Laboring for the Dead
5. [ . . . ] Furthermore R. Meir said: A man may gather his father’s and mother’s bones, since this is a joy for him. R. Yosi says: It is mourning for him. A man should not stir up wailing for his dead nor hold a lamentation for him thirty days before the festival.
6. They may not dig burial niches and graves during the festival. But they may adapt burial niches [to the size of the dead body] during the festival. And they may make a temporary grave during the festival, and a coffin, if a dead [body] is close by in the courtyard. R. Judah forbids, unless there are sawn boards at hand.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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