Laws of Resting on Yom Tov, Chapter 6 (Auto Translated)

Laws of Resting on Yom Tov, Chapter 6: Eruv Tavshilin

Opening

Speaker 1: A good day, dear Jews. Good day, Reb Yudel Asher, mazel tov on the great simcha.

Baruch Hashem. May there be much success, much nachas in abundance, and may it also help to bring people into the families, to bring them into the shiur as well.

Wonderful. Baruch Hashem, thank you to everyone who wished well. A shidduch was made, and now we will learn Torah with a bit more joy. And before we go to the shiur, let us thank all the listeners of the shiur, the supporters of the shiur, first and foremost our friend, the patron of the shiur, the rabbinical philanthropist Reb Yoel Halevi Wetzberger. In the merit of Torah may they all be accompanied.

Introduction to Chapter 6

And we are going to learn Chapter 6, the sixth chapter of Hilchos Shvisas Yom Tov. The chapter speaks about two things: eruv tavshilin, the mitzvah, the law of eruv tavshilin, and afterwards the matter of simcha and oneg Yom Tov.

Law 1: The Prohibition of Cooking on Yom Tov for Shabbos

The Rambam says as follows: “Yom Tov that falls on erev Shabbos, one may not bake or cook on Yom Tov that which will be eaten tomorrow on Shabbos.” Yom Tov that comes out erev Shabbos, one may not cook and bake on Yom Tov that which one will eat tomorrow.

As we have already learned, I believe, in the first chapter of Hilchos Yom Tov, that the Rambam told us that one may only prepare for that day itself. The permission to prepare ochel nefesh is only when one eats it that day. And also one may not, even if the next day is not chol but is Shabbos, one may not either. It goes so far that even when it becomes born by itself, we said, nolad, one may also not prepare food for the next day. So one may not prepare for Shabbos.

Nu, what should one do? Ah, says the Rambam, “And this prohibition is from the words of the Sages.” Why may one not? Yes. The Rambam says thus, and this prohibition, the prohibition to cook on Yom Tov for Shabbos, is a prohibition from the words of the Sages. Why? “So that one should not come to cook on Yom Tov for chol.” So that one should not, if one will permit, if a person will allow himself to cook on Yom Tov for Shabbos, he will also cook on Yom Tov for Tuesday, when Yom Tov is erev Tuesday. And then one certainly may not. To prepare from Yom Tov for chol one certainly may not. And if one will not allow cooking even for Shabbos, he will take a kal vachomer from this, “It is a kal vachomer, for Shabbos he does not cook, all the more so for chol.”

Explanation: Why is the Prohibition Only Rabbinic?

On the surface one needs to understand a bit what is going on here, because why should there be a distinction regarding Yom Tov? If on Yom Tov one may only do ochel nefesh for that day itself, there should be no distinction between what the next day is. I have seen certain answers that for Shabbos it is different, because you cannot, it happened that there is no choice. It must be that the Torah knew that sometimes Yom Tov comes before Shabbos.

It is certain that we are not speaking about a Torah prohibition here, because there are those who say that such a thing would be a Torah prohibition, that the entire permission that the Torah says that one may do ochel nefesh is only for ochel nefesh bo bayom. If it went that way, it is indeed so that there is no distinction what the next day is.

But here we are not speaking of the Torah law, because on the Torah level there is a permission. The Rambam already said that it is explicit that it is not a Torah prohibition in the previous Chapter 1, the Rambam brought this, that “if one transgressed he does not receive lashes,” why? Because of “hoil.” Because ah, there is a thing that if more people will come… It means thus, a person may, the thing that one may only cook for bo bayom does not mean that one must be restrictive the whole time. Why? Because if more guests will come, they will want to eat. So one may cook on Yom Tov with great breadth.

So in any case on a Torah level it is not, because as long as one cooks on Yom Tov and there is the thing of “hoil ve’im yikleu orchim,” perhaps guests will come, this removes the Torah prohibition. So the Torah prohibition does not exist.

Now there is the rabbinic prohibition that one should not exert oneself on Yom Tov for Shabbos. And on this they added, the Rabbis would not have made the prohibition from Yom Tov to Shabbos, because if there is the permission of “hoil ve’im yikleu orchim,” one will not go to be stringent when it is so important, that otherwise one would not have had what to eat on Shabbos, it is a mitzvah to eat seudas Shabbos. But what then? The Sages did prohibit it for the reason, so that one should know the severity of the matter of preparing from Yom Tov for chol.

