תלמוד על איוב 27:8
Tractate Semachot
We do not occupy ourselves in any respect with the funeral rites of one who committed suicide wilfully. R. Ishmael said: We exclaim over him, ‘Alas for a lost1Heb. niṭṭelah, ‘[a life] carried away’. H reads nishlah with a similar meaning (cf. God takth away [yeshel] his soul, Job 27, 8). GRA emends to nithlah, ‘hanged’. [life!] Alas for a [lost] life!’ R. ‘Aḳiba said to him, ‘Leave him unmourned; speak neither well nor ill of him’.2lit. ‘do not bless him and do not curse him’.
We do not rend garments for him,3According to the Ṭur Y.D., §345, near relatives do not rend their garments. bare the shoulder, or deliver a memorial address over him. We do, however, stand in a row4At the cemetery after the funeral those present divide themselves into two rows and the mourners pass between them to receive condolences. for him and recite the benediction of mourners5The condolence ended with the words, ‘Blessed be He Who comforteth the mourners’ (Keth. 8b, Sonc. ed., p. 40). Hence the term ‘benediction of mourners’; cf. J. Rabbinowitz, Mishnah Megillah, p. 119. for him, from respect of the living [relatives]. The general rule is: With anything that makes for respect of the living we occupy ourselves, but with anything that does not make for the respect of the living, the public do not in any way occupy themselves.
We do not rend garments for him,3According to the Ṭur Y.D., §345, near relatives do not rend their garments. bare the shoulder, or deliver a memorial address over him. We do, however, stand in a row4At the cemetery after the funeral those present divide themselves into two rows and the mourners pass between them to receive condolences. for him and recite the benediction of mourners5The condolence ended with the words, ‘Blessed be He Who comforteth the mourners’ (Keth. 8b, Sonc. ed., p. 40). Hence the term ‘benediction of mourners’; cf. J. Rabbinowitz, Mishnah Megillah, p. 119. for him, from respect of the living [relatives]. The general rule is: With anything that makes for respect of the living we occupy ourselves, but with anything that does not make for the respect of the living, the public do not in any way occupy themselves.
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