Mishnayos Moed Katan Perek 1 Mishnah 5
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מועד קטן פרק א׳ משנה ה׳
When symptoms of leprosy appear, they must be examined by a priest, who determines whether or not the symptoms qualify as leprosy. Rabbi Meir says: A priest may initially examine an individual showing symptoms of leprosy on the intermediate days of a Festival in order to be lenient, i.e., he may pronounce the individual to be free of leprosy, but not in order to be stringent; he may not pronounce the individual to be impure. The individual does not become ritually impure until the priest pronounces him to have leprosy, and therefore the priest may remain silent and thereby prevent causing the afflicted individual distress during the Festival. And the Rabbis say: The priest may not examine the symptoms in order to be lenient or in order to be stringent. Rabbi Meir also stated another leniency concerning the halakhot of the intermediate days of a Festival: A person may gather the bones of his father and mother from their temporary graves on the intermediate days of a Festival. In ancient times, it was customary to first bury a corpse in a temporary grave. After the flesh had decomposed, the bones would be collected, placed in a coffin, and buried in a vault together with the bones of the deceased individual’s ancestors. This is permitted on the intermediate days of a Festival because the fact that one merited to bring the bones of his deceased parents to the graves of their ancestors is a source of joy for him. Rabbi Yosei says: One does not gather these bones on the intermediate days of a Festival, because it is a source of mourning for him. Even though he is happy to be able to bury his parents’ bones in their ancestral graves, he is still pained by the memory of their death. And all agree that a person may not arouse [ye’orer]lamentation for his deceased relative, and he may not eulogize him during the thirty days before a pilgrimage Festival.
רַבִּי מֵאִיר אוֹמֵר, רוֹאִין אֶת הַנְּגָעִים בַּתְּחִלָּה לְהָקֵל, אֲבָל לֹא לְהַחְמִיר. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים, לֹא לְהָקֵל וְלֹא לְהַחְמִיר. וְעוֹד אָמַר רַבִּי מֵאִיר, מְלַקֵּט אָדָם עַצְמוֹת אָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁשִּׂמְחָה הִיא לוֹ. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, אֵבֶל הוּא לוֹ. לֹא יְעוֹרֵר אָדָם עַל מֵתוֹ וְלֹא יַסְפִּידֶנּוּ קֹדֶם לָרֶגֶל שְׁלֹשִׁים יוֹם:
Bartenura
רואין את הנגעים במועד להקל. שאם טהור הוא אומר לו הכהן טהור אתה, ששמחה היא לו:
אבל לא להחמיר. שאם טמא הוא, ישתוק, ולא יטמאנו ויצריכנו לצאת חוץ למחנה:
לא להקל ולא להחמיר. מתוך שנזקק לראותו אם הוא טהור כדי להקל עליו, הוא נזקק להחמיר, שאם הוא טמא צריך לומר לו טמא אתה, כדכתיב (ויקרא י״ג) לטהרו או לטמאו, שאין כהן רשאי לשתוק׳ ומוטב לו שלא יראהו הכהן כלל:
מלקט אדם עצמות אביו ואמו. במועד, כדי לקברם במקום הגון:
שששמחה היא לו. כשרואה אותם [שקוברן בקברי אבותיו]. ואין הלכה כר״מ בשתיהן:
לא יערער על מתו. לא יביא ספדן לערער על מתו שמת זה ימים רבים, לחזור על קרובי המת כדרך שחוזר הספדן שצועק ואומר בואו בכו עמי כל מרי לב. ומי שלבו דוה עליו הולך ומספיד על קרובו:
לא יספידנו. לא ישכור ספדן על מתו שמת לו באותה שעה:
קודם לרגל שלשים יום. תמיד. דאמרי טעמא בגמרא שדרך בני אדם לכנוס מעות לצורך הרגל קודם לרגל ל׳ יום מכי שמע שדורשים בהלכות הרגל, ושמא יתן המעות שכנס לצורך הרגל לספדן וימנע משמחת הרגל. ואית דאמרי שאין המת משתכח מן הלב אלא לאחר ל׳ יום אחר הספדו:
רואין את הנגעים במועד להקל – if he was ritually pure, the Kohen would say to him, “you are pure,” for it is a rejoicing for him.
אבל לא להחמיר – that if he was ritually impure, he should remain silent, and not make him impure that they would have to leave outside of the camp.
לא להקל ולא להחמיר – because it was necessary to see him if he was ritually pure in order to be lenient towards him, for if it was necessary to be strict, if he was [in fact] ritually impure, one must say to him, “you are impure,” as it is written (Leviticus 13:59): “for pronouncing it pure or impure,” for a Kohen is not permitted to be silent, and it is better for him that the Kohen should not see him at all.
מלקט אדם עצמות אביו ואמו – on the Festival, in order to bury them in an appropriate place.
ששמחה היא לו – when he sees them [when they bury them in the graves of his ancestors]. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir in the two of these.
לא יערער על מתו – he should not bring a eulogizer to excite to lamentation on his deceased one that was dead for many days, to search out the relatives of the dead in the manner that the eulogizer goes around when he cries out and says: “Come, cry with me all who are bitter of heart, and he whose heart sinks goes and eulogies his relative.
לא יספידנו – he should not hire a eulogizer for whose dead died at that hour.
קודם הרגל שלשים יום – always, that they mention the reason in the Gemara (Moed Katan 8a) that it is the manner of people to collect monies for the needs of the Festival thirty days before the [onset of the] Festival, because he heard that they explain the Halakhot/laws of the Festival. And lest he give the monies that he collected for the needs of the Festival to the eulogizer, and he would be prevented from the [experiencing] the joy of the Festival. And there are those who say that the dead are not forgotten from the heart (Moed Katan 8b) other than after thirty days after his eulogy.