The Remedy: Eruv Tavshilin

Therefore the Rambam says here the remedy, because we already know the principle that Reb Yitzchak always tells us, that the Rabbis do not make decrees that will leave people stuck, that will be very difficult for people. When they made the prohibition that one may not prepare from Yom Tov for Shabbos, they immediately with the blow they brought the remedy that there is an advice, there is something called an eruv.

I can even say the opposite, that here is even a bit more than that. The wise enactment is that one will cook, that when one cooks one should first make an eruv tavshilin. And the eruv itself helps to remind the thing that with all the severity one may not cook cook. The purpose of the eruv. The eruv works that one may not without it, so the eruv reminds us that one must… That is to say that the eruv reminds us even more than the prohibition itself. The prohibition itself perhaps a person would not notice, but the fact that one makes an eruv and reminds him… It is permitted, even according to the Rabbis. Only with the eruv is not… Yes.

Therefore, what is the advice? “Therefore, if one made a cooked dish on erev Yom Tov, that he should rely on it and cook and bake from Yom Tov for Shabbos,” if one already cooked on erev Yom Tov that he should rely on it and cook and bake from Yom Tov for Shabbos, if one already began cooking on erev Yom Tov for Shabbos. The simple meaning is that when one cooks on Yom Tov one does not begin cooking for Shabbos then, because one already began cooking for Shabbos before Yom Tov. Because of this it is permitted.

Explanation: How Does the Eruv Work?

Can you explain how this works, perhaps? I can think, because for chol no one would have cooked on erev Yom Tov. On erev Yom Tov a person would only cook for Shabbos, because he knows that he has the pressure that after Yom Tov is Shabbos that one needs to have meals. For chol he would not be able to, weekdays can cook for themselves. On Yom Tov itself, he is busy, Yom Tov afternoon he thinks, ah, I will now prepare for tomorrow’s breakfast.

So when he makes it on erev Yom Tov, on erev Yom Tov he shows clearly that what he will do tomorrow is only for Yom Tov, and for chol he would not have done it. Does what I’m saying make sense? And it makes sense. Because for chol there is not really such a great reason that a person should cook on Yom Tov, only because he is busy, he has a long Yom Tov afternoon he goes to cook. It is not that he has no other choice. Two days before he would not have gone, a person does not go to prepare two days later on erev Yom Tov for chol from after Yom Tov. So when he does it on erev Yom Tov, because he does it for Shabbos. In any case when he does the rest on Yom Tov, he shows that it is a continuation of that. He shows that he is only doing it for Shabbos, because it is not for the week one would not have done it.

Says the Rambam, the thing that I just said that if one made a cooked dish one may, this has a name among the Sages. This is called “this cooked dish that one relies on,” which he relies that on this he will be able to cook on Yom Tov, “is called eruv tavshilin.” This is what is called the well-known eruv tavshilin that we all know. This is it. This Avraham Avinu already made, true. Ah, very good.

Law 2: Why is it Called “Eruv”?

Says the Rambam, “And why is it called eruv?” Right away, it is an interesting name, eruv. We have already encountered the name eruv twice in this book, eruv chatzeiros and Hilchos Eruv Techumin. How does it come in here? What is this word with the word eruv?

Says the Rambam thus, “Just as the eruv that one makes in courtyards and in alleyways on erev Shabbos is for recognition.” To carry between one courtyard and the courtyard, between one house and the other, or in an alleyway between one courtyard and the other. And also, with their prohibition they brought a permission, an advice, that everyone should become partners in a bread, and this is like carrying within the same house or within the same courtyard. “For recognition,” this is to recognize that this is called one house, “so that it should not enter their minds.”

There the Rambam said that the reason is so that the small children should not think that if one may carry from a private domain to a public domain, they prohibited also from a private domain to a private domain, and only with the bread is there recognition. And with the recognition “that it should not enter their minds that it is permitted to take out from domain to domain on Shabbos.”

Just as it was called there eruv? “So too this cooked dish,” also the cooked dish that one makes on erev Yom Tov is also “for recognition and remembrance.” He made it for recognition, a remembrance “so that they should not imagine,” something else to remember, to nullify a mistake that people could make. People could think that “that it is permitted to bake on Yom Tov that which is not eaten on it,” that one may eat on Yom Tov things that are not made for Yom Tov but for another day. Which is the main thing, the prohibition for another day is when one does it on chol, so “therefore this is called eruv tavshilin.”

