The Wedding That Became a Funeral in One Hour

And so Solomon said (in Ecclesiastes 2:2): "Of laughter I said: It is mad." There is a story about one of the great men of Babylon, who was marrying off his son, and he made a great banquet for the sages. He said to his son: Go up and bring us a certain jar of wine from the upper chamber. He went up to the upper chamber, and a snake bit him among the jars, and he died. His father waited with those reclining at the table, and he tarried and did not come. The father said: Let me go up and see what my son is doing. His father went up and found him cast down dead among the jars. What did that pious man do? He waited by himself until the guests had eaten and drunk all they needed. When they had finished, he said: You came to recite the bridegrooms' blessing over my son—recite over him the mourners' blessing. You came to bring him into the wedding canopy—bring him to burial. R. Zakkai of Kabul rose and said: "Of laughter I said: It is mad."