A child who lived only one day counts to his father and mother as a fully-grown man.¹, lit. ‘a complete bridegroom’, is based on ḥathan damim, a bridegroom of blood (Ex. 4, 25). For the idea that circumcision makes one ‘complete’, cf. Ned. 31b (Sonc. ed., p. 93). [The words] ‘who lived only one day’ are not to be taken as an [irreducible] limit;² even if only his head and the greater part of his body came out viable [he is so counted, but in their formulation of the law] the Sages speak of what actually happens.

footnotes: ¹ With respect to mourning; cf. Nid. 44a (Sonc. ed., p. 303). The phrase ḥathan shalem ² lit. ‘the end of the matter’.

³ [An infant] who is carried in the arms⁴ is buried by one woman and two men.⁵ Abba Saul said: [The burial may be done] by one man and two women. [The Sages] said to him: One woman may be alone with two men, but one man may not be alone with two women.⁶ [The people at the burial] do not stand in line on account of him and they need not recite the mourner’s benediction on account of him unless he was thirty days old. If he was thirty days old, he is accompanied [to the grave] by men and women and is carried in a case upon the arms⁷ up to the age of twelve months. If he was twelve months old, he is accompanied by men and women and is carried in a case on the shoulder up to the age of three years. R. Judah said: Should his father desire to honour him, they take him out in a coffin to the cemetery even before⁸ he is three years old.

footnotes: ³ Cf. M.Ḳ. 24a (Sonc. ed., p. 151). ⁴ lit. ‘goes out in the bosom’. ⁵ For reasons of propriety. GRA inserts ‘but not by one man and two women’. ⁶ A quotation from Ḳid. IV, 12 (Sonc. ed., p. 413). ⁷ Cf. M.Ḳ. 24b (Sonc. ed., pp. 151f). Apparently not a full-sized coffin is meant. ⁸ So GRA; V ‘until’.

If three years old he is taken out on a bier. R. ‘Aḳiba said: If he is three years old but his limbs are [developed] like those of an infant two years old,⁹ or if he is two years old but his limbs are like those of an infant three years old, he is carried on a bier. Simeon the brother of Azariah said: For anyone who is taken out on a bier the people show their distress.¹⁰ which in Rabbinic Heb. means ‘stamp with the foot’ as a sign of mourning (cf. Ezek. 6, 11).] The Talmud, which gives the name of the Rabbi as Simeon b. Eleazar, uses a different verb; cf. M.Ḳ. 24b (Sonc. ed., p. 151, n. 9). R. Meir said in the name of R. Eleazar b. Azariah: If he is known to the public at large they participate in connection with him [at the funeral], but if not, they do not participate in connection with him.

footnotes: ⁹ V wrongly in brackets ‘he is not carried on a bier’. ¹⁰ [Heb. meḳallesin

R. Judah said in the name of R. Eleazar b. Azariah: For the purpose of a memorial address it is sufficient that his neighbours [know him]. In the case of the poor a memorial address is delivered for a child of three,¹¹ and in the case of the rich for a child of four. R. ‘Aḳiba said: In the case of the poor, for a child of six and in the case of the rich for a child of seven. The children of the rich are like the children of scholars and the children of scholars like the children of kings.¹²

footnotes: ¹¹ The child being a greater joy to poor parents who have few pleasures in life, and so his death is a greater loss. ¹² The children are praised in the memorial address to honour the parents.

In the case of a child of developed intelligence¹³ we dwell [in the memorial address for him] on his own [good] deeds, but if he has no such deeds we dwell on the deeds of his parents; and if his parents have no such deeds we dwell on the deeds of his relatives. In the case of a bride we dwell on the honour of her father or father-in-law, because she rises [in esteem] with him¹⁴ but does not fall with him. We may not ascribe merits to one who has none,¹⁵ but we may magnify those which he possessed.¹⁶

footnotes: ¹³ lit. ‘he knows how to transact [his affairs]’. ¹⁴ viz. her father-in-law. The reading of GRA and H is adopted. ¹⁵ lit. ‘we do not add from the start’. Cf. Ber. 62a (Sonc. ed., p. 390), ‘As the dead are called to account [for their deeds], so are funeral orators [who exaggerate the merits of the dead]’. ¹⁶ lit. ‘we may add to the stock’.