Just as it has a similar, the structure of making this food is similar, one also calls it eruv tavshilin. So the Rambam’s reason is basically that eruv is a word for a thing that one makes so that one should remember. Both are reminders. Eruv chatzeiros is a reminder for one thing, eruv chatzeiros is a reminder for other things. According to this a lechi should also be called eruv, one does call it that.

No, eruv chatzeiros, the word eruv throughout, there it means mixing the bread. Says the Rambam, just as there they gave a name “eruv,” here too they used the same word. Otherwise I would have to say, what does the meaning of the word “eruv” have to do with recognition? “Eruv” does not mean recognition. But he says that there “eruv” means mixing. But what is the… It is not the main thing the mixing, the main thing is the recognition. So “eruv” has already become such a borrowed term for recognition.

Discussion: What About Eruv Techumin?

And what about eruv techumin? Eruv techumin is also for recognition, or for… The Rambam does not explain.

The Ra’avad’s Critique

The holy Ra’avad is somehow terribly not happy. “This reason is for children,” the Rambam’s reason is for small children. Very good, because the whole matter is for children, that the children should not think that one may be motzi or so. The Ra’avad does not explain, because the Ra’avad says that it is missing that it should at all mean the word “eruv.” In any case the Ra’avad argues that this is also me’arev, he mixes the need of Shabbos with the need of Yom Tov. He makes one great thing that the need of Yom Tov should be one great thing. And the same thing for eruv techumin says the Maggid Mishneh that one mixes where you could have gone with where you can now go.

The Lechem Mishneh’s Answer

The Lechem Mishneh says that one should say that first they made eruv chatzeiros, where there the word “eruv” means mixing, and afterwards they later enacted eruv tavshilin, they already used the same word. But according to what you say that Avraham Avinu already had eruv tavshilin, it is implied that Avraham Avinu already also had eruv chatzeiros, it was before… He already called it that. Ah, but a distinction. Perhaps one can say, there are types yes.

What Unifies the Three Eruvin

So the second thing, because the three eruvin have something else that is very similar to them, they are all three rabbinic decrees that come with a solution from the Rabbis. This is what unifies them. They are also all three with bread, or here there is specifically a cooked dish.

Question from the Chagav

The Chagav he asks a question like a Mishnah, that we learned that there is eruv chatzeiros and shitufei mevo’os. What is the distinction?

Eruv Tavshilin: Laws and Details

What is Eruv Tavshilin? – Specifically with a Cooked Dish

Speaker 1:

So what is eruv tavshilin? It is specifically not with bread, it must be with a food, a cooked dish, because it should be called shituf tavshilin. But in truth, when one makes the blessing on shitufei mevo’os one also says “al mitzvas eruv.” The word for it has become a name eruv. The whole eruvin is already called afterwards Hilchos Eruvin for the mixture of the breads.

Very interesting, all laws, not Hilchos Lechem HaPanim, Hilchos Shabbos, but very many laws of carrying that are in Hilchos Eruvin are under the category eruvin. The Rambam does not have such a way, the Rambam has a different approach, he has a different distinction.

In any case, this is the thing called an eruv, and now the Rambam will tell us what the laws of the eruv are, from what one makes it, and how.

Speaker 2:

Yes, very good. It makes sense that the solution is with a food, because since the problem is in both cases, that also the simple folk, the children should not think, it is clear in eruv chatzeiros that also here there is a garment, one uses a bread. For a person one can make, I don’t know, a document, a note, but it is something that one wants that also the children, the women, everyone should know. One makes this with some bread. This is what it says that even when one makes shitufei mevo’os one should also make eruv chatzeiros, and the children recognize bread.

Speaker 1:

You are right, it indeed says that children have a connection to bread. In general, food is an answer for many problems. Already, very good.

Speaker 2:

No, Jews come together, great sips.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Yes, already.

Law 3: The Measure of Eruv Tavshilin

Speaker 1:

Now the Rambam will say more how one does eruv tavshilin. This that we say that one prepares food before Yom Tov, what does one do?

Says the Rambam, Eruv tavshilin, their measure is not less than a kezayis. It should be not less than a kezayis. There is no distinction, it is not the simple meaning that one needs a kezayis for each person in the house or for each household. But whether for one or for thousands, if one makes the eruv tavshilin for several people, as we will see later that one can make for the entire city, one kezayis is enough.

