A mourner is forbidden to do work¹ throughout the seven days². 21b (Sonc. ed., p. 135) where the reading is ‘the first three days’. See, however, Tosafoth ad loc., s.v. mikk’an, where it is explained that this refers only to a very poor man. [of mourning], he, his sons and daughters,³ his male and female slaves and his cattle; and as he⁴ is forbidden to do work, so too others are forbidden to do work for him.

footnotes: ¹ Cf. M.Ḳ. 15b (Sonc. ed., p. 92) where by an interpretation of Amos 8, 10 and by the process of analogy this rule is arrived at. ² Cf. ibid ³ If they reside with him and are dependent upon him (Nachmanides). ⁴ The reading of GRA and H.

They may do work for him in connection with perishable things; they may gather his harvest for him, operate his wine-press for him and bung⁵ with H. his casks. If his olives had been turned,⁶ R. Judah says that he may put on the first⁷ beam and after his mourning he completes the work. R. Jose said to him, ‘But they are perishable things! He may complete [the whole operation in his mourning]’.

footnotes: ⁵ Reading gafin ⁶ For maturing before pressing or milling. ⁷ i.e. press them once.

With regard to his flax [which is ready] for lifting from the retting and his wool [ready] for lifting from the dye-bath, if there are others [to do the work] they should lift it,⁸ for V’s ‘immo. but if not he may lift it in private.⁹

footnotes: ⁸ GRA reads ’otho ⁹ M.Ḳ. 11b (Sonc. ed., p. 63). ‘In private’ means behind closed doors.

If his cask [of wine] is [ready] for bunging, R. Judah says that they cover it with shingles¹⁰ and after the mourning he completes [the work]. R. Jose said to him, ‘But it is perishable ! He¹¹ may complete [the whole operation in his mourning]’.

footnotes: ¹⁰ To prevent the wine from turning sour. ¹¹ So GRA for V’s ‘they’.

They may besprinkle his white field¹² but may not¹³ sow it; they may sow for him a strip [of field] for a crop of flax when his turn for watering rights comes, according to R. Eliezer; but the Sages said: If he had not already sown it with flax, he should sow it with another kind [of crops], and if he does not sow it that week, he can sow it the following week.¹⁴

footnotes: ¹² i.e. a bright, shadeless vegetable or grain field, the opposite of an orchard (Jastrow). ¹³ H reads שלו for שלא, ‘his white field in order to sow it’. GRA emends: ‘but do not sow; and they may sow a field of flax for him in his turn for watering rights, according to R. Judah’, reading (so also H) רביעה for רביעית. Farmers took turns in drawing on the water-supply. ¹⁴ GRA reads: ‘if he cannot sow it on this watering turn, he can sow it on the next’. The Sages differ from R. Eliezer on both points, viz. they forbid the sprinkling of a white field and sowing flax during the mourning.

If he is a baker in the town and there is no other, he may do the work in private out of respect¹⁵ for the public.

footnotes: ¹⁵ GRA reads צורך, ‘needs’ instead of כבוד, ‘respect of’.

R. Simeon b. Yoḥai¹⁶ said: If he is a hair-dresser or a bath-attendant in the service of the public, and a Festival is close at hand, he may do the work in private out of respect for the public.

footnotes: ¹⁶ GRA reads ‘Gamaliel’ in agreement with M.Ḳ., loc. cit.

If he is engaged in cutting a person’s hair and people come and tell him, ‘Your father is dead’, he should complete the work; this applies whether he is the hair-dresser or he is having his hair dressed. Workmen who have undertaken to do work for a mourner are forbidden to do it in his house but may do it in their own. R. Simeon b. Yoḥai¹⁷ said: A workman hired by the day is forbidden¹⁸ to do work in either [place]; a workman on a contract basis¹⁹ is forbidden [to do it in the mourner’s] house, but may do it in his own home. If it is work in connection with objects attached to the ground, it is forbidden [to do the work in either place];²⁰ in another town it is permitted in either case.²¹

footnotes: ¹⁷ GRA reads ‘Eleazar’. ¹⁸ Because he has the right to repudiate his bargain at any time. ¹⁹ i.e. a piece-worker. ²⁰ Because it is generally known that they are working for the mourner. ²¹ It is not generally so known.

A mourner overtaken by his days of mourning²² may ease [his hair] with a shearing-knife or a clipping-tool,²³ but not with a scissors; and if his clothes are soiled he may wash them in cold water but not in urine.²⁴

footnotes: ²² i.e. he suffered one bereavement immediately after another. ²³ GRA reads ‘or with a razor’ in accordance with M.Ḳ. 17b (Sonc. ed., p. 112). These instruments remove only a little of the hair and are not usually employed for hair-cutting. ²⁴ Used as a bleaching agent.

A mourner and an excommunicated person who are travelling on the road are permitted to wear their shoes, but as soon as they reach a city they must remove them. The same rule applies [to everybody] on the Ninth of Ab²⁵ and on a public fast day.²⁶

footnotes: ²⁵ The day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple when every Jew has to regard himself as a mourner. ²⁶ Proclaimed in a time of drought.

An excommunicated person who died has to be ‘stoned’²⁷—not that they place a high heap of stones upon him, as in the case of Achan²⁸—but the messenger of the Beth Din takes a stone and places it on the coffin in order to fulfil the duty of ‘stoning’ in his case.²⁹, and ‘Eduy. V, 6 (Sonc. ed., p. 35) in the case of Eliezer b. Ḥanok.

footnotes: ²⁷ Cf. M.Ḳ. 15a (Sonc. ed., p. 88). ²⁸ Cf. Josh. 7, 26. ²⁹ Cf. M.Ḳ. loc. cit.

An excommunicated person may not read a passage of Scripture to others nor may others read it to him; he may not teach nor may others teach him; but he may read Scripture and study for himself so as not to forget his learning.³⁰

footnotes: ³⁰ Cf. M.Ḳ. 15a (Sonc. ed., p. 90).

He may be hired to work and others may hire themselves to him for work; not for his profit, but in order not to close the door before him.³¹

footnotes: ³¹ ‘Not’ is added by GRA and H; i.e. to encourage him to amend his ways to enable him to live.

One who is placed under excommunication by his city is not³² considered to be under it in another city; [46a] one under the ban to the disciples is not under the ban to the Sages; one under the ban to the Sages is under the ban to the disciples; one under the ban to all the people is not under the ban to the *Nasi’;*³³ one under the ban to the Nasi’ is under the ban to all the people.

footnotes: ³² GRA and H insert ‘not’. ³³ The President of the Grand Sanhedrin.

If one of those who had placed a person under the ban dies, should he have given authority to his colleagues [to annul the ban], they free him, otherwise they do not.³⁴

footnotes: ³⁴ Cf. M.Ḳ. 16a (Sonc. ed., p. 99).

³⁵. No ban holds for less than thirty days, and no ‘reproof’³⁶ for less than seven days.

footnotes: ³⁵ ibid ³⁶ As in the case of Miriam (Num. 12, 14f). ‘Reproof’ is a sharp reprimand; e.g. ‘How impudent is that fellow!’, cf. M.Ḳ. 16b (Sonc. ed., p. 102).

Rabban Gamaliel said: Any one against whom the Sages pronounce excommunication,³⁷ even if they later received him back, does not leave the world in peace.³⁸. 17b (Sonc. ed., p. 110), ‘Whenever the Sages set their eyes against one [the result was] either death or poverty’.

footnotes: ³⁷ lit. ‘stretch forth’; GRA and H insert ‘hand’ after the verb. ³⁸ Cf. ibid