Portentous situations at death (1)

Text
This Talmudic passage is probably of Akkadian origin, cf. Šumma ālu, tablet 21.

Babylonian Talmud, Kethuboth 103b:
When Rabbi fell in R. Hiyya entered into his presence and found him weeping. ‘Master’, he said to him, ‘Why are you weeping? Was it not taught: ‘[If a man] dies smiling it is a good omen for him, if weeping it is a bad omen for him; his face upwards it is a good omen, his face downwards it is a bad omen; his face towards the public it is a good omen, towards the wall it is a bad omen; if his face is greenish it is a bad omen, if bright and ruddy it is a good omen; dying on shabbat eve is a good omen, on the termination of the shabbat is a bad omen; dying on the Eve of the Day of Atonement is a bad omen, on the termination of the Day of Atonement is a good omen; dying of diarrhoea is a good omen because most righteous men die of diarrhoea?’ And the other replied, ‘I weep on [account of my impending separation from] the Torah and the commandments’?

Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Babylonian Talmud, Kethuboth 103b

Amar Annus

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