Different from shitufei mevo’os we had that there must be enough for each one, right? And by everything, by everything.

Speaker 2:

By eruv chatzeiros there must be enough.

Speaker 1:

I don’t know where you learned that with shitufei mevo’os, up to eighteen houses is enough for the entire world.

Speaker 2:

Very good.

Law 3: What is Valid for Eruv Tavshilin – Specifically a Cooked Dish

Speaker 1:

Eruv tavshilin, a kezayis is enough. The kezayis is the recognition.

Says the Rambam further, and one does not make this eruv, the eruv one does not make not with bread, not with bread, and not with rifos. Rifos is also something similar to bread, a thick porridge, something a grain food from barley, and the like.

The Rambam does not say why.

Speaker 2:

Rather… I understand yes why, because it is made for cooking.

Speaker 1:

Ah, but if he bakes now a bread, cooking or baking, why… It seems that it must be specifically cooking, not baking. I don’t know why.

Rather with a cooked dish that is a condiment. A cooked dish that is a condiment. Condiment usually means a cooked dish that one eats with bread, yes? Lefasan he called it in Hilchos Eruvin. Lefasan is one thing, and condiment is another thing.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Such as meat and fish and eggs, and the like. Cooked foods, such as meat, fish, and eggs. Three things that one is accustomed to eat on Shabbos and Yom Tov. Perhaps on Yom Tov not eggs, but on Shabbos.

Discussion: The Opinion of Tosafos – Eruv for Baking and Cooking

Speaker 2:

Ah, it is interesting. So Tosafos argued, Rabbeinu Tam, that what it says cooked dish is in order to cook one must make a cooked dish. If one wants to bake, one must put aside a bread. So the reason it says cooked dish is because in order to cook one must make an eruv of a cooked dish, and usually one cooks. But Rabbeinu Tam held that if one wants to bake bread for example, one must make an eruv from bread. And this is in the Shulchan Aruch, eruv tavshilin.

Speaker 1:

It seems that the cooked dish is indeed something very important. According to Tosafos… Because I say, because normally one does not bake on Yom Tov. Baking one can bake a day before. With cooking, one learns things that one does. One may bake bread, because it is not comparable with fresh bread.

Eruv Tavshilin: Being Mezakeh for Others, Berachah, and the Custom of the City

Halachah 2 (continued) — Being Mezakeh for Other People

Just as with eruv Shabbos we also learned that he is mezakeh for other people. What does this mean? When he says “kedei sheyismchu alav hu va’acheirim”, is that itself not the zechus? Is the zechus something more than that? Doesn’t being mezakeh mean that he needs to make them acquire it so it becomes theirs?

Yes, he needs to make them acquire it. That’s the point, that the piece of tavshil becomes theirs? It’s a sort of kinyan, a so-called kinyan. I don’t know if he can eat it, I don’t know exactly how it works.

No, also when he says “sheyismchu alav acheirim”, he needs to be mezakeh it. It becomes theirs. Not just that they can grab onto my eruv, but it becomes theirs, he needs to be mezakeh it for them. He is makneh the bread. It’s not the bread, the tavshil is also for them. Therefore he needs to be mezakeh it al yedei acher, just as he does it like Shabbos, like eruv chatzeiros. Certainly, lizakos lahem al yedei acher, vechol shezocheh be’eruv Shabbos. That’s what this means, tzarich lizakos lahem kederech shemezakeh be’eruvei Shabbos. Just as he does it with eruvei Shabbos.

Who Can Be Used as a Zocheh

There we learned who can be used. He’s now going to say, vechol shezocheh be’eruvei tavshilin, vechol shezocheh with completely different halachos. It can be mezakeh through beno u’vito, through… it needs to be a second person, there’s a question yes or no. Even a katan. I’ll tell you the answer, it’s not… I don’t know why the Rambam could have said, there’s only one halachah. It needs to be a second person who is not yado k’yado. It can even be a katan, because for derabanan we rely on a kinyan from a katan. But it shouldn’t be his own child who is a katan, which then is a problem, which means it’s not a second person. That’s the basic halachah. I don’t know why… in any case, that’s the halachah of being mezakeh for a second person.

Discussion: Can One Come Eat from the Eruv

I don’t know if the other person will be able to come eat it. I don’t know how it works. By eruv chatzeiros apparently yes. It’s a kinyan. By eruv chatzeiros you see that one needs to be able to come. It’s a kinyan. Eruv chatzeiros is because one becomes a partner in the bread.

