Gershon Dubin asked:
The Gemara in Kesubos 103b gives simanim for when and how a person dies. Some of the simanim are given with the siman tov first, followed by the siman rah, and for some where the Gemara reverses and gives the siman rah first, the color of the person's face, and erev/motzoei Yom Hakipurim. Is there a pattern?
The Kollel replies:
In the Menkin manuscript and others, in each case the good Siman is given first. This seems to be the correct pattern, based on the Gemara in Gitin (75b), "One should not put bad things first."
M. Kornfeld