1)

(a)The list of occasions that one tears Keri'ah and is forbidden to re-sew professionally - ever, comprises five people, three events and three locations. The ...

1. ... three people (besides one's father and mother) are - one's Rebbe, the Nasi and the Av Beis-Din.

2. ... two events (besides hearing bad news) - are the cursing of Hash-m's Name and the burning of a Sefer Torah.

3. ...two locations that one must see (besides that of the Beis Hamikdash) - are the cities of Yehudah and of Yerushalayim.

(b)We learn from Elisha, who, as Eliyahu was being carried away in a fire-chariot, cried out (before renting his garments) ...

1. ... "Avi Avi" - that one is obligated to tear Keri'ah for one's deceased father and mother.

2. ... "Rechev Yisrael u'Farashav" - that one must tear for a Rebbe from whom one learnt Torah ...

(c)... as Rav Yosef cited the Targum 'whose Tefilos are more beneficial to Yisrael than chariots and riders.

(d)And we learn from the continuation of the Pasuk "Vayechazek bi'Vegadav Vayikra'em li'Shenayim Kera'im" - that one is never permitted to re-sew them professionally.

(e)When Resh Lakish asked Rebbi Yochanan how it is possible to learn the Dinim of Keri'ah for a Mes from Eliyahu, seeing as he did not die - the latter cited the Pasuk "v'Lo Ra'ahu Od" (so, to all intents and purposes, he was dead).

2)

(a)We learn from David, who, upon hearing of Yisrael's defeat at the hands of the P'lishtim and the death of Shaul and Yehonasan, rent his clothes for ...

1. ... "Shaul" - that one tears Keri'ah for a King.

2. ... "Yehonasan" - that one tears Keri'ah for the Av Beis-Din.

3. ... "and the people of Yisrael ... who had fallen by the sword" - that one tears Keri'ah upon hearing bad news.

(b)When Rav bar Shva asked Rav Kahana how we know that all three are not required before one is obligated to tear Keri'ah. The answered - with the Pasuk "al Shaul, v'*al* Yehonasan v'*al* Am Hash-m ... ", separating each case from the others.

(c)Besides eulogizing and crying over the tragedy - David and the people who were with him also fasted until the evening.

(d)When Shavur Malka (King of Persia) killed twelve thousand Jews ...

1. ... Shmuel did not tear Keri'ah - because one only tears Keri'ah for a calamity that involves the majority of the community (as was the case with David, where Shaul, Yehonasan and the majority of the army had perished).

2. ... he was not contradicting his own boast to Shmuel that he had never killed a Jew - since the boast was referring to never having killed a Jew unjustly, whereas in this case, the Jews had rebelled, and brought recrimination on themselves.

(e)In this connection, Rebbi Ami claimed - that it was the playing of the numerous harps that accompanied the rebelion against the Persians that caused the walls of Ludki to split.

3)

(a)We learn from the Pasuk in Melachim, where, following the blasphemy of Ravshakei (Sancheiriv's emissary), the Navi describes how Elyakim ben Chilkiyah who was in charge of the Beis ha'Mikdash, Shevna the Sofer and Yo'ach ben Asaf, clerk of the court, came to Chizkiyahu with their clothes torn - that one is obligated to tear Keri'ah upon hearing a blasphemy statement.

(b)One is obligated to tear Keri'ah - even if one hears it, not from the person who initially blasphemed Hash-m, but from the witnesses who repeat it in front of Beis-Din.

(c)We know that the witnesses do not need to tear K'ri'ah again, when they themselves repeat what they heard (because they already tore when they heard it) - from the Pasuk there, which stresses that only Chizkiyahu ha'Melech rent his clothes, implying that the witnesses did not.

(d)We learn from the 'Gezeirah-Shavah' "Keri'ah" "Keri'ah" from Elisha - that here too, it is forbidden to sew the torn garment professionally.

4)

(a)When they read out to King Yehoyakim the first four Pesukim of Yirmeyahu ha'Navi's new Sefer 'Megilas Eichah': "Eichah Yashvah Badad ... ", "Bachoh Sivkeh ba'Laylah ... ", "Galsah Yehudah me'Oni ... " and "Darchei Tziyon Avelus ... ", he was unperturbed - because, he thought, he was king, and what would happen to the people would not necessarily affect him.

(b)But when they ...

1. ... read the fifth Pasuk "Hayu Tzarehah l'Rosh ... " - he wanted to know who was responsible for the enemy's vanquishing Yisrael.

2. ... informed him that this was Hash-m's punishment for Yisrael's many sins - he cut-out all the Names of Hash-m from the Megilah and threw them into the fire.

(c)We learn from the Pasuk in Yirmeyahu "v'Lo Pachadu v'Lo Kar'u es Bigdeihem" - that one is obligated to tear Keri'ah when witnessing the burning of a Sefer Torah (which also contains Names of Hash-m).