It doesn’t say that one becomes a partner in the bread. Yes. One says it for them. I mean I’m making it for them. It’s also yours.

Ah, it’s different from eruv chatzeiros, because a k’zayis is enough for everyone. So he has a right in the bread. Now he also has the bread erev Yom Tov. Ah, not a bread, a tavshil. He won’t be able to actually pull down from the k’zayis, because he has the first baal who doesn’t have a heter. But he has some sort of right in it. Perhaps as if everyone has the entire k’zayis.

Yes, exactly, as if everyone is in partnership.

Halachah 3 — He Doesn’t Need to Inform, But They Need to Know

Ve’eino tzarich, yes, when one is mezakeh for a second person, when one makes for a second person, usually there’s a law that when one is mezakeh for a second person one needs to inform him, yes? No, there’s a law which is a zechus when it’s very good. Bifnei, that’s apparently the rule. If it were a burden, he loses something. Like eruv techumin we said that you take away from the other person the right to be able to go in another direction. Therefore one needs to tell him, but here it’s only a zechus. Or eruv chatzeiros and cases that we heard that one can’t, he doesn’t want, he wants to go. He wants perhaps to be a partner with the others on the other side or whatever. But this is pure zechus, and when it’s something that is pure zechus, one can be mezakeh even without the other person knowing.

Why One Must Know That There Is an Eruv

Aval hen tzerichin leidah shekvar zachah lahem acher ve’eirav lahem. But one needs to know that an eruv tavshilin was made, ve’achar kach yochal veyevashel veyofeh. That means, one can only bake if one knows that there is an eruv. In order for the zechus to work… meaning, a person can’t bake with the calculation that probably someone from the city already made an eruv. That won’t be enough. One needs to know that’s why the eruv was made specifically. The question, the point is something else. In order for the zechus to work, he doesn’t need to know, because zachin le’adam shelo befanav. But in order for the eruv to work, the whole point of an eruv is that it’s a heker. Even the law of eruv tavshilin is that one should do it before Yom Tov, and it only became Yom Tov, but it’s enough, because for the heker it’s enough, because for the heart he knows. Hareini lemiteirim.

Eruv for the Entire City

Veyesh lo le’adam le’arev al kol ha’ir. A person has the right, or he has the choice, he can be me’arev for all the people who live in the city, or all the people who live in the techum. In the techum Shabbos. Ah, that means where one can come? Because if one can’t come perhaps it doesn’t work. Ah, it needs to be close enough. Ulemachar machriz ve’omer, kol mi shelo hini’ach eruv tavshilin yismoch al eruvi. One can do this erev Yom Tov, and tomorrow inform. It’s at the time when one begins, still before people will begin cooking, he should inform.

Why must he be karov eilav? Because it’s for the same reason why he needs to know, because he needs to be able, technically he needs to be able to be close to the, be able to come eat from the… apparently, what isn’t made to eat? It makes sense. Yes.

And it says that it’s a custom that the gadol of the city makes lechatchilah an eruv for the entire city. And he informs? Certainly he needs to inform. No, it doesn’t work, that the Rambam said. But perhaps it’s enough that once there’s the halachah, perhaps it’s enough that people know that the gedolei ha’ir do it. No, who knows? One can’t trust the gedolim, one needs to know what he does.

Shulchan Aruch’s Condition: Only for One Who Forgot, Not for a Poshei’a

The Shulchan Aruch says an interesting condition, that one can’t just rely on the eruv except for one who forgot, not if someone is a poshei’a. I don’t know why, but it’s not clear. That means, the Shulchan Aruch wants that essentially everyone should make, and I don’t know. There’s a berachah, I don’t know, should the rabbi make a poshei’a. And enough, he says, lechatchilah everyone should make. He says it doesn’t work for a poshei’a, it doesn’t help. That’s what it says in Shulchan Aruch.

Mishnah Berurah’s Chumra: Forgetting Twice Makes One a Poshei’a

Mishnah Berurah adds a very big chumra. If he forgot twice Pesach, again he forgot again Sukkos, he’s a poshei’a which has gone through months in between. Mishnah Berurah is a sharp Jew, the holy Chofetz Chaim. In any case… the chumra of the Mishnah Berurah. And interestingly, he adds chumros. He forgot twice? It’s not twice on the same day. It’s a few months later, he forgot again. It’s a busy day erev Yom Tov. He forgot again for the same reason. Interesting that he makes him a poshei’a.

