Evel Rabbati
Encyclopedia
Ebel Rabbati is one of the later or minor tractates which in the editions of the Babylonian Talmud are placed after the fourth order, Neziḳin
; it treats of mourning for the dead. It is known also under the euphemistic name Semachot (שמחות), meaning "festive occasions" or "joys".
as well as among the Greeks
. This treatise, which is the oldest collection of halakot on mourning customs, was compiled in Palestine
; and, according to Brüll (l.c.), R. Eleazar b. Zadok, who lived in Lydda
at the time of Gamaliel II
, prepared the nucleus of it. It was then amplified, enriched, and revised by R. Ḥiyya, but as it was known to a small circle only, it was replaced by the later treatise Ebel Rabbati, which borrowed much from it.
. This explains the many coincidences of its contents with the baraitot of the Jerusalem Talmud
. It is a compilation from various older works; and in many passages traces of revision are to be noticed. The compiler incorporated a considerable part of the small Ebel, as well as much from other works, besides adding original matter. The late date of the compilation of the treatise may be seen from the use of the two Talmudim and from the character of the composition itself, which is unmistakable.
The work reached Babylonia
in the geonic period; and even at that time it received amplifications and additions from both Talmudim. It took on its present form probably in the middle of the 8th century (Brüll, l.c. p. 48), if not later. The work was comparatively widely circulated at the time of the later geonim, since reference to a passage in it is made in a question addressed to Sherira and Hai Gaon
from a distant region. In their responsum to this question they call the treatise "Mishnatenu" = "our Mishnah" (Naḥmanides
, Torat ha-Adam, p. 51a, Venice, 1598). Rashi
had the work in its present form, since he explicitly cites as the commencement of the treatise the opening words of the present text.
cites it by chapters (Mordekai on M. Ḳ. 919, 926, 929). The tractate contains almost complete instructions as to the treatment of the dying and the dead, from the commencement of the death-agony to the arrangement of the grave which receives the remains. Numerous examples from current practice are cited. A large number of haggadot also are included. On the whole, it furnishes much valuable material for the study of Oriental antiquities in general and of ancient Jewish practices in particular, for the verification of historical facts, and for an understanding of the development of Jewish customs.
The present text is defaced by many corruptions, so that its original form cannot now be determined. Wherever possible the commentators have made corrections on the basis of critical comparison, or have called attention to the corruptions.
Nezikin
For Jewish law on damages, see Damages Nezikin or Seder Nezikin is the fourth Order of the Mishna...
; it treats of mourning for the dead. It is known also under the euphemistic name Semachot (שמחות), meaning "festive occasions" or "joys".
Contents of the "Small" Ebel
To judge from these fragments the small Ebel contained regulations concerning visitation of the sick, treatment of the dying, laying out of the corpse, mourning for the dead, arrangement of graves, and collection of the bones ("ossilegium"), which was customary among the JewsJews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
as well as among the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
. This treatise, which is the oldest collection of halakot on mourning customs, was compiled in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
; and, according to Brüll (l.c.), R. Eleazar b. Zadok, who lived in Lydda
Lod
Lod is a city located on the Sharon Plain southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2010, it had a population of 70,000, roughly 75 percent Jewish and 25 percent Arab.The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod...
at the time of Gamaliel II
Gamaliel II
Rabban Gamaliel II was the first person to lead the Sanhedrin as Nasi after the fall of the second temple, which occurred in 70 CE. Gamliel was appointed nasi approximately 10 years later. Gamaliel II was the son of Shimon ben Gamaliel, one of Jerusalem's foremost men in the war against the...
, prepared the nucleus of it. It was then amplified, enriched, and revised by R. Ḥiyya, but as it was known to a small circle only, it was replaced by the later treatise Ebel Rabbati, which borrowed much from it.
Late Date
The treatise Semaḥot is a post-Talmudic product and originated in PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. This explains the many coincidences of its contents with the baraitot of the Jerusalem Talmud
Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...
. It is a compilation from various older works; and in many passages traces of revision are to be noticed. The compiler incorporated a considerable part of the small Ebel, as well as much from other works, besides adding original matter. The late date of the compilation of the treatise may be seen from the use of the two Talmudim and from the character of the composition itself, which is unmistakable.
The work reached Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
in the geonic period; and even at that time it received amplifications and additions from both Talmudim. It took on its present form probably in the middle of the 8th century (Brüll, l.c. p. 48), if not later. The work was comparatively widely circulated at the time of the later geonim, since reference to a passage in it is made in a question addressed to Sherira and Hai Gaon
Hai Gaon
Hai ben Sherira , was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the early 11th century. He was born in 939 and died on March 28, 1038...
from a distant region. In their responsum to this question they call the treatise "Mishnatenu" = "our Mishnah" (Naḥmanides
Nahmanides
Nahmanides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça Porta and by his acronym Ramban, , was a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator.-Name:"Nahmanides" is a Greek-influenced formation meaning "son of Naḥman"...
, Torat ha-Adam, p. 51a, Venice, 1598). Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
had the work in its present form, since he explicitly cites as the commencement of the treatise the opening words of the present text.
