Brachos 2:6-7

Brachos 2:6

Rabban Gamliel bathed on the night after his wife died, something typically forbidden for a mourner. His students asked him, “Didn’t you teach us that a mourner is not allowed to bathe?” He replied, “That does not apply to people like me, who have a delicate nature.”

Brachos 2:7

When Rabban Gamliel’s servant Tovi died, Rabban Gamliel received condolences for him. His students asked, “Didn’t you teach us that one does not accept condolences for a slave?” He replied, “Tovi is different because he was an upstanding individual” (either he was Torah-observant or he was a Torah scholar).