Okay, the Rav of Tomar’s Rebbe says that one can indeed. Make your eruv for the entire city. The Chofetz Chaim didn’t make people a poshei’a so quickly. He was the great, holy, sweet, bright Chofetz Chaim. Interestingly, he quickly makes people a poshei’a because they forgot. It’s very easy to forget.

He was actually very much a kanai, very sharp, not at all sweet and bright. I don’t know how you got the testimony from… He was actually a kanai, also sweet and bright. But… interesting to give a person the name poshei’a because he… peshi’ah means even by forgetting, to become a poshei’ah, but forgetting to make an eruv before the holiday is not something like forgetting…

Discussion: Why Shouldn’t a Poshei’a Be Able to Rely?

It’s not just that, but the lomdus is tzarich iyun. Why should there be a distinction that one shouldn’t rely? It says that the Chachamim wanted everyone to do it. One really needs to know. It’s not a heker which is simple that it must be in his house a heker. That way he knows enough. One really needs to know. Perhaps it’s a takkanah because perhaps a second person won’t make, and then you’ll think that someone is making for you.

No, one needs to know, the Rav needs to inform, he needs to make a hachrazah, that’s what it says here. There needs to be a hachrazah, one needs to come and be machriz.

No, it could be that why he says that forgetting twice is because he relies, and perhaps the hachrazah is made the next day Yom Tov, yes? On Yom Tov, and if you don’t do it erev Yom Tov, one will rely. Perhaps the peshi’ah is not on Yom Tov, but your peshi’ah is in the mitzvah of simchas oneg Shabbos? Because if no one will make, you won’t be allowed to cook for Shabbos. Perhaps there with the peshi’ah.

A warm Jew cooks already with the kedushas Shabbos that will come after erev Yom Tov, and remembers to make an eruv. I hear. Okay.

“Yismoch Al Eruvi” — A Proclamation, Not Automatic

So the language is also, yismoch al eruvi, not automatically somech al eruvi, but that person should be somech. It’s a hachrazah, it’s not… what do you mean not? It’s not that the words work by themselves, no chalos happens with his words. It’s a hachrazah that people should be somech. Yismoch, and they should remember to be somech. It’s not enough that I do it instead of the other person. He needs to know, do you mean I will need to know? Yes.

Halachah 4 — Berachah on Eruv Tavshilin

He continues. Says the Rambam, Hamani’ach eruv tavshilin, interestingly note the language hamani’ach. One who prepares an eruv tavshilin… okay, yes, he makes a berachah. I say, by the other two eruvim it’s a mani’ach, yes, he places down by the techum or he places down at someone’s house. By the techum it’s the main place where it makes it. He places down in someone’s house. Okay.

Chapter 6: Eruv Tavshilin — Blessing, Declaration, Circumventing, and Two Days of Yom Tov

Law 1 (continued) — Blessing and Declaration for Eruv Tavshilin

One who places an eruv tavshilin must make a blessing, he must make a blessing, just as we have already learned, that a blessing is not only when it’s a mitzvah, but also when it’s a mitzvah that is a solution for a problem. Sometimes. First the enactments of the Sages. Sometimes. Not all the laws of blessings inform us. Yes. They thought that it’s not understood in the laws of eruv tavshilin because one makes a blessing. But why eruv tavshilin? No, why eruv tavshilin certainly yes, why? Because the Sages said, the Rav said that there it isn’t, but the Sages said that one should make an eruv tavshilin. So they learned. It’s even the opposite, the prohibition is for one who didn’t make it, but there is a mitzvah to make an eruv tavshilin. Ah, by eruv techumin one actually stays home, here, we want that a person should have fresh food on Shabbos. The law is, the enactment is, it was to make an eruv tavshilin. So he calls it tavshilin.

