Resources for Moed Katan 21
Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman
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- The גמרא says that an אבל is forbidden to learn Torah during שבעה. There is a מחלוקת ראשונים as to whether an אבל is allowed to learn the things that one is allowed to learn on תשעה באב (e.g. קינות, איכה, etc.). See תוספותin ד"ה ואסור who brings both possibilities and ראשונים on each side. One of the proofs brought by תוספות forbidding an אבל to learn דברים הרעים is that the ירושלמי says that an אבל is allowed to learn במקום שאינו רגיל. This is משמע that only places he isn’t used to learning may be learnt, but not דברים הרעים. However, see the סמ"ג brought in the ב"י in יו"ד סימן שפּ"ד who says that none of the poskim bring the היתר to learn במקום שאינו רגיל, which means we don’t pasken like that ירושלמי so we can’t bring a proof from it.
As to why one should be allowed to learn the דברים הרעים when learning Torah brings שמחה to a person, see the השלחן ערוך in סימן שפּ"ד ס"ק ב who explains that the sadness of the topic eliminates the happiness one feels from the learning.
As to whether one could learn the דברים הרעים with עיון, see the יוסף ברכי in סימן שפּ"ד who says he saw a גדול learning the דברים הרעים בעיון when he was in אבילות and that he felt it was wrong, as חז"ל only allowed the אבל to learn the פּשוטי דברים. However, the ערוך השלחן in ס"ק ה disagrees and says that one can learn דברים הרעים even בעיון and one only needs to refrain themselves from learning פּילפּול (the contemporary term would be “geshmake reid” or "לשיטתו"s). If while learning בעיון he happens to get שמחה from his learning, that’s a side הנאה and allowed.
Even if you assume (as we do להלכה) that an אבל can learn דברים הרעים, there is a discussion as to whether there is a תלמוד תורה חיוב or just a היתר תלמוד תורה. See the הליכות שלמה in מועדים הל' ט"ב עמ' תל"ח who brings the following proof: the ראשונים ask how could an אבל be forbidden to learn when the גמרא in סוכה says that an אבל is obligated in all מצוות? The answer given by the רמב"ן and others is that since the אבל is obligated to say ק"ש every day, he is in fact not פּטור מתלמוד תורה. The difficulty with this response seems obvious: why didn’t the ראשונים just answer that the אבל is not פּטור מתלמוד תורה since he must learn דברים הרעים? Apparently you see from here that the אבל is allowed to learn דברים הרעים but not obligated to learn דברים הרעים. However, Rav Elyashiv in his הערות במסכת מו"ק quotes a מטה יהודה that paskens like that but disagrees and holds if one is allowed to learn then one is obligated to learn.
- The גמרא says that one is not allowed to be שואל בשלום אבל during שבעה, and if one did, then within the first three days the אבל must respond that he is an אבל, and after three days he can answer normally. The מצבת משהasks an interesting question: why is it we don’t find any חילוקים here about who the אבל is responding to. For example, by הלכות ק"ש, there are places in ברכות ק"ש where a person is שואל מפּני היראה ומשיב מפּני הכבוד. We don’t find any similar חילוקים here by אבל. He answers that by ברכות ק"ש the issue is being מפסיק with words and ignoring the person standing in front of you. In that case it makes sense to differentiate between who is standing there. However, when it comes to אבל, the אבל isn’t going to ignore anyone—he is just going to respond that he is in mourning and no one will have any complaints about that response.
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