In a city where there are two dead, they take out the first¹ [for burial]; and if² they keep the first overnight³ they take out the second, because [the Sages] said, ‘Whoever keeps the dead overnight disfigures him’.⁴ But if [the delay] is to dig a grave for him, or to procure shrouds for him, or to enable his relatives to come from another place, he may be kept overnight and there is no wrong done.⁵ When a Sage and a disciple die, they first take out the Sage [for burial]; a disciple and an ‘am ha’areẓ, they first take out the disciple. If both were Sages or disciples or an ’am ha’areẓ they take out the one who dies first. If a man and a woman [died], they first take out the woman because a woman is apt to become disfigured more quickly.⁶

footnotes: ¹ i.e. the one who died first and then the second. ² So GRA and H. V reads ‘and they do not’. ³ For reasons which follow. ⁴ Sanh. 46b (Sonc. ed., p. 307) reads ‘transgresses a negative commandment on account of him’, and GRA corrects accordingly. ⁵ lit. ‘and there is nothing in it’. ⁶ Cf. Rashi on the Mishnah M.Ḳ. 27a.

The differences between man and woman⁷ are: [the bier of] a man is set down in the broadway⁸, p. 297, it was the open space in front of the Synagogue, but this definition is disputed; cf. J. Rabbinowitz, Mishnah Megillah, p. 88. but not that of a woman;⁹ for a man they go up with the ḥeber ‘ir¹⁰ but not for a woman; for a male [mourner] the mourners’ meal¹¹ is provided but not for a female [mourner].¹² R. Judah said: If she has young children, a meal is provided [for her] together with them.

footnotes: ⁷ In respect of funeral rites. ⁸ lit. ‘an open space’ in the city where the bier was set down for the delivery of the memorial address. There, too, the ‘benediction of the mourners’ was recited on the return from the cemetery (cf. Keth. 8b, Sonc. ed., p. 37). According to Krauss, Synagogale Altertümer ⁹ ‘For the sake of propriety’, M.Ḳ. 27a (Sonc. ed., p. 177). ¹⁰ This term may signify a Rabbi who took a leading part in town affairs, or ‘a group’ denoting either a town council similar to the Roman Collegia or an official communal religious or charitable organization (Meg. 27b, Sonc. ed., p. 164, n. 1). The assembly was usually headed by the Rabbi, and it was considered undignified for him to do so for a woman. ¹¹ Cf. above II, 9, p. 332, n. 18. ¹² Out of propriety and in order to avoid suspicion of any irregular conduct.

If they have taken out the first [body] and buried him, they do not stand in the row for him, nor do they recite for him the benediction of mourners until they have taken out the second and buried him. When they have taken out the second and buried him, people come and stand in the row and comfort [the mourners], and they thereby exempt the community [from their duty in this matter]. We do not offer consolation to two mourners¹³ at the same time unless they are of equal status.

footnotes: ¹³ Unless they are both related to the dead person.

We do not take out two dead on one bier unless they are of equal status and [merit] equal praise. It is related of a certain man in Usha¹⁴ that the house collapsed on his two sons and daughter. People went and inquired of R. Judah [49a] who said, ‘Take out the three of them at the same time’.¹⁵ They placed the bridegrooms¹⁶ at one end [of the bier] and the bride¹⁷ at the other and they lamented, ‘Alas, alas, bridegrooms! Alas, alas, bride!’

footnotes: ¹⁴ In Galilee. ¹⁵ On one bier. ¹⁶ i.e. the sons who but for the accident would later be bridegrooms. ¹⁷ i.e. the dead daughter.

We do not deliver two memorial addresses [at the same time] in one city unless there are sufficient to attend each. We do not bewail two brides [at the same time] in one city unless there are sufficient to attend each. R. Simeon b. Eleazar said: Even then it is forbidden because of ill-feeling.¹⁸

footnotes: ¹⁸ People should not fall out in their choice of which to attend.

When a dead person and a bride are being honoured and [the two processions] approach one another, we cause the funeral procession to make way for the bridal procession,¹⁹ because the honour of the living takes precedence over the honour of the dead. In the case of a royal procession and a bridal procession, the latter makes way²⁰. out of respect for the king. King Agrippa made way for a bride and the Sages praised him. They asked him, ‘What was your reason for doing this?’ He replied, ‘I wear a crown every day but she wears a crown for one hour only’.

footnotes: ¹⁹ Cf. Keth. 17a (Sonc. ed., p. 94). ²⁰ ibid

We do not²¹, p. 86, n. 2.] interrupt the study of the Torah for the sake of a funeral or bridal procession. Abba Saul said: [Good] deeds²² take precedence of the study of the Torah. R. Judah acted as follows: Whenever he saw a dead person or a bride being honoured, he used to look at his disciples and exclaim, ‘Deeds before study’.

footnotes: ²¹ [A less strict ruling is given in ARN IV, 1ff, above pp. 35ff. The probability is that the negative אין is to be deleted. Cf. Büchler, Types of Jewish-Palestinian Piety ²² i.e. honouring the dead or the bride.