(d)When Rav Papa asked Abaye how we know that this Pasuk is not referring to bad news (i.e. the Galus predicted in the Megilah) - he replied that, at that time, there was no bad news (presumably, what he meant was that Yirmeyahu had already warned them about the impending Churban many times).

5)

(a)Rebbi Chelbo Amar Rav Huna rules that someone who witnesses the tearing of a Sefer-Torah, is obligated to tear two Keri'os - one for the parchment and one for the letters.

(b)When Rebbi Aba once removed his Tefilin and put them down on a sheet - an ostrich wanted to swallow them.

(c)When Rebbi Aba declared that had it succeeded, he would have had to tear two Keri'os, Rebbi Huna bar Chiya disagreed on the grounds that he had heard from Rav Yehudah citing Shmuel - that one only needs to fast in the event that the incident resembles the original one, where Yehoyakim (in a deliberate act of defiance) threw the Names of Hash-m into the fire by force; In our case, where, had the ostrich swallowed the Tefilin, it would have been no more than an accident, he would be Patur.

6)

(a)We learn from the Pasuk in Yirmeyahu, where eighty men came from Sh'chem, Shilo and Shomron with shaven beards, torn clothes, and cut-up, carrying a Minchah and Levonah to the Beis-Hamikdash - that someone who sees the cities of Yehudah in a state of desolation, is obligated to tear Keri'ah.

(b)Before tearing Keri'ah, one quotes the Pasuk in Yeshayah ...

1. ... "Arei Kodshecha Hayu Midbar" - upon seeing the cities of Yehudah in a state of desolation.

2. ... "Tziyon Midbar Hayesah, Yerushalayim Shemamah" - upon seeing Yerushalayim in a state of desolation.

3. ... "Beis Kodsheinu v'Sif'arteinu Asher Hilelucha Avoseinu Hayesah li'Sereifas Esh ... " - upon seeing the Makom ha'Mikdash in a state of desolation.

(c)We learned in the Beraisa that one tears Keri'ah upon seeing the Beis Hamikdash and just adds to the tear when one then sees Yerushalayim). A second Beraisa, which requires an independent tear for the Beis ha'Mikdash - speaks when one first sees Yerushalayim, tears Keri'ah and then sees the Beis-Hamikdash.

(d)It is possible to see the Beis-Hamikdash before Yerushalayim - by entering close to the Makom ha'Mikdash via a wagon (without having seen Yerushalayim first).

7)

(a)With reference to all of the cases mentioned on this Amud, the Beraisa says 've'Chulan Resha'in l'Sholelan, ul'Molelan, ul'Loktan v'La'asosan k'Min Sulamos'.

1. 'l'Sholelan' - means basting.

2. 'l'Molelan - to roll the two ends of the tear and pin them together.

3. 'l'Loktan' - to repair the entire tear using pins (and not actually sewing it).

4. 'la'Asosan k'Min Sulamos' - to sew the tear together, but leaving slight gaps between the stitches.

(b)The Tana rules that 'la'Achosan' - (i.e. joining the sections together properly) is forbidden.

(c)Rav Chisda confines this to 'Ichuy Aleksandri' - meaning that it is so professionally done that the tear is no longer visible.

8)

(a)Thye Beraisa rules - that someone who tears Keri'ah on a garment from a spot that has been sewn in one of the four ways that are permitted to an Avel, has not fulfilled his obligation (since, what he is in effect doing, is re-tearing the existing tear); whereas someone who tears from a spot that was sewn professionally (by means of Ichuy Alexandri), has.

(b)According to the Tana Kama of Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar - turning the garment upside-down (and wearing it like that) will enable the rent garment to be sewn together professionally.

(c)Someone who purchases a garment on which Keri'ah has been made, may not repair it professionally. Seeing as the purchaser is not permitted to repair it either - it is incumbent upon the seller to inform him that the tear in the garment is one of Keri'ah.

(d)Rebbi Meir requires a Keri'ah of one Tefach, and a Tosefes of three Tefachim, Rebbi Yehudah, a Keri'ah of three Etzba'os, whereas a Tosefes of anything will do. Ula rules - like Rebbi Meir regarfding the initial tear, but like Rebbi Yehudah, regarding the Tosefes (and that conforms with the opinion of Rebbi Yosi in a Beraisa - see Tosfos DH 'Tanya').

9)

(a)With regard to re-sewing the tear professionally, if a person tore initially for ...

1. ... his father and then for his son - he may re-sew the bottom tear but not the top one.

2. ... his son and then for his father - he may re-sew the top one but not the bottom one.

(b)The Tana Kama holds that, if someone's father died, then his mother, then his brother and then his sister, he tears one Keri'ah for all of them - according to Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseirah, he may tear one tear for all his relatives, but for his parents, he must tear separately ...