¹⁷ In Jerusalem there was a saying, ‘Perform actions [which can be lamented] in front of your bier’,¹⁸ and in Judea there was a saying, ‘Perform actions [which can be lamented] behind your bier’. For in Jerusalem they recounted in front of a dead man’s bier only the merits which he possessed; but in Judea they recounted merits which he possessed and did not possess. They, however, who walked behind the bier only repeated after them the merits which he possessed.¹⁹ [One who dies] between the ages of three and thirty [is mourned] like a bridegroom;²⁰ between thirty and forty like a brother;²¹ between forty and fifty like a father.²²

footnotes: ¹⁷ Cf. Shab. 153a (Sonc. ed., p. 781). ¹⁸ Apparently the place of the people in a funeral procession differed according to local custom. In Jerusalem they walked in front of the bier, in Judea behind it. Cf. Tosiftha Pes. II, 16. ¹⁹ The emended text of GRA and H is followed. ²⁰ Since he may be unmarried. ²¹ He may be married but childless. ²² As one mourned by his children.

R. Simeon b. Eleazar said: Between thirty and forty, if he has children or the majority of his own age have children, [he is mourned] like a father; if not, like a brother. Between forty and fifty, if he has children or the majority of his own age have grandchildren, [he is mourned] like a grandfather, if not like a father.²³

footnotes: ²³ So GRA. V and H read: ‘have children [he is mourned] like a father; if not like a brother’.

**²⁴ If one dies under fifty, that is death by *kareth;*²⁵, p. 54. at fifty-two, that is the death of Samuel of Ramah; at sixty, that is the death referred to in the Torah, as it is stated, *Thou shalt come to thy grave in ripe age;*²⁶ is בכלח in Heb., the numerical value of the letters being sixty. Cf. M.Ḳ. loc. cit. at seventy, that is the death of the hoary head, as it is stated, *The days of our years are threescore years and ten;*²⁷ at eighty, that is the death of a vigorous old man,²⁸ as it is stated, Or even by strength fourscore years.²⁹. More than this is a life of trouble, for so³⁰ *Barzilai the Gileadite said to David, I am this day fourscore years old; can I discern between good and bad?*³¹

footnotes: ²⁴ Cf. M.Ḳ. 28a (Sonc. ed., p. 182). In j.Bik. II, 1, 64C there are variants in the enumeration. ²⁵ Cf. J. Rabbinowitz, Mishnah Megillah ²⁶ Job 5, 26; in ripe age ²⁷ Ps. 90, 10. ²⁸ lit. ‘of strength’. ²⁹ ibid ³⁰ This is GRA’s reading; V and H have ‘and likewise Barzilai’ and insert ‘more than this is a life of trouble’ after the quotation. ³¹ 2 Sam. 19, 36.

If one dies after [an illness of] one day, that is a death by [divine] wrath;³² after two days, it is a precipitous death; after three days, it is a death by pestilence; after four days, it is a hurried death; after six days, it is the death decreed in the Torah;³³ has ‘five’ instead of ‘six’, quotes Deut. 31, 14, Behold thy days approach that thou must die and explains: behold accounts for one (cf. Sonc. ed., loc. cit., n. 6), thy days accounts for two more, approach gives a further two, which makes five. after seven days, it is a death of [divine] love; after a longer period, it is a death of suffering.

footnotes: ³² In M.Ḳ. 28a (Sonc. ed., p. 181) the reading is ‘a death by being hustled away’. ³³ A normal death. M.Ḳ. loc. cit.

R. Ḥanina b. Antigonos said: An old man who eats forbidden fat³⁴ or one who desecrates the Sabbath dies by kareth. And what is there to show us that they died by kareth? But he who dies after [an illness of] three days dies by kareth; after four by a hurried death; after six, it is the death decreed in the Torah; after seven it is a death of [divine] love; after a longer period it is a death by suffering. R. Judah said:³⁵ The pious men of former times used to suffer with stomach trouble for about twenty days before death in order to be cleansed of everything, so that they should come pure³⁶ into the World to Come;³⁷ as it is said, The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, and a man is tried by his praise.³⁸. XVII, 3 as the proof-text.] [45a].

footnotes: ³⁴ Cf. Lev. 3, 17. ³⁵ Cf. Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, LXVI, 2 (Sonc. ed., p. 549) and Shab. 118b (Sonc. ed., p. 583). ³⁶ So GRA; V and H ‘innocent’. ³⁷ [For the thought, cf. ARN I, 1, p. 1, n. 5.] ³⁸ Prov. 27, 21. [H quotes ibid