1The standard width of a public thoroughfare is sixteen cubits. A road leading to one of the cities of refuge must be at least thirty-two cubits wide. Rav Huna said: What is the verse from which this is derived? As it is written with regard to the cities of refuge: “You shall prepare for yourself the way, and divide the borders of your land that the Lord, your God, caused you to inherit, into three parts, so that every manslayer may flee there” (Deuteronomy 19:3). Instead of simply stating: A way, the verse states: “The way,” to indicate that the road must be twice as wide as a standard public thoroughfare.
2The mishna teaches: A king’s thoroughfare has no maximum measure. The Gemara explains: This is because the halakha is that a king may breach the fence of an individual in order to create a thoroughfare for himself, and none may protest his actions.
3The mishna teaches: The path for those accompanying a deceased person to a grave has no maximum measure. The Gemara explains: This is due to the honor of the deceased.
4§ The mishna teaches: With regard to the practice of standing and comforting the mourners following a funeral, the judges of Tzippori said that the standard requisite size is the area required for sowing four kav of seed. The Sages taught in a baraita : With regard to a family burial plot, even if one of the family sells the land designated for his own grave to another, or sells the path that will be used by the burial procession to his grave, or sells the place that will be used for standing and comforting his mourners, or sells the site that will be used for his eulogy, his family members may come and bury him in his grave even against the will of the buyer, due to the need to avoid a family flaw, i.e., harm to the family name that would arise if one of the family members was not buried with the rest of his family.
5The Sages taught in a baraita : On their return from the burial, the mourners would stop after traveling a short distance and would sit to bewail the loss of the deceased. They would then stand and continue journeying for a short while and then repeat the procedure. The mourners perform no fewer than seven standings and sittings in honor of the deceased. These seven correspond to the seven references to “vanity” in the verse: “Vanity of vanities, says Kohelet; vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2), counting the plural term “vanities” as two references.
6Rav Aḥa, son of Rava, said to Rav Ashi: How do they perform this ceremony? Rav Ashi said to him that it is done as it is taught in a baraita : Rabbi Yehuda said that in Judea, initially they would perform no fewer than seven standings and sittings in honor of the deceased. One of the procession would make a statement such as: Stand, dear friends, stand, after which the mourners would continue on their journey to their home, and then he would say: Sit down, dear friends, sit down, at which point they would sit. The Rabbis said to him: If so, that this is all that the practice entails, then it should be permitted to do so even on Shabbat, since there is no explicit eulogy or mourning, whereas the custom is not to do so.
7The Gemara relates: The sister of Rami bar Pappa was married to Rav Avya. When she died Rav Avya performed the practice of standing and sitting for her. Rav Yosef said: He erred in two matters. He erred, as the ceremony is to be performed only with the participation of close family members, and he performed it even with a distant relative. And he erred again, as mourners should perform this ceremony only on the first day of mourning, the day of the burial, and he performed it on the second day.
8Abaye said: He also erred in this, as mourners should perform the ceremony only in the cemetery, but he performed it in the city. Rava said: He also erred in this, as mourners should perform it only in a locale where people are accustomed do so, but there, where he performed it, it was not the custom to do so.
9The Gemara raises an objection to the claims of Rav Yosef and Abaye from the baraita cited above: The Rabbis said to him: If so, that this is all that the practice entails, then it should be permitted to do so even on Shabbat. The Gemara explains the objection: And if you say, as Abaye did, that the ceremony should be performed only in the cemetery, or, as Rav Yosef did, on the first day, then how could it occur that the ceremony would be performed on Shabbat; what would anyone want to be doing in a cemetery on Shabbat, when it is prohibited to perform a burial? The Gemara explains: It could happen in a city that is close to the cemetery, and this is a case where they brought the deceased for burial at twilight just before Shabbat began, so that the return journey took place on Shabbat itself.
10MISHNA: There is the case of one who sells a plot of land to another in order for him to construct for himself an underground catacomb, and similarly the case of a contractor who receives a plot of land from another under a commission to construct for him a catacomb. If the size of the catacomb was not specified, then he should make the inside of each burial chamber four cubits wide by six cubits long and open up into the chamber, by digging into its walls, eight burial niches [ kukhin ] in which the coffins will rest. Three niches should be opened up from the wall here, along the length of the chamber, and three from there, along the other side, and two niches from the wall facing the entrance. And these niches should be formed so that their length is four cubits and their height is seven handbreadths,