(c)... because it is not correct to add on to the Keri'ah that he made for his parents, says Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak.

(d)Shmuel rules like the strict opinion of Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseirah, in spite of his other ruling (that we always follow the more lenient opinion when it comes to Avelus) - because that ruling is confined to Avelus, and does not extend to Keri'ah.

10)

(a)One may not continue to tear Keri'ah once the tears reach the navel. Others hold - that the prohibition begins already when they reach the heart (as hinted in the Pasuk in Yoel "v'Kir'u Levavchem v'Al Bigdeichem").

(b)Once ...

1. ... the tears reach one's navel - one begins a fresh tear at a distance of at least three Etzba'os from the original one, and repeats the sequence.

2. ... the entire front of one's garment down to the navel is full of rents - one turns it round until the back of the garment is now at the front, and begins tearing again what has now become the untorn front of the garment.

3. ... the front and back of the garment are torn - one turns the garment upside-down and begins all over again.

(c)The Beraisa says - that tearing at the bottom of the garment or at the sides is not a valid Keri'ah.

(d)The sole exception to this ruling is - a Kohen Gadol, who tears at the bottom of his clothes (see Tosfos DH 'Porem').

11)

(a)Rav Masna and Mar Ukva argue in the name of Shmuel's father and Levi. One of them says that one may add to an initial tear after the Shiv'ah. The other one - permits it only after the Sheloshim.

(b)The reason for the first opinion, says Rebbi Zeira, is because during the Shiv'ah, even sewing the tear inexpertly is forbidden. And he queries this from a ruling of Mar - permitting a woman to sew the clothes on which she tore Keri'ah (inexpertly), even during the Shiv'ah.

(c)We refute Rebbi Zeira suggestion, that a woman who is sitting Shiv'ah (who is permitted to sew her torn garment inexpertly), ought then to be permitted to add to the initial tear (for another deceased relative), even during the Shiv'ah - on the grounds that strictly speaking, she should not really be permitted to sew her torn garment during the Shiv'ah any more than a man, and it is only due to Tzeniyus that Chazal permitted her to do so.

12)

(a)The reason Rebbi Zeira ascribes to the second opinion (which forbids adding to the tear during the entire Sheloshim) is - because, during that time, one is forbidden to sew the garment professionally.

(b)And we now refute his suggestion, that, in view of the prohibition to repair professionally (even after the Sheloshim) a tear that one tore for one's father or mother, one should never be allowed to add to that tear - on the grounds that there too, strictly speaking, sewing the tear for one's parents ought to be permitted, like for any other relative; and it is only out of respect for one's parents that Chazal forbade it).

13)

(a)The Beraisa says - that someone who walks in front of a dead person with a garment that was torn previously is guilty of stealing both from the living ('Geneivas Da'as' [deceit]) and from the dead (the Keri'ah that he ought to tear for them, and that is theirs by right).

(b)A person who borrows a coat ...

1. ... expressly to go and visit his sick father, but when he arrives, he discovers that his father has died - should tear Keri'ah and then sew it professionally. Later, when he returns the garment, he pays the owner for the damage.

2. ... without mentioning the fact that his father is sick - is not permitted to tear Keri'ah on it.

(c)Besides not informing a sick man that his relative has died (in case this causes his condition to seriously deteriorate) - one may also not tear Keri'ah in his presence (even if he knows about the death of the deceased). One also asks weeping women to control their weeping in his presence.

(d)One tears Keri'ah ...

1. ... on a Katan whose relative died (in spite of the fact that a Katan is not obligated to mourn) - in order to increase the atmosphere of grief.

2. ... for one's father-in-law or mother-in-law - in deference to one's wife.

14)

(a)Rav Papa quotes the Tana in Evel Rabasi (Maseches Semachos) as saying - that an Avel should desist from holding a baby on his lap, in case this leads him to laughter, which will cause people to look at him with disgust.

(b)We learned in our Mishnah that, on Chol ha'Mo'ed, one serves the Se'udas Havra'ah on beds that have not been over-turned. During the rest of the year, a guest who is very close to the Avel, serves him and eats with him on an overturned bed - whereas ordinary guests (who are not particularly close to the Avel) serve him and eat with him on beds that have not been overturned (in honor of the guests).

(c)When Aba bar Marsa (who was not particularly close to Rava) kept on overturning the bed in order to serve Rava (who was sitting Shiv'ah), after Rava had righted it - Rava remarked how that Talmid-Chacham could not take a hint.

(d)An Avel who is traveling is obligated to minimize his urgent business dealings if possible (see Tosfos DH 'Im'). If this is not possible - then he must combine his business together with someone else, but not continue on his own (for the duration of the Shiv'ah) under any circumstances.