DEUT1069 Burying the dead, besides being a mitzvah of the Torah, as it says [this verse], also belongs in the category gemiluth chesed. It is an even higher form, a chesed shel emeth, since no reciprocity can be expected here. Taking out the dead for burial, carrying the bier, joining the funeral procession, delivering the eulogy, and everything else done for the dead, involve gemiluth chesed. The topics are explained in the Torah portions of Chayei Sarah and Vayechi. Now see how important this is. Chazal have ruled (Mo'ed Katan 27b): "If someone in the city dies, all are forbidden to carry on their occupations." Now, if the deceased had relatives, the main duty of attending to his burial would devolve on them. Nevertheless the entire city is duty-bound to participate in the funeral. Hence all were forbidden to carry-on with their work. They were thereby endeavor to prepare whatever was necessary for the burial. (If the community has organized groups, each assigned a particular day for discharging these obligations, then those not on duty are free to continue with their occupations. Where the members of the Chevra Kaddisha have not been assigned specific days, but the entire society attends to the deceased, then they must all refrain from the regular occupations until their task has been completed and the coffin transferred to the pallbearers.) Even if the deceased had studied neither Tanach nor Mishnah, the rule applies: all work is prohibited. Torah study alone is not interrupted, as long as the funeral procession has not started, even if the deceased had studied Tanach and Mishnah. Once the coffin is taken out for burial, however, Torah study is stopped for one who was learned, even if the funeral is large, unless the number participating exceeds 600,000. Taking away the Torah (when a Talmid Chacham dies, his Torah departs) requires the same attendance as the giving of the Torah, which occurred in the presence of 600,000 men. Even the outstanding Torah scholar of the generation is not exempt from this obligation.