Text of the Blessing

One is obligated to make a blessing? Obligated to make a blessing. Baruch Atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech HaOlam asher kideshanu bemitzvosav vetzivanu al mitzvas eruv. The same “al mitzvas eruv.” And he says, and afterwards he says like this, “be’eruv zeh yehei muttar li le’efos ulvashel miyom tov shel machar”, from tomorrow which is erev Yom Tov. I mean tomorrow Yom Tov, yes, one makes this erev Yom Tov. What is the word “machar”? “Miyom tov l’Shabbos”. Perhaps the word “shel machar” is that one cannot do it, it doesn’t work for all yamim tovim, a person cannot make it erev Pesach for the entire Yom Tov. Perhaps he can if the eruv remains until then. But… what is the language “shel machar”? By us it didn’t say. “Behadein eruva yehei shara lana le’meichal lemifeh,” so there is a lashon hakodesh. Let’s say, the Rambam brings it out.

When One Acquires for Others

When does the Rambam say, when one makes it for others he says “yehei muttar li liploni uploni”. If he doesn’t say it for a specific person, but he acquires for all people, “le’anshei ha’ir kulam”, all people who forgot. And he says further, “le’efos ulvashel miyom tov l’Shabbos”. So there, there doesn’t he say “miyom tov shel machar”? Yes, “shel machar” is not precise, I don’t know. It’s very interesting that…

Hagahos Maimoniyos: Adding “lehadlik es haner”

Okay, the Hagahos Maimoniyos says here that one must also say “lehadlik es haner,” because… ah, we do so. And so we say. And also he says it in Aramaic, it wouldn’t be clear. You see that the Rambam writes in lashon hakodesh, and he brings here where it was… One says the “lehadlik es haner” helps in general. Above, for example, I already started cooking, but… okay, all melachos. All melachos, okay.

Lashon Hakodesh vs. Aramaic

But why does it say in Aramaic? Not clear. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav says that one doesn’t need to say it in Aramaic, one can also say it in Yiddish. It’s interesting that we… presumably the opposite, not presumably a hiddur to say it in a way that one understands. Right, presumably all the declarations that are in the siddur in Aramaic is because that was once English, they wanted that one should understand. Later it became itself

Chapter 6: Eruv Tavshilin — Blessing, Declaration, Circumventing, and Two Days of Yom Tov

Law 1 (continued) — Blessing and Declaration for Eruv Tavshilin

Speaker 1:

And the poskim say that one must indeed understand, there’s no point to say it in a language that one doesn’t understand and doesn’t comprehend.

It’s interesting, when he says “yehei muttar liploni uploni,” does that mean that afterwards the ploni still needs to say it during Yom Tov, or he should be aware of it during Yom Tov, yes. I mean not to say, you’re not doing it literally instead of him, but he still needs to afterwards have knowledge of it.

It doesn’t look like without the blessing or without the declaration it doesn’t work. It looks like the declaration is a nice addition. It doesn’t say, but in the Rema it does say yes, that without it… it doesn’t work. I don’t know why this is taken.

The Rema says like this, not only, the Rema says that one must mention, look here, one must mention precisely the melachos, “le’echol ulvashel ulhadlakas haner”, and if not it doesn’t work. And he brings that indeed I, Rashi doesn’t agree with this.

I don’t understand, I would say even according to the Rema, will one then be able to rely on the second person who did say it properly. There is after all the rav of the city who says it. Okay, we spoke. Now, if there is… okay, agreed, but let’s first, how do the halachos work? According to the Rema is the declaration so strict? I don’t know why, it doesn’t make any sense.

We saw the same thing by eruv chatzeiros, by eruv techumin, there’s always a declaration, and I don’t know… It’s a nice thing that one should say, I would say even more. If one says a blessing, he’s already said what it is.

And he brings that the earlier poskim say the opposite, that without the blessing one is certainly not prevented, because without the declaration perhaps yes it prevents. It seems to me that it doesn’t make any sense, perhaps it made sense the opposite.

Discussion: Why Should the Declaration Be Preventing?

Speaker 2:

It could be that the declaration helps, because if not… let’s say, someone who doesn’t know what the mitzvah is and how it works, he hasn’t done anything. He just took some piece erev Yom Tov.

Speaker 1:

I don’t understand what you’re saying. You’re making that you should know what the eruv is. So automatically because of that it’s a reminder. If not, there’s no reminder.

Speaker 2:

No, every reminder. A reminder doesn’t need a declaration.

Speaker 1:

The main thing is that one sees, one has already started, whatever the idea is, one has already started to cook from erev Shabbos, so it’s different from Yom Tov during the week. What’s the great Torah?

