Study Moed Katan folio 21A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אלא מעתה: ״ועמד ואמר לא חפצתי לקחתה״, הכא נמי? והא תניא: בין יושב בין עומד בין מוטה!
Rav Ashi challenged him: However, if that is so, one should be required to stand while performing the ritual through which the brother-in-law frees the yevama of her levirate bonds [ḥalitza], as the verse states: “And if he stands and he says: I do not wish to take her” (Deuteronomy 25:8). Here must he also stand for the ceremony? But isn’t it taught in a baraita that ḥalitza may be performed whether the man is sitting, or standing, or reclining?
אמר ליה: התם לא כתיב ״ויעמד ויאמר״, הכא כתיב ״ויקם ויקרע״.
He said to him: There, in the case of ḥalitza, it is not written: And he will stand and he will say, which would imply an obligation to stand; whereas here, in the case of rending, it is written: “Then Job arose, and rent his coat” (Job 1:20).
אמר רמי בר חמא: מנין לקריעה שהיא מעומד, שנאמר: ״ויקם איוב ויקרע״. דלמא מילתא יתירתא הוא דעבד? דאי לא תימא הכי — ״ויגז את ראשו״, הכי נמי?
Rami bar Ḥama said: From where is it derived that rending must be performed while standing? As it is stated: “Then Job arose, and rent his coat” (Job 1:20). The Talmud asks: Perhaps he did something extra beyond what is required, and actually there is no obligation to stand; as, if you do not say that he did more than what was required of him, then how do you explain the continuation of the verse: “And he shaved his head” (Job 1:20)? Is every mourner required to act in this manner also and shave his head?
אלא מהכא: ״ויקם המלך ויקרע את בגדיו״. ודלמא מילתא יתירתא עביד? דאי לא תימא הכי — ״וישכב ארצה״, הכי נמי?
The Talmud concludes: Rather, this source must be rejected, and instead the halakha is derived from here, the verse that describes David’s mourning over his son: “Then the king arose, and rent his garments” (II Samuel 13:31). The Talmud asks: But perhaps he too did something extra beyond what is required, and he was not actually obligated to stand; as, if you do not say that he did more than what was required of him, then how do you explain the continuation of the verse: “And he lay on the earth” (II Samuel 13:31)? Is every mourner required to act in this manner also?