Welcoming

Shammai used to say:

"Make your [study of the] Torah a fixed practice;

speak little, but do much;

and welcome everyone with a pleasant countenance."

Rabbi Matya ben Ḥarash said:

"Be the first to extend greetings to everyone;

And be a tail unto lions, and not a head unto foxes."

They said about Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai that no one ever preceded him in greeting, not even a non-Jew in the marketplace.

One who enters the bathhouse, in the first room, a place where all people stand dressed, it is like any other place and reading the Torah and prayer are permitted there, and, needless to say, in that room greeting [shalom] others is permitted. And he may don phylacteries there, and, needless to say, if he was already donning phylacteries that he need not remove them.A place where people dress and undress and they stand both naked and dressed, greeting others is permitted there. However, reading the Torah and prayer are not permitted there. And if one was already donning phylacteries there, he need not remove the phylacteries. However, he may not don phylacteries there ab initio.A place where people stand naked, greeting others is not permitted there, and, needless to say, reading the Torah and prayer are prohibited there. And if he is donning phylacteries there, he must remove the phylacteries, and, needless to say, he may not don them

There was a particular bathroom in Tiberias, where, when two would enter it, even during the day, they would be harmed. Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi would each enter alone, they were not harmed.

The Sages said to them: "Aren’t you afraid?"They said to them: "We have learned the tradition in the bathroom is modesty and silence. The tradition to end suffering is with silence and prayer."

It was also taught: "One who is reciting Shema and happens upon his teacher or one who is greater than he, at the paragraphsm he may greet him due to respect and, needless to say, he may respond. And in the middle, he may greet due to fear and, needless to say, he may respond", the words of Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Yehuda says: "In the middle, one may greet due to fear and respond due to respect. And in the paragraphs, one may greet due to respect and respond with a greeting to any person."

Aḥai, the tanna who recited mishnayot in the school of Rabbi Ḥiyya, raised a dilemma before Rabbi Ḥiyya: May one interrupt during the recitation of hallel and the reading of the Megilla, Esther, to greet someone? Do we say that it is an a fortiori inference; if in the middle of Shema, which is a biblical obligation, one may interrupt in order to greet someone, all the more so, in the middle of hallel, which is a rabbinic obligation, one may interrupt? Or, perhaps, publicizing the miracle is more significant, so one may not interrupt hallel or the Megilla at all.

Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him: "One interrupts and it is of no concern."

Rabba said: On "days when the individual completes the entire hallel, i.e., the days on which there is a rabbinic obligation to recite hallel, an individual may interrupt between one paragraph and another; however, one may not interrupt in the middle of the paragraph. On days where the individual does not complete the entire hallel, i.e., days on which the recitation of hallel is merely a custom, not a rabbinic obligation, one may interrupt even in the middle of the paragraph."

Rav said: "Anyone who greets another before he prayed, it is as if he built an altar for idol worship, as it is stated: 'Cease you from man, in whose nostrils there is breath, for how little is he to be accounted' (Isaiah 2:22) - and do not read bameh, how; but rather, read bama, altar."

A mourner is prohibited from greeting that the Merciful One says to Ezekiel: “Sigh in silence” (Ezekiel 24:17).

The Gemara asks: What is the halakha governing one who is ostracized with regard to greeting others? Rav Yosef said: "Come and hear a proof from a baraita dealing with those who were fasting for rain and whose prayers were not answered. These people were prohibited from greeting one another, as people who are reprimanded by the Omnipresent. This indicates that those who are ostracized must not greet each other, just as mourners may not greet each other.

§ The Sages taught: A mourner, during the first three days is prohibited from extending greetings to others. From the third day to the seventh day, he may respond when other people address him, but he may not extend greetings to them. From this point forward, he may extend greetings and respond in his usual manner.

From the third day to the seventh day, he may respond when other people address him, but he may not extend greetings to them. From this point forward, he may extend greetings and respond in his usual manner.

And the Gemara raises a contradiction: One who finds another in mourning during the first thirty days of that person’s bereavement may still speak words of consolation to him, but he should not extend greetings toward him. If he finds him after thirty days, he may extend greetings toward him, but he should not speak words of consolation to him.

If it was the mourner’s wife who died and he married another woman within thirty days of his first wife’s death, one may not enter his house to speak words of consolation with him, so as not to offend his new wife. If, however, he finds him alone in the marketplace, he may speak to him with gentle words and in a serious manner.

Rav Idi bar Avin said: "The two baraitot refer to different situations: The first baraita is referring to the mourner himself, who may extend greetings [shalom] to others after the completion of his seven days of mourning, as the others are at peace [shalom]. The second baraita, which speaks of a prohibition that lasts thirty days, is referring to other people, who may not extend greetings to him, as he, the mourner, is not at peace."

The Gemara challenges: But from the fact that it teaches in a baraita that after the third day of his bereavement, the mourner may respond when other people address him, by inference others may extend greetings to him.

This is referring to a case where people did not know that he was in mourning and unknowingly extended greetings to him.

And the Gemara raises a contradiction: One who finds another in mourning during his twelve months of bereavement may still speak words of consolation to him, but he should not extend greetings toward him. If he finds him after twelve months, he may extend greetings toward him, and he should not speak words of consolation to him. He may, however, speak to him indirectly.

Rabbi Meir said: "One who finds another in mourning after twelve months and speaks to him words of consolation, to what may this situation be likened? To a person who broke his leg and it healed, and afterward a physician found him and said to him: 'Come to me, for I will break it a second time and then I will heal it, so that you may know how good my medicines are.'"

The Gemara answers: This is not difficult. This baraita, which says that one must not extend greetings to a mourner for twelve months, is referring to one who lost his father or mother. That baraita, which teaches that a mourner may be greeted after seven days, is referring to one who is in mourning over other relatives.