“Teach Your Daughters Wailing”: M. Mo’ed Katan 3:8–9 and the Gendering of Tannaitic Funeral Practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT:There is no single description of a funeral and its rites in tannaitic literature; bits and pieces of the ceremony can at best be reconstructed from various texts in which such rituals are brought into discussion by way of their interaction with other topics. One of the more extended passages on this topic can be found in tractate Mo’ed Qatan, in the latter part of chapter 3. An additional detail that should be immediately evident to the reader of this passage is the prominent role that gender plays in this description: both in terms of the gender of the deceased, and the gender of the participants in the funereal rites. This paper, then, will explore particularly the activities that the tannaitic authors imagine women to undertake as part of the funeral process, using Mo’ed Qatan 3:8–9 in particular as an entry point. The paper opens with a more general description of what can be gleaned from tannaitic sources on the conduct of a funeral and burial, and then turns to questions relating both to funerals for women who have died, and women as participants—particularly as lamenters—in funerals for others. Relevant materials regarding Greco-Roman and early Christian practices are also brought to further illuminate the topic.