- אין קוברין רשע אצל צדיק
The Mishnah on Daf 46a taught that those executed by Beis Din are not initially buried in their family cemetery, but were buried in one of two designated cemeteries for executed convicts. The Gemara explains: לפי שאין קוברין רשע אצל צדיק – because we do not bury a wicked person beside a righteous person. Rebbe Acha bar Chanina derives this from the incident in which a false prophet’s body was hastily thrown near Elisha, and when he touched Elisha’s bones, ויחי ויקם על רגליו – he came to life and stood on his feet, apparently so he should not remain buried next to the righteous Elisha. This could not have been to fulfill Eliyahu’s berachah that Elisha should have a “double portion” of Eliyahu’s spirit (and resurrect a second person), because the man did not live long enough to go home. Instead, that was fulfilled when he healed Naaman’s צרעת, because a מצורע is like a dead person. Beis Din has two separate cemeteries, one for those killed with הרג or חנק, and one for those killed with סקילה or שריפה, because we do not even bury a רשע חמור – severely wicked person near a relatively less wicked person. Still, there is a tradition that there are only two, and not four, separate cemeteries for Beis Din.
- If a רשע obtains כפרה through his death
Rav Yosef assumed that the residents of a עיר הנדחת receive atonement when they are executed, and lose their status as רשעים. Abaye asked him: מי סברת מת מתוך רשעו הויא ליה כפרה – do you think that one who dies while still in his wickedness (i.e., without teshuvah) receives atonement through his death? This is not so, because Rav Shamayah taught that a Kohen does not become tamei for parents who rejected Judaism, because the passuk says: "בעמיו" – among his people, meaning בעושה מעשה עמיו – when [his relative] acts with the conduct of his people, but not for רשעים, even though they died!?
Rava countered that Abaye cannot compare one who died naturally to one who was killed; כיון דלאו כי אורחיה מיית - since he did not die naturally, he does receive כפרה through his death. This is demonstrated from the passuk mentioning "חסידיך" – your devout ones and "עבדיך" – your servants who were killed, the former referring to literally pious people, and the latter referring to those liable to punishment, yet after being killed, they are called “your servants”! Abaye distinguishes between those killed unjustly by gentile governments, who receive atonement, and those killed by Beis Din, who deserved their execution, and it does not atone for them.
- קרקע of a grave does not become forbidden in הנאה
People used to take earth from Rav’s grave to cure fevers, and when Shmuel was asked about it, he said: יאות עבדין – they are acting properly, קרקע עולם הוא – it is part of the earth, וקרקע עולם אינה נאסרת – and the earth cannot become forbidden as one of the needs of the burial. This is derived from a hekesh between graves and עבודה זרה, teaching that just as regarding idolatry, במחובר לא מיתסרא – that which is attached to the ground does not become forbidden in benefit, the same applies to graves.
Shmuel is challenged from several sources proving that a grave does become forbidden in benefit, and answers that they refer to קבר בנין – a burial structure, which Rashi explains was a structure built in a detached state, and then attached to the ground. This is considered detached and can become forbidden in benefit, as is the parallel law for avodah zarah.