Sanhedrin Chapter 6, Mishnah 5 - We have a short mishnah before us. In the previous mishnah, we discussed the verse "for a hanging person is a curse of God," meaning that hanging a person is a curse directed towards Heaven. Here we will see a slightly different approach to that very same verse.
The sorrow of the Shechinah during a person's suffering:
Rabbi Meir says: "Besha'ah she'adam mitztaer, Shechinah mah lashon omeret" - When a human being is suffering, what does the Shechinah say, as it were? This refers primarily to the stoned person from the previous mishnah, whose suffering is terrible, but it is not limited to him alone, rather it applies to any person in distress.
We must be precise with the term "as it were" (kaviyachol): this expression comes to say "as if it were possible to say so," since the Holy One, Blessed is He, does not have a body, and He does not have a way of behaving, thinking, or acting in the manner of human beings. This is nothing but a complete anthropomorphism, designed to help a person understand the concept.
The language of the mishnah is: "Kalani meroshi, kalani mizro'i". The word "kalani" is a blend of two words - "kal ani" (I am light), and according to Abaye the meaning is: I have no lightness. Even according to Rav in the Gemara, who reads it as "kal ani," this is merely a euphemism for saying that I am heavy. Either way, the reference is to weight and heaviness: "Kalani meroshi" - My head is heavy upon Me, "vekalani mizro'i" - My arm is also heavy upon Me.
The picture that emerges from these words is of a person in great despair, afflicted by severe suffering, similar to nefilas apayim in the synagogue - the head is cast upon the arm, and the person does not have the strength to lift it out of immense sorrow and grief. So too, as it were, it is with the Holy One, Blessed is He.
The Maharsha adds and points out that these are the places where a person places the head tefillin and the hand tefillin, for the Gemara in Tractate Berachos says that the Holy One, Blessed is He, also wears tefillin. Tefillin represent the connection of the head and the heart to the Holy One, Blessed is He, and His reciprocal connection to us. Therefore, in such a terrible scenario, it seems as if the connection has been severed, and hence the great sorrow - not only on the part of the person, but also on the part of the Holy One, Blessed is He.
The mishnah continues: "Im ken, HaMakom mitztaer al damam shel reshaim shenishpach - kal vachomer al damam shel tzaddikim" - If the Omnipresent is distressed over the spilled blood of the wicked, how much more so over the blood of the righteous. If even when dealing with a wicked person, whose blood is spilled because of his wickedness, the Holy One, Blessed is He, is distressed and suffers for it - how much more so when a righteous person suffers unjustly, innocent of crime and yet afflicted, that the Holy One, Blessed is He, is saddened and suffers over his suffering.
"Velo zo bilvad" - The prohibition of leaving the dead unburied overnight:
From here the mishnah returns to the topic with which the previous mishnah concluded - the obligation not to leave the corpse of the deceased without burial. "Velo zo bilvad" - Not only regarding someone executed by the court is the prohibition "his body shall not remain all night upon the tree" stated, "ela kol hamalin et meto over belo ta'aseh" - rather, anyone who leaves his relative overnight without burial transgresses the negative commandment and the positive commandment regarding the obligation to bury the dead.
However, this prohibition is limited:
"Helino lichvodo" - If the body was left overnight for the honor of the deceased, such as to properly bring him a coffin and shrouds, he does not violate a negative commandment. The basis of the prohibition is the disgrace in leaving the body overnight, and when the deceased is not being disgraced but rather honored, the matter is permitted.
Gathering the escorts: The Oral Torah explains the common occurrence in our days - the time required to gather those who wish to participate in the funeral, and certainly the relatives. In this too, delaying the burial is not considered a transgression of the prohibition and of the obligation to bury as soon as possible.
It is worth noting that Jewish burial is performed very quickly. In Jerusalem, they are especially strict about this, and this is not based solely on the custom of Jerusalem but also on a Baraisa in the Gemara, that in Jerusalem they did not leave the deceased unburied overnight under almost any circumstance.
Burial of those executed by Beis Din:
From here the Mishnah moves on to discuss those executed by Beis Din: "Velo hayu kovrin oso bekivros avosav" - we do not bury someone who was executed in the burial plot of his ancestors with the rest of his relatives, because we do not bury a wicked person next to a righteous person, and the convicted person is called wicked.
This title remains with him even if he repented before his death, even if he confessed, and even after he was executed. However, as will be implied in the next Mishnah, once his flesh has decomposed, this title departs from him. Nevertheless, as long as he is called wicked, he is not buried in the family burial plot.
"Ela shnei vatei kevaros hayu mesukanin leveis din" - two separate burial areas were prepared by Beis Din:
"Echad leneheragin velenechnakin" - for those who were executed by the sword and by strangulation.
"Veechad leniskalin velenisrafin" - for those who were stoned and burned.
There are four types of death penalties administered by Beis Din, as we will see in the next chapter, and among them two are more severe and two are lighter. The severe ones - stoning and burning - are designated for the worst crimes, and therefore a burial area of their own was established for those condemned to them. As for those executed by the sword and strangulation, whose severity is lesser, a separate burial plot was established for them. In this way, we do not bury the wicked with the most wicked.
You might ask: If we are distinguishing between levels of wickedness, why were four burial plots not prepared, corresponding to the four death penalties?
The answer to this is an accepted halachah, which we have already encountered: We do not have four cemeteries here, but only two.
In summary: In this Mishnah we learned the words of Rabbi Meir regarding the distress of the Shechinah during a person's suffering - "Kalani meroshi, kalani mizro'i" - and the kal vachomer from the blood of the wicked to the blood of the righteous. From there we moved on to the prohibition of leaving the deceased unburied overnight which applies to everyone, and the permission to leave them overnight for the honor of the deceased; and finally to the law of burying those executed by Beis Din, that we do not bury them in the graves of their ancestors but rather in the two cemeteries that were prepared for Beis Din.
In the next Mishnah we will deal with the continuation of these matters: how, once the flesh has decomposed, the title of wicked departs from him, and what the law is regarding his bones from that time onward.