Tag: yom tov sheini

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Torah Riddles Test #113

  1. Question: Why should you bury the dead and then eat the yom tov meal on second day yom tov if he or she died the night before, or everything was ready quickly if the person died in the morning but on the eve of Pesach you should first eat then bury the dead?

Background:

  1. Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 526:12) says when a person dies on the night of the second day of yom tov they should get up early and bury the person before they daven. If the person dies in the morning they should bury the person after they eat the yom tov meal. The Mishna Berura (52) adds that nevertheless if everything is ready, the hole is dug and the rags he is buried in are ready so it’s possible to bury the person before eating without stopping the joy of yom tov, then it is better to bury before eating because a Medrish on the verse “don’t eat on the blood” says that it is forbidden to eat a set meal before burying the dead.
  2. The Mishna Berura (443:6) points out that on Erev Pesach it says it is not appropriate to eat a meal and then bury the dead. It does not say it is forbidden, and if there is no time to eat chometz before the time it becomes forbidden then certainly, they can eat before burying the dead. The Shaar Hatzion (9) explains there that it is not a disgrace to the dead person if they eat before burial, why not?

Answer: . There is no disgrace to eat chometz before erev Pesach before burying the dead because if they bury the dead first they might be in more of a rush because they would be concerned about eating chometz too late, or it might actually happen that they eat chometz when they aren’t supposed to because they buried the dead first which is more of a disgrace. This problem does not exist on yom tov itself, even if they might rush to finish in order to enjoy there meal, that isn’t a concern because they have the whole day to eat, they aren’t timebound as by chometz on erev Pesach.

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Torah Riddles Test #112

  1. Question: Why does the Shulchan Aruch hold on the second day of yom tov one can cut a branch off a myrtle tree to place the branch on a coffin for a burial but one cannot tear his shirt over the dead until after yom tov?

Background:

  1. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 526:4) holds that on the second day of yom tov which is only rabbinic, Jews can bury the dead because the rabbis didn’t enact the yom tov when the mitzvah and respect of burying the dead is required. The Rema holds that if at all possible, the burial should be done by non-Jews, whatever they can do, with Jews just directing what should be done, anything else the non-Jew can’t do the Jews can do.
  2. The Mishna Berura (18) in regard to the myrtle branch says that in places where there is a custom to place a myrtle branch on the coffin, even though it is not part of the main mitzvah of burial, but because it is an honor to the dead it’s allowed.
  3. The Shulchan Aruch says in 526:11 that one should not tear kriah over the dead on the second day of yom tov, even his relatives.

Answer: The Mishna Berura (50) says that tearing clothes over the dead is not for the need of the dead. It is for the mourners to grieve whereas breaking off the myrtle branch to place on the coffin is an honor for the dead and therefore can be done as part of the burial.