Tractate Semachot

Tractate Semachot: Simachot is the popular, though euphemistic name for the Talmudic tractate Avel Rabbati ("the Great Mourning"). It is widely called Simachot ("joyous occasions") due to the reluctance to refer to a tractate by a name with such negative connotation. Simachot is part of a series known as the Misechtot Kitanot ("small tractates"), tractates that include Tannaic teachings, but were not included by Rabbi Judah the Prince in the orders of the Mishnah. There is no Talmudic commentary on these tractates. (In the standard printed Talmud, these tractates can be found in the back of the volume that contains tractate Avodah Zarah.) Tractate Simachot discusses the laws that pertain to people on their deathbed, funerals, burials, and mourning.