Better to live as two than to live widowed/ it is better to be in company than alone/ better to dwell in woe than in widowhood (unhappy matrimony is preferable to spinsterhood)

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Better to live as two than to live widowed/ it is better to be in company than alone/ better to dwell in woe than in widowhood (unhappy matrimony is preferable to spinsterhood)

It is better to sit with two than as a widow. In the question: Marriage in personal life is preferable in every case to solitude (tan du in Old Persian means two bodies).

("Come and hear, as Reish Lakish said: 'Better to live as two than to live widowed'" - Yevamot 118b, and likewise: "She sent him: 'Better to live tan du than to live widowed.' They erected a wedding canopy and cast the name Yehavam upon him, that he would provide for them" - Agnon / City and Its Fullness, 525, and likewise: "A wonderful journey there once was / How good that here / At my table / sit tan du in silence / a lantern of light and also I" - Nathan Yonatan / The Lantern of Memories)

Translation

Expression (Hebrew)

טָב לְמֵיתַב טַן דּוּ מִלְּמֵיתַב אַרְמְלוּ

Definition (Hebrew)

טוֹב לָשֶׁבֶת בִּשְׁנַיִם מִלָּשֶׁבֶת כְּאַלְמָנָה. בְּהַשְׁאָלָה: זוּגִיּוּת בַּחַיִּים הָאִישִׁיִּים עֲדִיפָה בְּכָל מִקְרֶה עַל פְּנֵי בְּדִידוּת (טַן דּוּ בְּפַרְסִית עַתִּיקָה מַשְׁמָע שְׁנֵי גּוּפִים).

("תָּא שְׁמַע, דְּאָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ: טָב לְמֵיתַב טַן דּוּ מִלְּמֵיתַב אַרְמְלוּ"- יְבָמוֹת קיח ע"ב, וְכֵן:"שָׁלְחָה לוֹ טָב לְמֵיתַב טַנְדּוּ מִלִּסֵּב אַרְמְלוּ. הֶעֱמִידוּ חֻפָּה וְהִשְׁלִיכוּ עַל הַשֵּׁם יְהָבָם שֶׁהוּא יְכַלְכְּלֵם"- עַגְנוֹן/ עִיר וּמְלוֹאָהּ, 525, וְכֵן:"מַסָּע נִפְלָא הָיֹה הָיָה/ מָה טוֹב שֶׁכָּאן/ אֶל שֻׁלְחָנִי/ יוֹשְׁבִים טַן דּוּ בְּדוּמִיָּה/ פָּנָס שֶׁל אוֹר וְגַם אֲנִי"- נָתָן יוֹנָתָן/ פָּנַס הַזִּכְרוֹנוֹת)

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