²³ A woman who is bereaved of her father-in-law or any of her husband’s relatives may not paint her eyelids with kohl or adorn herself, but conducts herself as [her husband] does.²⁴ Likewise if [her husband] is bereaved of his father-in-law or any of his wife’s relatives, he cannot compel her to adorn herself but conducts himself as she does.

footnotes: ²³ Cf. M.Ḳ. 20b (Sonc. ed., p. 131). ²⁴ i.e. she observes mourning with him.

²⁵ Sweeping the floors, washing dishes and making beds do not constitute work for a mourner.²⁶ ²⁷ A dargesh²⁸ is tilted up²⁹ and not overturned. R. Simeon b. Eleazar said: He loosens its step³⁰ [it is enough if] he unfastens the inner bolster-frame and lets it down’. and leaves it as it is.

footnotes: ²⁵ Cf. M.Ḳ. 27a (Sonc. ed., p. 177). ²⁶ They are permissible. ²⁷ The text is in disorder and is corrected according to j.M.Ḳ. III, 5, 83a. ²⁸ An elaborate couch, described in M.Ḳ. 27a (Sonc. ed., pp. 174f). ²⁹ To make it uncomfortable for sleeping or sitting on it. ³⁰ Jastrow defines the word as the ‘step placed before a bed’. The reading in M.Ḳ. is “[In the case of] a dargesh

Should five brothers eat at their father’s table and he dies, if each of them [usually] goes to his own home to sleep, he overturns [the bed] in his house; but if not, he overturns it only in the house which is used [for sleeping].

If a man possesses five houses, should he be making use of all of them he overturns [the bed] in all of them; if not, he does not overturn it in all of them but only in the house which is used [for sleeping].

If one resides with his friend as a guest, should he be very intimate with him he overturns [the bed there], and if not he does not overturn it.

If one is on a journey and news reaches him that he suffered a bereavement, should he be able to overturn [the bed] with the consent of others he overturns it, and if not he does not overturn it.

One overturns his bed [which is laid] on two benches or on four stones even if there be five mattresses on it, and even though it be [only] four handbreadths³¹ above the ground, so long as its legs are tilted upwards.

footnotes: ³¹ H reads ‘cubits’.

So long as his dead is lying before him, a mourner may not sleep on a bed [in an erect position] or on an overturned bed.

³² One who sleeps on a bench or on a bench for water-jugs³³, ‘the Roman urnarium, a long oblong bench or kitchen table used for keeping near to hand urns, water vessels and other earthenware utensils and out of the way of being broken’ (M.Ḳ., Sonc. ed., p. 175, n. 8). The words meṭalletha dekarma, ‘a watchman’s hut in the vineyard’ is an incorrect marginal gloss on ’uryani which crept into the text. is subject to the duty of overturning.³⁴ If he declares, ‘I will not overturn the bed but sleep³⁵ on the bench’, we do not listen to him but say, ‘It is subject to [the law of] overturning’.

footnotes: ³² Cf. M.Ḳ. 27a (Sonc. ed., p. 175). ³³ Emend to ’uryani ³⁴ Since it is a bed so far as he is concerned. ³⁵ The translation follows the text of H (cf. the comment in N.Y.).

The bed has to be overturned six times, five times, four times [or] three times, neither less nor more. How is this? If the death took place close to dusk,³⁶ [it is done] six times; if close to dusk on the Sabbath-eve five times; if a Festival occurs on the day following the Sabbath four times; in the case of the two days of the New Year [after a Sabbath] three times.³⁷

footnotes: ³⁶ And the burial has taken place so that at nightfall one day of mourning has already gone. ³⁷ There being no mourning on Sabbaths and Festivals.

³⁸ When does one overturn the bed? From the time the corpse is taken out through the door of the house, according to the view of R. Eliezer. R. Joshua said: From the time the slab closes the tomb. It is related that when Rabban Gamaliel the Elder³⁹ died, as soon as he was taken out through the door of his house, [R. Eliezer] said to them,⁴⁰ ‘Overturn your beds’; and when the slab closed the tomb R. Joshua said, Overturn your beds’. They replied, ‘We have already overturned them by order of the Elder’.⁴¹

footnotes: ³⁸ M.Ḳ. 27a (Sonc. ed., p. 173). ³⁹ Rabban Gamaliel was R. Eliezer’s brother-in-law. ⁴⁰ To his wife Imma Shalom, Rabban Gamaliel’s sister and others in the house; cf. M.Ḳ. loc. cit. ⁴¹ viz. R. Eliezer.