Mishnah
Mishnah

Talmud for Nazir 9:3

הַמּוֹצֵא מֵת בִּתְחִלָּה מֻשְׁכָּב כְּדַרְכּוֹ, נוֹטְלוֹ וְאֶת תְּבוּסָתוֹ. מָצָא שְׁנַיִם, נוֹטְלָן וְאֶת תְּבוּסָתָן. מָצָא שְׁלשָׁה, אִם יֵשׁ בֵּין זֶה לָזֶה מֵאַרְבַּע אַמּוֹת וְעַד שְׁמֹנֶה, הֲרֵי זוֹ שְׁכוּנַת קְבָרוֹת. בּוֹדֵק הֵימֶנּוּ וּלְהַלָּן עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה. מָצָא אֶחָד בְּסוֹף עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה, בּוֹדֵק הֵימֶנּוּ וּלְהַלָּן עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה, שֶׁרַגְלַיִם לַדָּבָר, שֶׁאִלּוּ מִתְּחִלָּה מְצָאוֹ, נוֹטְלוֹ וְאֶת תְּבוּסָתוֹ:

If one found a dead body in the beginning [i.e., not having known that there was a grave there, as stated in the gemara: "If he found him," and not if he were already 'found.'" It is also derived from "dead" as opposed to "slain."], lying [and not sitting] in the usual position [and not with his head placed between his thighs, all such suspected to be gentiles. Jews not being buried in this manner], he is permitted to take it [(He may remove it from there and bury it elsewhere)]and its tevusah. [He must take some of the soil of the grave with him, as much as the body "takes up" (kedai tefisah), which is all the moist soil under it. And he digs three fingers in the virgin soil, viz. (Genesis 47:30): "And carry me from Egypt and bury me in their burying place" — The intent of the seemingly superfluous "from Egypt" is: Take some of the soil of Egypt with me.] If he found two, he takes them and their tevusah. If he found three — if there were between one and the other from four cubits until eight [That is, if from the first grave until the third, there were not less than four cubits and not more than eight], it is a burial area, [it being clear that they were interred there, and it is forbidden to remove them. But if there were only one or two, we assume that they were buried there only temporarily, to be reinterred elsewhere. If there were three, however, this is indication of a burial plot. The conventional crypt was six cubits long and four cubits wide, and its diagonal, an additional two cubits (whence "eight"). This explains "from four cubits until eight." ("the full space of a litter and its buriers" is to be omitted)] He examines from it onwards twenty cubits, [For the crypt was four cubits by six, and the space that the crypt opened onto, six by six on either side (as per the view of the rabbis. Bava Bathra 102b), so that the length of two crypts and the space between them was eighteen cubits. And because sometimes he examines one crypt on its diagonal, which is approximately two cubits longer, there are twenty cubits (to examine): eight of the first crypt, six of the intervening space, and six of the second crypt (for one diagonal is posited, but not two). This accounts for "twenty." (And he must further examine twenty cubits from top to bottom, forty cubits.) For this might be the crypt at the east of the space, and there might be another opposite, at the west of the space. Or this might be the crypt at the west of the space, and there might be another at the east of the space.] If he found one at the end of twenty cubits, he examines from it onwards twenty cubits. [For who is to say that that crypt is part of this burial ground? Perhaps it is part of a different ground belonging to a different person. And all of the above examinations must, likewise, be made here. For just as there is a grave there, there might be others.] For there is a rationale for this [i.e., for saying that this field was made for graves, and that there were also other crypts there. (All of these Mishnayoth are included here by reason of "There is a rationale for this.")] For if he found it first, he would remove it and its tevusah (see above).

Explore talmud for Nazir 9:3. In-depth commentary and analysis from classical Jewish sources.

Previous VerseFull ChapterNext Verse