Resources for Moed Katan 28

1.     The גמרא says that כרת is from age 50-60 and after that is מיתה בידי שמים. The גמרא also add that after 60 there is still the possibility of כרת דיומי. Most people are familiar with כרת being the cutting off of the נשמה as it says “ונכרתה הנפש ההיא”. So how does that connect to the כרת דשנים וכרת דיומי described in the גמרא? See the רמב"ן in שער הגמול סימן קצ"ג as well as רבינו בחיי in פּרשת אחרי מות, פּרק י"ח, פּסוק כ"ט who says there are three types of כרת: if a person is רובו זכויות and they do an איסור כרת once, then the person will die early which is כרת דשנים. However, their soul is NOT cut off. רבינו בחיי adds that if the person is older than 60 then they get כרת דיומי which means they will die earlier than they otherwise would have. The way we know if they received כרת דיומי is if the person dies in three days (that comes from a ירושלמי in ביכורים). If they are רובו עוונות or transgress עבירות which are considered to be פּושעי ישראל בגופן and do an איסור כרת, then they don’t die young but their soul is cut off and after 12 months in גיהנם and their soul is burnt and spread under the feet of צדיקים in עולם הבא. If they worship ע"ז, or are a כופר, and the like, then they die early and get their souls cut off and stay in גיהנם לדורי דורות. As to the difference between מיתה בידי שמים and כרת, see רש"י in שבת דף כ"ה ד"ה וכרת who says that כרת means the person’s children die too and מיתה בידי שמים does not affect his children. See the תוספות הרא"ש in יבמות דף ב ד"ה ואשת who quotes the ריב"א who disagrees and says that up till age 50 is כרת, and 60 is מיתה בידי שמים. Even though our גמרא says that כרת is from 50-60, the תוספות הרא"ש explains that occurs in a case where there was a זכות תולה which can last up to age 60.

2.     The גמרא says that there are three things that are תלוי במזל: a person’s פּרנסה, lifespan, and children. This is obviously a השקפה that needs הסבר. See the מאירי here for example who says that our גמרא is a דעת יחיד and is totally against our השקפה and wrong. See the ר"ן here who says that even though ברי חיי ומזוני really are תלוי בזכותים, they are also תלוי במזל to an extent. He then suggests an alternate opinion that זכותים can help somewhat with ברי חיי ומזוני but can’t totally beat מזל. He says that according to this opinion our גמרא holds יש מזל לישראל. However, we pasken אין מזל לישראל. In the דרשות הר"ן in דרוש ח he explains further: מזל refers to the constellations that affect what go on on Earth. So if מזל says there will be a train wreck, there are two ways to get around it. If you hold יש מזל לישראל like our גמרא, then your only option is to daven and with a lot of זכותים Hashem can let you work around it, such as by making you forget your briefcase so you are late for the train. However, if you hold that אין מזל לישראל, then with זכותים you can totally crush the מזל, such as by אברהם אבינו where מזל said he wouldn’t have kids but he was able to rise above it. See the רבינו בחיי in פּרשת לך לך, פּרק ט"ו פּסוק ה who says that אין מזל לישראל means that כלל ישראל as a whole has no מזל, but individuals are subjected to מזל. See also the ריטב"א who says that even though מזל affects us, a זכות גדולה can beat it. However, that would be mostly for a צדיק גמור. See also the דעת תבונות who has a long discussion about the concept of מזל and describes how מזל almost by definition does not give a person what they deserve but is what Hashem uses to bring the world to it’s ultimate תיקון.

3.     The משנה discusses how women can mourn/eulogize a מת on חול המועד. There is a famous תשובת רבי עקיבא איגר in סימן א who says that women have no obligation of שמחה on יו"ט since it is a מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא. He therefore paskens that if a woman forgets יעלה ויבוא on יו"ט that she does not repeat bentching since she has no חיוב of אכילת פּת. He adds in the השמטות that at least according to the ראב"ד she is even מותר בהספּד ותענית. Based on this, one could ask how our משנה could be limiting what women could do on חול המועד in terms of eulogizing? See אגרות משה in או"ח סימן קס"ה who apparently disagrees and says that the איסור הספּד on חול המועד has nothing to do with the מצות שמחה. The proof is that there is a איסור הספּד on חנוכה וראש חודש even though there is no חיוב שמחה.