Sanhedrin 086

1:
Our mishnah is obviously dislocated. It has to be understood as dealing with three separate topics: Rabbi Me'ir's midrash; the burial of ordinary people; the burial of executed criminals. The latter part of this mishnah, furthermore, connects logically with the next mishnah.

2:
The first part [Reisha] of our mishnah is a midrash. That is to say, it is a homiletical elaboration on a Biblical theme. In Sanhedrin 084 we quoted the following Biblical source:

At that time I pointed out that "the phrase that I have quoted also in Hebrew is very difficult to translate because it is susceptible of several connotations", and I then brought several different interpretations of the Hebrew phrase Killelat Elohim. Rabbi Me'ir's midrash represents an additional interpretation of this phrase. His midrash is not based on content but on assonance. The Hebrew he uses for the phrase we have translated as "my head hurts" is Kalani mé-Roshi, which means literally "my head feels light". However, this is a euphemism for "my head feels heavy" – i.e. hurts me. But the Hebrew term Kalani assonates (somewhat) with the Biblical term Killelat. Thus Rabbi Me'ir wants to suggest that the phrase in Deuteronomy Ki Killelat Elohim Talu'i may be understood as "God suffers when a person's body is hung up" – and that is why his body must be buried immediately. However, the point of this midrash seems to be the logical conclusion that it prompts: if God suffers, as it were, when a criminal dies, obviously God must suffer all the more when an ordinary person (anyone who is not a criminal) dies. The Halakhic conclusion is that therefore they, too, must be buried on the day of their death.

3:
Rabbi Me'ir's midrash refers to God as Shekhinah, which I have translated as "Divine Presence". In rabbinic thought the Creator is absolutely separate from the Creator's creation – which is everything apart from the Creator. In order to mitigate such severe transcendence, rabbinic thought also conceptualizes the Divine as being immanent in the created universe. This immanence means that God is not so separate and transcendent that God may not be perceived or reached by human thought: the transcendent deity is also immanent in creation. The hypostasis of this sense of the Divine infusing the mundane is termed by the sages Shekhinah. The fact that Shekhinah is a feminine noun permits Rabbi Me'ir to intimate in his midrash that the loss of a human life is as painful for the Divine as the loss of a son's life is for the mother that begot him.

4:
The halakhic conclusion that everyone should be buried before sunset, and not just executed criminals, leads neatly from the Reisha to the Emtzaïta [middle section] of our mishnah, which states that "anyone who delays the burial of their dead is contravening a negative commandment" – the command "you must not leave his body over night (but you must bury him that very same day)". If criminals are to be buried with dispatch, obviously this should be the case with upright people.

5:
The Gemara [Sanhedrin 46b] expands on this theme: not only is the Biblical verse to be seen as the source for the requirement of burial with dispatch, but it should also be seen as the source that requires human remains to be buried – "You must bury [him that very same day]". This inevitably leads the Gemara to investigate why burial is to be required, rather than any other means of disposal. The Gemara posits two possibilities. Burial is perhaps required by the Torah for considerations of respect for the deceased (all other means being perceived as containing an element of disrespect). Or, alternatively, burial is perhaps required by the Torah in order to afford atonement for the deceased. (Man is described as originating in the dust of the ground [Genesis 2:7] and after "man's first disobedience" he is told: "by the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread until you return to the earth from which you came; for your are but dust and to dust shall you return" [Genesis 3:19]. Thus a return to dust is perceived as affording atonement.) The discussion in the Gemara leaves the issue unresolved. Tradition has, therefore, given both considerations equal weight.

6:
However, a strict adherence to the Biblical requirement of burial on the day of death might boomerang, and it could end up causing disrespect for the deceased rather than respect. That is why our mishnah permits the burial to be delayed if the delay is in order to enhance the honour of the deceased. It might be necessary to delay the burial in order to procure a coffin or in order to prepare shrouds. In modern times it has become acceptable to delay burial for a day or even two days in order to allow next of kin to arrive from distant parts, as this too is seen as enhancing the respect due to the dead. The Gemara [Sanhedrin 46b] also sees the funeral eulogy as being required for the sake of the honour of the deceased (and not for the honour of the living). It therefore follows that if it is known that the deceased did not want to be eulogized that this desire should be honoured.

7:
The Seifa [last section] of our mishnah returns us to the burial of the criminal after his body is removed from the gallows. In mishnaic times human remains were buried in caves, each family having its own cave in which the dead were laid out on bed-like niches in the rock. A very well preserved burial cave may be seen to this day, for example, in Bet She'arim, in Israel. (Bet She'arim was the ancestral plot of members of the family of the President of the Sanhedrin.) Our mishnah states that executed criminals were buried in special cemeteries maintained by the Court – but this issue will be developed further by the next mishnah.

In our last shiur I made an "off the cuff" remark about not eating meat: Might I suggest, in common with many rabbis much greater than me, that those who are concerned at any possible suffering that may be caused to animals during the process of Sheĥitah [ritual slaughter] simply refrain from eating meat altogether! This remark has prompted a message from Art Evans:

I'm interested in the "other rabbis" you mention and would appreciate citations. I have the book "Judaism and Vegetarianism" by Richard H Schwartz, which provides many citations, and I'm always interested in learning more. I recently asked three rabbis whether or not there is a halachic requirement to eat meat on sabbath or festivals. Interestingly, the reform and orthodox rabbis both said there is no such requirement; the conservative rabbi said there is. Any opinions you would share on this topic would be most appreciated.

My response:

I am no expert on vegetarian rabbis (although I myself do not eat meat). Some names that have been mentioned include Rabbi Kuk, the first Chief Rabbi of Eretz-Israel (died in 1935, I think); the late Chief Rabbi of Israel Shelomo Goren has also been mentioned. I also believe that the present Chief Rabbi of Haifa, She'ar-Yashuv ha-Kohen, is vegetarian. However, I can vouch for the accuracy of none of the above reports. Rav Kuk certainly wrote that a vegetarian diet was the ideal and that it would become a universal reality in the Messianic Age.

As regards Art's second query: it should be quite clear by now that there is no requirement to eat meat on Shabbat and YomTov. The eating of meat in earlier times was considered a luxury and many could only indulge on those days, and did not eat meat on weekdays for economic reasons. This led to the rabbinic observation that "happiness is expressed in [eating] meat". Obviously, if eating meat would have the opposite effect it must be omitted.

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In our last shiur I brought a message from Jeff Silver in which he said I can think of obvious differences between humans, who have a nefesh, and animals, who do not.

Rémy Landau writes:

I'm not at all sure as to what that means, or for that matter of fact as to why such a difference, if it is indeed a difference, is "obvious".

I respond:

In order not to go over ground already covered please check in our archives for the shiur of March 30th 1998.