A watercourse should not be diverted through cemeteries,¹ a path should not be cut through them, cattle should not be grazed on them, one should not take a walk there² for pleasure, and one should not gather wood or grass from there. If he gathered them he may not make use of them, and if he gathered them for the benefit [of the cemetery]³ he burns them on the spot.

footnotes: ¹ Out of respect for the dead; cf. Meg. 29a (Sonc. ed., p. 177). ² It should not be used as a short cut. ³ To clear the ground for more graves. The words in brackets are inserted by GRA and H.

Inherited lands may be conveyed from one [party] to another or alienated from one family to another, but a grave cannot be so conveyed or alienated.⁴

footnotes: ⁴ Cf. below, §11.

A new cemetery⁵ may be measured⁶ and sold or divided;⁷ an old one may not be measured, sold or divided. A new cemetery may sometimes be regarded as old and an old one as new. An old cemetery in which ten bodies have been buried without the consent of the owners is regarded as new; it may be measured, sold or divided. A new cemetery in which one premature child⁸ lies buried with the consent of the owners is regarded as old; it may not be measured, sold or divided.⁹

footnotes: ⁵ In which only a few have been buried. ⁶ To find out how much land had already been used for burials as a guide for further interments. ⁷ Among heirs. ⁸ Under thirty days old; how much more an adult! ⁹ ‘Or divided’ is added by GRA and H.

No right of legal ownership can be claimed in respect of a cemetery of exiles;¹⁰ in time of pestilence or war no right of legal ownership can be claimed in respect of cemeteries.¹¹ Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel said: Premature children do not acquire possession of their grave.¹² One who has buried without the consent [of the owner of the land] possesses no right of legal ownership.

footnotes: ¹⁰ Who in time of pestilence or war move from place to place. ¹¹ This clause is explanatory of the preceding. ¹² If buried without the consent of the owners.

A woman who inherited a grave-space is buried therein as also her issue, in the view of R. Meir; R. Judah said: She [is buried there] but not¹³ her issue. R. Judah admits that any offspring whom she saw in her lifetime are buried with her [if they die] after her death.¹⁴

footnotes: ¹³ So GRA and H. V reads ‘and all’ incorrectly. ¹⁴ But not a posthumous child. V has ‘on her death’ and the reading of H is adopted.

If her father says, ‘Let her be buried by my side’ and her husband says, ‘Let her be buried [50a] by my side’, she is buried by the side of her father; but if she had children, she is buried by her husband’s side, and if she says, ‘Bury me by the side of my children’, she is buried by their side.

If her father says, ‘She is not to be buried by my side’ and her husband says, ‘She is not to be buried by my side’, she is buried by the side of her husband because her husband has the obligation to support her, redeem her [from captivity],¹⁵ bury her and provide all that is necessary¹⁶ for her funeral, [for example,] a bier, pipers¹⁷ and wailing women.¹⁸ Where it is customary to have a memorial address, he has a memorial address delivered over his wife. If her husband does not attend to her [burial, her father] attends to it and the expenses are recovered from [the husband] by force.

footnotes: ¹⁵ Cf. Keth. 46b (Sonc. ed., p. 266). ¹⁶ So GRA. ¹⁷ To play at the funeral; cf. B.M. VI, 1 (Sonc. ed., p. 437, n. 3). ¹⁸ Cf. M.Ḳ. III, 9 (Sonc. ed., p. 185). They are mentioned in Jer. 9, 16.

¹⁹ or with the Jerusalem Talmud, Nazir IX, 3, 57d. He suggests that the compiler of Semaḥoth must have had before him various passages dealing with the uncleanness of the grave and the prohibition of using graves and he mixed them up. The introductory phrase ‘consequently you may say’ points to the fact that there must have been a discussion on the subject and the statement in the text sums up the conclusion arrived at. Consequently you say that there are three kinds of graves: a grave which has been found may be cleared,²⁰ and if cleared its site is [ritually] clean and it is permitted to make use of it. A known grave may not be cleared,²¹ and if cleared its site is [ritually] unclean and it is forbidden to make use of it. A grave which injures the public²² may not be cleared, and if cleared its site is [ritually] clean but it is forbidden to make use of it.

footnotes: ¹⁹ The text is in disorder. The translation follows the emendation of GRA on the basis of Sanh. 47b (Sonc. ed., p. 316). Higger (Introduction, pp. 49f) points out that the text is not in agreement with the parallel passage in Tosiftha Ohol. XVI, 9 or with the Babylonian Talmud loc. cit. ²⁰ i.e. the bones are transferred to another place. A person had been buried there without the knowledge and consent of the owner. ²¹ As a precautionary measure against persons contracting defilement. ²² Reading המזיק, i.e. a grave which lies in a public thoroughfare and so communicates uncleanness to people who are overshadowed by something which also overshadows it.

As regards a cemetery which is enclosed by a city on three sides or on two opposite sides, if it is more than fifty cubits distant from one side [of the city] and more than fifty cubits distant from the other side, it is not²³ cleared and if less it may be cleared.

footnotes: ²³ The negative is inserted by GRA and H.

