Moed Katan 25A

גמ׳ ואפילו חכם? והתניא: חכם שמת ⁠— הכל קרוביו.

Talmud: The Mishnah teaches that only the relatives of the deceased rend their clothes. The Talmud asks: And is this the case even if the deceased was a Torah Sage? But isn’t it taught otherwise in a baraita: When a Torah scholar dies, everyone is his relative.

הכל קרוביו סלקא דעתך?! אלא: הכל כקרוביו: הכל קורעין עליו, והכל חולצין עליו, והכל מברין עליו ברחבה! לא צריכא, דלאו חכם הוא.

The Talmud clarifies: Does it enter your mind to say that everyone is his relative? Rather, this baraita should be understood as follows: Everyone is considered to be like his relative in the sense that everyone rends his garment in anguish over him, and everyone bares his shoulder over him in mourning, and everyone eats the mourner’s meal over him in the public square as mourners do. The death of a Torah scholar is a personal loss for every Jew. So why is the Mishnah limited to only relatives? The Talmud answers: No, it is necessary for the Mishnah to teach this halakha in a case where the deceased is not a Torah scholar.

ואי אדם כשר הוא ⁠— חיובי מיחייב למיקרע. דתניא: מפני מה בניו ובנותיו של אדם מתים כשהן קטנים ⁠— כדי שיבכה ויתאבל על אדם כשר.

The Talmud asks: And if the deceased was an upright person who feared Heaven and performed good deeds, then aren’t all those present at his death obligated to rend their garments over his death? As it is taught in a baraita: For what reason do a person’s sons and daughters die when they are young? They die so that he will cry and mourn over the death of an upright person.

יבכה ויתאבל?! ערבונא קא שקיל מיניה?! אלא: מפני שלא בכה והתאבל על אדם כשר. שכל הבוכה ומתאבל על אדם כשר ⁠— מוחלין לו על כל עונותיו בשביל כבוד שעשה לו! דלאו אדם כשר הוא.

The Talmud questions the formulation: They die so that he will cry and mourn? Is security, i.e., his children, taken from him in advance to ensure that in the future he will mourn over the death of an upright person? Rather the baraita means as follows: His children died because he did not cry or mourn over an upright person who died. As with regard to anyone who cries and mourns over an upright person who died, they forgive him for all his transgressions because of the honor he accorded to the deceased. If this is the case, one also rends his clothes over an upright person. The Talmud answers: Rather, the Mishnah is referring only to one who was not an upright person.