו ָהוּמְקוּא נָהְ ל ֵ י .יֵלִ מ תָ בּ רַ רַ תָ בּ .יֵלִ מ י ֵ נָהְ ל ָהוּמְקוּא ֹל א לָת ִ ןי ( רבד םי :א״כ ״כ ג ) , אָקְפָנְדּ ָשְׁפַנ א ןִ מ פוּגּ ,אָ אְ ו שִׁ תְּ אְ רַ פוּגּ אָ לְ בּ אָ חוּר ,אָ סָ א ריִ מְ ל שִׁ בְּ קַ ֵ ל הּי לְ בּ אָ רוּבְ ק תָ ,אָ כִ דּ תְּ ביִתּ ִדּ,ָת וְּקא ְבּהּ ַבּ ִמ י ָא,ָחרא ְבּא וּ ַא ְשׁ ְו,ָפגּן וֹתָלְבִנ לַﬠ ץֵﬠָה יִכּ ָק רֹב וּנֶרְבְּקִתּ םוֹיַּבּ .אוּהַה ןיִגְבּ אָתיֵמְדּ יֵהָתְּשִׁיְדּ ד''כ ,תוֹעָשׁ ןוּנּיִאְדּ םָמוֹי יַלָו ,הָלְ אָלְבּ ָרוּבְק ,אָת ביִהָי ביִהָי ,אָת אָתוּשׁיִלַח יַשְׁבּ יוֹפיְ ,אָכיִתְרִדּ בֵכַּﬠְמוּ אָתְּדיִבַﬠ אָשְׁדוּקְד יִרְבּ אוּה דַבְﬠֶמְלִּמ רָשְׁפֶאְדּ קְדּ דוּ שְׁ אָ רְ בּ יִ אוּה ָ גּ ַז ר ָ ﬠ ֵ ל ,הּי ְ בּ ִ ג י ן ןיִגְבּ הּ וּ י ְבּא ְד הּיֵתיֵמְל אָלוּגְּלִגְבּ ,אָרֳחָא דַיִּמ אוּהַהְבּ אָמוֹי ,רָטְפְּתִאְדּ אָבָטוֹאְל .הּיֵל לָכְו אָנְמִז אָלְדּ רַבְקְתִא גּ פוּ ,אָ שִׁ נ מְ תְ אָ ואָ ל לאָ ﬠ תַ מָ ק יֵ יֵ מָ ק תַ לאָ ﬠ ואָ ל אָ תְ מְ שִׁ נ ,אָ פוּ דוּק אָשְׁ רְ בּ יִ ,אוּה אָלְ ו כַ י אָלְ מְ ל ֱהֶ יִ ו אָפוּגְבּ ,אָרֳחָא אָלוּגְּלִגְבּ ,אָניָיְנִתּ אָלְדּ ןיִבֲהָי אָתְמְשִׁנְל אָפוּגּ ,אָרֳחָא דַﬠ רָבְקְתִיְדּ רָבְקְתִיְדּ דַﬠ ,אָרֳחָא אָפוּגּ אָתְמְשִׁנְל ןיִבֲהָי אָלְדּ ,אָניָיְנִתּ אָלוּגְּלִגְבּ ,אָרֳחָא אָפוּגְבּ .הָאָמְדַק אָדְו יֵמָדּ רַבְל שָׁנ תַתיֵמְדּ ,הּיֵתְתִּא אָל יֵזֲחְתִא ,הּיֵל בַסיֵמְל אָתְתִּא ,אָרֳחָא דַﬠ ריִבָקְדּ ְדַקְלּ ,אָתיֵמ ןיִגְבוּ ָדּ א מָ א רְ הָ הָ רְ מָ א א . רוֹא יַ תיְ ,אָ אֹל לָ ת ןיִ בִ נ וֹתָלְ לַﬠ ץֵﬠָה לַﬠ וֹתָלְ בִ נ ןיִ לָ ת אֹל ,אָ תיְ יַ רוֹא

The prohibition of not leaving the corpse to rot on a tree was not because of any divine desecration in the Zohar, rather human life maintains the divine chariot and if the corpse is left unburied ti weakens the chariot. Furthermore, it delays the soul’s transmigration to another body which is needed for the divine tikkun.

