Where the mourner is standing.
As spectators, not comforters.
A mixture of wool and linen; cf. Lev. xix. 19, Deut. xxii. 11.
By reason of a grave being there.
Hence out of deference for a human being, they disregard an ordinance of the Torah.
A Bet Peras is a field, half a furrow in length and breadth, on to which crushed bones may have been carried by a plough which had passed over a grave. Contact with even a fragment of a bone would cause defilement. Peras is of doubtful etymology. It is explained by some to mean "half"; cf. Dan. v. 28. Wiesner, p. 49, connects it with πῠρά, because the corpse was usually first burnt. See also T. A.II. p. 490 n. 550.
Therefore the deference they show to the mourner does not involve disregard of the Torah.
Without contracting defilement.
M. : Rab Judah b. Ammi in the name of Rab Judah.
He was a Kohen and consequently forbidden to come into contact with the dead : cf. Lev. xxi. 1-3.
Probably Agrippa I and Herod II; A. T. I. p. 47.
In J. T. it is recorded that when Diocletian visited Tyre, R. Hiyya b. Abba (who was a Kohen) crossed a cemetery to meet bim.
M.: Rabbah.
They misunderstood him. He meant the only prohibition of the Torah set aside is that implied in the verse quoted, which teaches that the ordinances of the religious leaders of the age must be adhered to. Consequently, in actual practice, it is only Rabbinical injunctions which are set aside by the honouring of one's fellow-creatures.
They allow their authority, though it is based on the Torah, to be set aside for this purpose.
In the Hebrew, the negative "not" is attached to the verb "see" and has to be understood with "and bide thyself." According to the Rabbinic interpretation, since there is no negative qualifying "and hide thyself," it is to be deduced that there are times when one may not restore a straying animal.
Who is forbidden contact with the dead.
I.e. his loss in restoring the animal would be greater than the owner's if it were not restored. M. reads "his loss" instead of "his work."
Why should the Elder consider his dignity before the performance of a duty?
The Torah expressly makes such an allowance.
By analogy that one need not take off a garment in the street if diverse kinds are foand in it out of self-respect (seeing that the Elder is permitted to consider his dignity), but wait until be reaches his home.
The matter of the straying animal involves nothing more than the owner's loss; it is consequently of less seriousness than a matter involving a principle.
A Nazirite may not make himself ritually unclean by contact with the dead. The list of relations is: father, mother, brother, sister; and the Halakic commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy, the Sifre, discusses the reason why each is mentioned : He may not defile himself for his father, but he must for a Met Miswah (see Glossary, s.v.); nor for his mother, but even if he be a Kohen as well as a Nazirite (i.e. doubly prohibited against such contact), he must defile himself for a Met Miswah ; nor for his brother, but even if he be the High Priest as well as a Nazirite, he must defile himself for a Met Miswah. The explanation of "his sister" is given in the Gemara.
The Nazirite who is a High Priest.
Which had to be performed at a certain time, and he would be precluded from officiating if he were unclean.