²⁴ All graves may be cleared except that of a king or a prophet. R. ‘Aḳiba said: The grave of a king or prophet may also be cleared. R. ‘Aḳiba was asked, ‘Were not the graves of the house of David and of Huldah the prophetess²⁵ [situated] in Jerusalem and no man ever touched them?’ He replied, ‘Can you adduce a proof from [Jerusalem]? There was an underground passage there and the uncleanness was conveyed to the brook of Kidron’.²⁶

footnotes: ²⁴ The text is reconstructed in agreement with Tosiftha B.B. I, 11. ²⁵ Cf. 2 Kings 22, 14. ²⁶ East of Jerusalem.

If one sells to another the path [leading] to his grave, this is no sale.²⁷ If one sells to another his place of mourning,²⁸ it is no sale. If one sells²⁹ to another his halting place,³⁰ the elders of the ’Ab Beth Din estimate it as an area of four ḳab.³¹ of seed. A private path [has a width] of four cubits, a public road [a width] of sixteen cubits, the king’s highway has no limits. The path of a funeral cortège has no limits.³² and the path of [a place of] mourning has no limits.

footnotes: ²⁷ Because the sale is a slight on his family; cf. B.B. 100b (Sonc. ed., p. 420). ²⁸ When, on the return from the cemetery, the cortège halts and the mourners receive condolence; cf. B.B. Sonc. ed., p. 416, n. 8. ²⁹ V reads ‘buys’ which is corrected by GRA. ³⁰ Where, on returning from the funeral, ceremonial halts were made to offer consolation to the mourners. ³¹ An area sufficient for sowing four ḳab ³² The followers may even tread upon cornfields if there is no room for them on the public highway.

³³ One who sees a mourner within the thirty days speaks to him words of consolation but does not inquire after his welfare; after thirty days he inquires after his welfare but does not speak to him words of consolation; within the twelve months he inquires after his welfare and then speaks words of consolation to him; after twelve months he speaks to him words of consolation and then inquires after his welfare. R. Meir said: One who sees a mourner within the thirty days speaks to him words of consolation and then inquires after his welfare; after thirty days but within twelve months he inquires after his welfare and then speaks to him words of consolation; after twelve months he makes no reference at all [to the bereavement]. For R. Meir illustrated the matter by a parable. To what may it be compared? To one who has a wound and was cured of it, and a physician came and said to him, ‘Pay me a fee and I will lance your wound and cure you’. Likewise, whoever reminds a mourner after twelve months [of his bereavement] is accounted as if he had stirred up his wound again. Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel said: To one whose wife died and he remarried within twelve months we speak words of consolation in the street but not in his home.³⁴

footnotes: ³³ Cf. M.Ḳ. 21b (Sonc. ed., p. 136). ³⁴ Not to embarrass his second wife.

All bring to the house of a mourner loaves of white bread, meat and fish, and where an assembly in the broadway³⁵ is held also vegetables, peas and fish. Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel said: Where it is customary also cooked dishes.³⁶

footnotes: ³⁵ Cf. XII, 4, n. 13. ³⁶ Cf. B.B. 16b (Sonc. ed., p. 84). When Abraham died, Jacob made a broth of lentils to comfort his father Isaac.

³⁷ Ten cups of wine are drunk in the house of a mourner: two before the meal, five during the meal and three after the meal, namely one for the benediction of mourners,³⁸ one for the consolation of the mourners and one [in honour of] charity.³⁹ Three more [cups of wine] were added later, namely, one for the Chief of the Synagogue,⁴⁰ one for the Synagogue attendant⁴¹ and one for Rabban Gamaliel.⁴² When, however, the Beth Din found that people became intoxicated they restored the status quo.⁴³

footnotes: ³⁷ Cf. Keth. 8b (Sonc. ed., p. 42), j.Ber. III, 6a. The text here is similar to that of the Jerusalem Talmud. ³⁸ The Jerusalem Talmud reads ‘for the Grace after meals’. ³⁹ i.e. in honour of those who came to comfort the mourners and performed a pious act. ⁴⁰ An official who administered the external affairs of the Synagogue (cf. Yoma VII, 1, Sonc. ed., p. 322, n. 2). ⁴¹ An official who seems to have been next in rank to the Chief of the Synagogue. ⁴² Who introduced a simple style for funerals to lessen the expense and relieve poor mourners; cf. M.Ḳ. 27b (Sonc. ed., p. 178), Keth. 8b (Sonc. ed., p. 43). ⁴³ i.e. that ten cups only should be drunk.

He who recites the Grace after meals in the house of a mourner does not say the fourth benediction,⁴⁴ in the view of R. Jose the Galilean; R. ‘Aḳiba said: [He recites] ‘Who art kind and dealest kindly’; the Sages said: [The benediction to be recited is, ‘Blessed art Thou] Who art the true Judge, Who rulest over Thy works, Judge of all generations in righteousness, Whose people and servants we all are; and for all this it is our duty to thank and bless Him’.

footnotes: ⁴⁴ Cf. P.B., p. 283. In Ber. 46b (Sonc. ed., p. 281) the decision is that the benediction is not omitted.

⁴⁵ He who sees a place where miracles were wrought for Israel says, ‘Blessed be He Who wrought miracles for our fathers in this place. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good’.⁴⁶

footnotes: ⁴⁵ Cf. Ber. 54a (Sonc. ed., p. 327). ⁴⁶ Ps. 107, 1.