Organization
The treatise is divided into 14 chapters, and this division dates from the 13th century at the latest, since even Mordecai ben HillelMordecai ben Hillel
Mordechai ben Hillel HaKohen , also known as The Mordechai, was a 13th century German rabbi and posek. His chief legal commentary on the Talmud, referred to as the Mordechai, is one of the sources of the Shulchan Aruch. He died a martyr's death at Nuremberg.-Biography:Little is known of the...
cites it by chapters (Mordekai on M. Ḳ. 919, 926, 929). The tractate contains almost complete instructions as to the treatment of the dying and the dead, from the commencement of the death-agony to the arrangement of the grave which receives the remains. Numerous examples from current practice are cited. A large number of haggadot also are included. On the whole, it furnishes much valuable material for the study of Oriental antiquities in general and of ancient Jewish practices in particular, for the verification of historical facts, and for an understanding of the development of Jewish customs.
The present text is defaced by many corruptions, so that its original form cannot now be determined. Wherever possible the commentators have made corrections on the basis of critical comparison, or have called attention to the corruptions.
Outline of the Work
The following is a short outline of the contents of the treatise:- The first chapter is preceded by a haggadic introduction, inasmuch as it is considered desirable to begin so mournful a treatise with a sentence of a lighter character (comp. Brüll, l. c. p. 27, note 41).
- Ch. i.: A person in the agony of death is regarded in every respect as fully alive (§§ 1-8); mourning to be observed for heathen and slaves; other regulations concerning slaves. In this connection it is said that only the three patriarchs AbrahamAbrahamAbraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
, IsaacIsaacIsaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
, and JacobJacobJacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
may correctly be called the fathers of the Hebrew race, and only the four women SarahSarahSarah or Sara was the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. Her name was originally Sarai...
, Rebekah, RachelRachelRachel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, is a prophet and the favorite wife of Jacob, one of the three Biblical Patriarchs, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She was the daughter of Laban and the younger sister of Leah, Jacob's first wife...
, and LeahLeahLeah , as described in the Hebrew Bible, is the first of the two concurrent wives of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob and mother of six of sons whose descendants became the Twelve Tribes of Israel, along with at least one daughter, Dinah. She is the daughter of Laban and the older sister of Rachel, whom...
, the matriarchs. (§§ 9-14).
- Ch. ii.: Mourning customs to be observed for a suicide; cases in which a person found dead is to be regarded as a suicide (§§ 1-6); mourning to be observed, for a person condemned and executed by a Jewish tribunal (§§ 7-9); no mourning is to be observed, even by their nearest relatives, for persons who have renounced their nationality and their faith (§ 10); mourning to be observed for a person executed by a non-Jewish tribunal; other regulations (§§ 11-14).
- Ch. iii.: The different burial customs, varying according to the age of the deceased.
- Ch. iv.: Cases in which a priest may handle a corpse, although he thereby loses his priestly purity.
- Ch. v.: Mourners are prohibited from performing any work during the seven days of mourning; laws relating to excommunicants.
- Ch. vi.: What a mourner may and may not do during the seven days of mourning; what a person under a ban may not do; attitude of the community toward him.
- Ch. vii.: Nature of the thirty days' mourning. In connection therewith many other regulations are enumerated which have to do with terms of thirty days.
- Ch. viii.: Customs which one may observe, although they appear to be heathen customs; various proverbs, anecdotes, and historical narratives.
- Ch. ix.: Different mourning customs for different relatives and for different events.
- Ch. x.: Mourning while the corpse is still in the house; mourning for scholars and princes; and other regulations.
- Ch. xi.: When two corpses are in the city, which of the two is to be buried first; the mourning of a wife for the relatives of her husband; signs of mourning to be displayed in the house of a mourner.
- Ch. xii., xiii.: Regulations concerning ossilegium (see above); various other regulations, and anecdotes.
- Ch. xiv.: Regulations concerning graves and the laying out of burial-places; the mourning feast in the house of the mourner.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
- N. Brüll, Die Talmudischen Traktate über Trauer um Verstorbene, in Jahrb. i. 1-57;
- M. Klotz, Der Talmudische Traktat Ebel Rabbati oder Semaḥot, Berlin, 1890;
- Weiss, Dor, ii. 246.
External links
- "Ebel Rabbati", section in Wilhelm BacherWilhelm BacherWilhelm Bacher was a Jewish Hungarian scholar, rabbi, Orientalist and linguist, born in Liptó-Szent-Miklós, Hungary to the Hebrew writer Simon Bacher. Wilhelm was himself an incredibly prolific writer, authoring or co-authoring approximately 750 works in an unfortunately short life...
and Jacob Zallel LauterbachJacob Zallel LauterbachJacob Zallel Lauterbach was an American Judaica scholar and author who served on the faculty of Hebrew Union College and composed responsa for the Reform movement in America. He specialized in Midrashic and Talmudical literature, and is best known for his landmark critical edition and English...
: Semaḥot, in: Jewish Encyclopedia.