Study Moed Katan folio 21A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Rav Ashi challenged him: However, if that is so, one should be required to stand while performing the ritual through which the brother-in-law frees the yevama of her levirate bonds [ḥalitza], as the verse states: “And if he stands and he says: I do not wish to take her” (Deuteronomy 25:8). Here mus
He said to him: There, in the case of ḥalitza, it is not written: And he will stand and he will say, which would imply an obligation to stand; whereas here, in the case of rending, it is written: “Then Job arose, and rent his coat” (Job 1:20).
Rami bar Ḥama said: From where is it derived that rending must be performed while standing? As it is stated: “Then Job arose, and rent his coat” (Job 1:20). The Talmud asks: Perhaps he did something extra beyond what is required, and actually there is no obligation to stand; as, if you do not say th
The Talmud concludes: Rather, this source must be rejected, and instead the halakha is derived from here, the verse that describes David’s mourning over his son: “Then the king arose, and rent his garments” (II Samuel 13:31). The Talmud asks: But perhaps he too did something extra beyond what is r
But isn’t it taught in a baraita: If a mourner sat on a bed, on a chair, on a large mortar [udyanei], or on the ground, he does not fulfill his obligation through any of them. And R' Yoḥanan said: This is because he did not fulfill his obligation to overturn his bed, even if he lay on the ground.