Resources for Moed Katan 20

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא says that רב came to ארץ ישראל and met his uncle ר' חייא. When ר' חייא asked him how his parents were, he answered evasively such that ר' חייא understood that they both had died. See the מרדכיin אות תתקל"ג who says that it sounds from the story that רב didn’t really want to tell רב, and had he not asked he wouldn’t have said anything. He proves from here that if one knows that someone else’s relative died, there is no חיוב to inform them of the death (although if they ask one must tell them the truth). This can be relevant where someone is old and they may not be able to handle the news of the death or the שבעה. The שלחן ערוך in יו"ד סימן ת"ב סעיף י"ב Paskens that one is not obligated to inform anyone and that one can even invite the would-be אבל to a Simcha. The invitation would not be a violation of לפני עור since there is in fact no חיוב אבילות if the person is unaware that someone has died. The מהרי וויל comments that the מנהג is to tell the male sons since they must say Kaddish for the ניפטר. See also שו"ת פּנים מאירות in חלק בּ סימן קצ"ו who forbids telling someone about a death in their family on יו"ט as it would necessitate them to keep דברים שבצנעה and would inhibit their שמחת יו"ט.
  2. The גמרא throughout the פּרק, including our דף, discusses the concept of מקצת היום ככולו. There is a discussion amongst the ראשונים as to whether מקצת היום ככולו applies at night. In other words, if someone was נוהג אבילות at night, is that enough for that day to count as a full day using מקצת היום ככולו. See תוספותin דף כ"א: ד"ה אפילו who says that the night does not count for מקצת היום. This is also the opinion of the ריטב”א on דף י"ט: ד"ה כיון. The proof the ריטב”א brings is that the גמרא says clearly that שבעה doesn’t end until the מנחמין Since מנחמין typically come in the daytime, it is impossible to say that שבעה ends the night before. See the רמב"ן in תורת האדם דף רט"ו בדפוס מוסד הרב קוק who disagrees and says that the מנחמין only extend Shiva if they happen to come, but if they don’t come then one can end the שבעה at night. Another possibility given by the רבינו מאיר מרוטנבורק quoted in the רא"ש סימן ל is that מקצת היום ככולו would work at night if there is no need for ספירה since ספירה only counts by day (as we see from הלכות נדה). Therefore, by שבעה where you need seven full days, we cannot apply מקצת היום ככולו to the nighttime. However, by שמועה רחוקה where any amount of time is sufficient, then even אבילות דלילה would count.
  3. There is a discussion in the ראשונים about one who ח"ו hears about the death of a relative on the 30th day itself whether that counts as a שמועה קרובה or a שמועה רחוקה. The ריטב"אquotes both opinions and sides with the opinion that it counts as a שמועה קרובה. The reason he gives is “Yesodosdik”. He says that even though we say הלכה כדברי המקל באבל which sounds like we are always מקיל בספק אבל, that’s only where the person doesn’t have a חזקת אבל. However, in our case where the person has to be an אבל for at least a minute and the question is whether he can stop now, then we go לחומרא. This idea is also used by the רדב"ז in סימן ס"ב who says that if a person isn’t sure whether the מת was נפטר within 30 days or not, he must be מחמיר being that he is בחזקת אבל since even a שמועה רחוקה requires some time of אבילות.

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