Here burial serves the needs for tikkun olam and the restoration of all the souls that were contained in Adam Kadmon that need to live through this life for the ultimate restoration.

The word Guf is derived from Hebrew for "body/corpse".

9 The Guf can also be referred to as the Otzer (Hebrew for "treasury"). It is the source of every human soul. In some traditions the Guf is located in the celestial plane of Aravot, other times it is located beneath God's Throne of Glory, which resides "above" Aravot.

Though some cite

For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always 16 זט יִכּ אֹל םָלוֹעְל ,ביִרָא אֹלְו חַצֶנָל חַצֶנָל אֹלְו ,ביִרָא םָלוֹעְל אֹל יִכּ wroth; for the spirit that enwrappeth itself is from Me, and :ףוֹצְקֶא יִכּ - חוּר ַ לִּ מ פְ נָ ַ י ,ףוֹטֲﬠַ י נוּ תוֹמָשְׁ תוֹמָשְׁ נוּ ,ףוֹטֲﬠַ י י ַ נָ פְ לִּ מ ַ חוּר .the souls which I have made נֲא יִ ָﬠ .יִתיִשׂ

Isa. 57:16 as the source of the concept, Isaiah never uses the word, so the Talmud offers one of the earliest direct references to the Guf and teaches that the Messiah will not come until the Guf is emptied of all its souls

( יעשי וה נ ז , זט ) בר וה אנ רמא יק םי םושמ ברד יסא רמאד בר יסא יא ן ןב דוד אב דע ולכיש לכ תומשנ גבש ףו רמאנש ףו גבש תומשנ לכ ולכיש דע אב דוד ןב ן יא יכ חור ינפלמ ףוטעי וגו ' יברו י ןנחו רמא אל יק םי הירפ היברו תבשל הרצי ןניעב אהו אכיל אכיל אהו ןניעב הרצי תבשל היברו הירפ םי יק אל רמא ןנחו י יברו ' וגו ףוטעי ינפלמ חור יכ

The Gemara clarifies the reasons for their opinions: Rav Huna said he has fulfilled the mitzva due to a statement of Rav Asi, as Rav Asi said that the reason for this mitzva is that the Messiah, son of David, will not come until all the souls of the body have been finished, i.e., until all souls that are destined to inhabit physical bodies will do so, as it is stated: “For the spirit that enwraps itself is from Me, and the souls that I have made” (Isaiah 57:16).

T.B. Yevamot 62a

This is given a longer, if more enigmatic treatment in a work of early Kabbalah, Sefer Bahir:

In its [? - there is no clear antecedent, perhaps the 'World to Come' discussed earlier] hand is the treasury of souls. In the time when Israel is good, these souls are worthy of going forth and coming into this world. But if they are not good, then [these souls] do not go forth. We therefore say, "The son of David will not come until all the souls in the Guf are completed." What is the meaning of "all the souls in the Guf [Body]"? We say this refers to all the souls in the body of The Adam [Kadmon]. [When they are completed] new ones will be worthy of going forth . Bahir 184

The peculiar idiom of describing the treasury of souls as a "body," is connected to the mythic tradition of Adam Kadmon, the primordial human. Adam Kadmon, God's "original intention" for humanity, was a supernal being, androgynous and macro-cosmic (co-equal in size with the universe). When this spiritual Adam sinned, his cosmic-sized soul burst asunder and humanity was demoted to the flesh and blood, bifurcated and mortal creatures we are now. According to Kabbalah, every human soul is just a fragment (or fragments) cycling out of the great "world-soul" of Adam Kadmon.

10 Hence, every human soul comes from a "guf ", that being the supernal body of Adam Kadmon. Part of the project of humanity it to effect the tikkun, the restoration, of the soul of Adam Kadmon.4

4 Geoffrey Dennis, Cong. Bath Ami, and Prof. U. North Texas.