Mo’ed Kattan 14
Chol Hamoed, the weekday of the Festival, is the term used to describe the five days sandwiched between the first two days and the last two days of the Festival of Pesach or Sukkot. The word chol, by itself, means weekday, on which work is permitted. The word moed, by itself, means a Festival day, on which most work is prohibited. The phrase Chol Hamoed seems a contradiction in terms. What are these five days, Festival or weekday? The blessing we make at Havdalah, to distinguish between the first two days of Sukkot and the onset of Chol Hamoed, “Baruch Hamavdil Bein Kodesh L’chol,” suggests that Chol Hamoed is weekday. Yet, the Torah refers to Chol Hamoed by the term “Moed,” a term reserved for days on which work is forbidden. But then again, as if to add to the confusion, the Torah declares, “On the first [and second, outside Israel] day [of Sukkot], you shall not do any work,” clearly implying that on the five days of Chol Hamoed one may perform work. Nowhere, perhaps, is the confusion more visible than in the matter of tefillin on Chol Hamoed, where those who consider it chol wear tefillin, and those who consider it moed, do not.
In fact, the truth is somewhere in the middle. On Chol Hamoed, some work is prohibited and some work is permitted. According to some opinions the work prohibition is biblical, and according to others the work prohibition is rabbinical. Whatever the source of the prohibition, all agree that the rabbis decide what work may and may not be done on Chol Hamoed. For the Chayei Adam, the starting point for prohibited work on Chol Hamoed is Yom Tov itself. With the exception of a few melachot, including lighting a fire, the Chayei Adam lists the same melachot as being prohibited both on Yom Tov and Chol Hamoed. Others maintain that it is impossible to define what work is prohibited on Chol Hamoed. All agree, however, on what work is permitted on Chol Hamoed. Before listing the various permitted categories of work on Chol Hamoed one should be cognizant of the special status the rabbis ascribe to Chol Hamoed, which is best summed up in the following phrase: “One who disrespects Chol Hamoed is compared to an idol worshipper.” The overriding principle is that work becomes prohibited if it has the effect of rendering Chol Hamoed just another working day.
Work is permitted on Chol Hamoed that falls within one of the following five categories. The first, and perhaps broadest permitted category, is known as tzorach hamoed, meaning work that enhances the joy of Chol Hamoed. Examples of activities that are permitted if they are performed in order to enhance the enjoyment of Chol Hamoed include driving, turning lights on and off, (which according to the Chayei Adam were never prohibited on Chol Hamoed in the first place), repairing a leaking roof, erecting a sukkah, sewing torn clothes needed for immediate wear and writing shopping lists required for Chol Hamoed. Indeed, the determination of what falls into this first category is quite subjective and dependent on individual tastes and preferences. The only restrictions that apply to this first category are that work (other than work involved in preparing food) must not be performed in an artisan fashion and work may not be deliberately postponed to Chol Hamoed.
The second permitted category is “davar ha’aved,” meaning work that, if not performed on Chol Hamoed, would result in financial or other loss. This important category includes conducting business or going to work, where failure to do so would cause irretrievable loss of principal.
Whether loss of profit is considered davar ha’aved is a point of debate. Clearly, if such profit is required and used to cover Chol Hamoed expenses, work generating such profit would be permitted. Again, any work deliberately postponed to Chol Hamoed will not qualify as davar ha’aved. According to those who maintain that the source of prohibited work on Chol Hamoed is rabbinical, any doubt whether a desired activity falls within either of these two permitted categories should be resolved in favor of permitting such work. The third permitted category is work required for tzorchei rabim, public welfare, such as repairing public roads or water pipes. The fourth permitted category is that any work, otherwise prohibited on Chol Hamoed, may be performed by a worker who needs the wages from such work to cover his daily living expenses. None of the above-mentioned restrictions (namely not performing the work in an artisan fashion and not deliberately postponing the work to Chol Hamoed) apply to the third and fourth categories. The fifth permitted category is all work required to cure the sick, including the not dangerously sick.
In order to ensure that people will honor Yom Tov by shaving and washing their clothes before the arrival of Yom Tov, the rabbis prohibit these activities on Chol Hamoed with certain exceptions. Most marriages may not be celebrated on Chol Hamoed so as not to lose the focus of the Chol Hamoed celebration. Engagements, however, are permitted.
Paradoxically, many of the Chol Hamoed restrictions (no shaving, no washing clothes, restricted work, no tefillin, no weddings) are common to aveilut, mourning the dead. Depression is the flip side of happiness, or as the prophet Amos puts it, “I will turn your feasts into mourning.” Indeed, Tractate Moed Katan, which sets out the laws of Chol Hamoed, also focuses on the laws of aveilut. The Talmud in Shabbat tells us that for a period of time, after death, the lost soul wanders back and forth between heaven and earth, trying, alternately, to penetrate the lifeless body and the space under God’s heavenly throne. And the laws of aveilut, by focusing on the departed, accommodate this desire of the soul. Perhaps too, Chol Hamoed is trying to penetrate the holiness of the Festivals that surround it on either side. And the laws of Chol Hamoed, by focusing on the joy of the festival, accommodate that desire. Perhaps, also, the message is that in Judaism, outward appearances can be misleading, and investigation of the soul is more telling.
Raphael Grunfeld, a partner at the Wall Street law firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, received semichah in Yoreh Yoreh from Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem of America and in Yadin Yadin from Harav Haga’on Dovid Feinstein, zt”l. This article is an extract from Raphael’s book “Ner Eyal: A Guide to Seder Mo’ed available for purchase at https://www.amazon.com/Eyal-Guide-Shabbat-Festivals-Seder/dp/0615118992 or by emailing Raphael at [email protected].
