Tearing Garments (קריעה) an External Expression of an Internal Experience (04)
Is the obligation to tear kriya from the Torah or from the Rabbis?
| Bavli, Moed Katan 24a
Rav Taḥlifa bar Avimi said that Shmuel said: A mourner who did not let his hair grow wild and did not rend his garments is liable to receive the death penalty as it is stated following the deaths of Nadab and Abihu concerning the surviving sons of Aaron: “Let not the hair of your heads go loose, neither rend your clothes, that you not die” (Leviticus 10:6). From here it may be deduced that any other mourner who did not let his hair grow wild or rend his clothes is liable to receive the death penalty. |
תלמוד בבלי מסכת מועד קטן דף כד עמוד א אמר רב תחליפא בר אבימי אמר שמואל אבל שלא פרע ושלא פירם חייב מיתה שנאמר ראשיכם אל תפרעו ובגדיכם לא תפרמו ולא תמתו וגו’ הא אחר שלא פרע ושלא פירם חייב מיתה |
This text states clearly that the failure to tear kriya is a capital crime based on a Biblical verse. One might think that, therefore, the obligation itself should be understood as a Torah obligation. It is interesting to note that there is only one rishon who claims that the obligation of kriya comes from the Torah. The overwhelming majority understand citation of the verse and the harsh language as an asmachta (a hint from the Torah for a Rabbinic law). …