I hold that even today when everyone writes reminders to make an eruv tavshilin, it could be that the reminder itself is sufficient. Understand? I’m saying, it becomes a whole situation, one must remember. Indeed, I mean, I’m not saying that one can nullify eruv tavshilin, because then there won’t be any standing either. I mean to bring out that this was indeed wanted again, that one should remember that it’s erev Shabbos, that there should be a situation.

Interesting, the language of the Rambam is not like he says “chayav levareikh”. I can understand a bit like the Rema that the blessing is an obligation.

Speaker 2:

He means, “chayav levareikh” is an obligation of blessing.

Speaker 1:

With the blessing, with the blessing. Yes, it doesn’t mean more than that, that’s what I mean.

—

Law 9 — One Who Did Not Place an Eruv Tavshilin

Speaker 1:

One who did not place an eruv tavshilin and it was not placed for him, he didn’t make it and it wasn’t made for him, he may not, just as it is forbidden for him to cook and bake, his prohibition extends to his foods, so his flour and his food are forbidden, meaning forbidden on Shabbos. It is forbidden for others to cook and bake for him, for this one who did not place, until he acquires it for him. Until he acquires it for him. Until he acquires it for him.

It means, one cannot make such a trick that the person should go over with his raw ingredients to the neighbor who did make an eruv tavshilin and say, “you cook for me,” because the foods… Interesting, did the prohibition go onto the foods? Or is it simply a way of preventing such tricks?

Why would it be a trick? Another person may not bake your things, why? I don’t know.

Discussion: Why Does One Need a Kinyan?

Speaker 2:

The matter is trouble, soon we’ll come to baking.

Speaker 1:

I don’t understand what you mean by trouble. The matter is… the prohibition is that the person stands and cooks on Yom Tov. The person does melachos or he does trouble on Yom Tov. Why should the prohibition go onto the… the same Rabbanan who can forbid to bake, can forbid another to bake with your food. What’s the difference?

Speaker 2:

Okay. It’s both derabbanan. It’s a fence.

Speaker 1:

It’s a fence, as you say, and then you find that you will… okay.

There is indeed a solution, he can acquire. “Shenimtza zeh mevashel ve’ofeh shelo sheharei kano”, he acquired it. One may make the kinyan on Yom Tov, yes? So he says here.

“Ve’omer lo”, it’s not a real kinyan. One may not make a kinyan on Yom Tov, by the way. It never says that one may not make a kinyan on Yom Tov. I haven’t seen it yet. Masa umatan is the same thing as a kinyan. A kinyan is a type of masa umatan, no?

Speaker 2:

No, masa umatan… first of all, one may also do masa umatan. One may take and one may go buy. As we said earlier, one shouldn’t use the language of masa umatan. I don’t know if there’s a prohibition to make a kinyan on Shabbos or Yom Tov. I mean that we haven’t learned such a thing until now.

Speaker 1:

That means, that he should bake your bread, that one may not. But you can give him the bread so it becomes his, and if he wants, he can give it back. “Im ratza yiten, harei shehakol shelo, sheharei lo nesano bematanah” — if he wants.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it’s his. It’s only if he wants, certainly only if he wants. If he doesn’t want… I mean to say, perhaps one also cannot make a matanah al menas lehachzir either.

Speaker 1:

Ah, that may not be a fake kinyan.

Speaker 2:

Not fake, matanah al menas lehachzir is not fake. Matanah al menas lehachzir is only a condition.

—

Law 10 — Circumventing vs. Intentional

Speaker 1:

Okay. Further. Now, what’s another thing? If someone didn’t make an eruv tavshilin, “mi shelo hiniach eruv tavshilin”, and he transgressed, “uvishel ve’afah le’echol bo bayom” — no, he didn’t transgress. He baked on Yom Tov for Yom Tov, “vehotir”, it remained. “O shehizmin orchim velo ba’u, harei zeh ochel lemachar”.

You’ve already learned, by virtue of Yom Tov, because food remained, one may eat it the next day. But we’ve already also learned there that circumventing is forbidden. When he cooked more than he needs, he made as if he’s cooking only for now, but really he cooked also for Shabbos. Or he made as if he invited guests, and he didn’t invite guests, “harei zeh asur le’ochlo”. Then it is forbidden.

Why? Says the Rambam, the prohibition to eat it, what happens, even though the transgression is only on circumventing, but “avar ve’afah uvishel l’Shabbos”, if he went and did the transgression outright, then it’s even less strict, “ein osrin alav”.

The question immediately arises, “lamah hechmiru ve’asru al hame’arim velo asru al hameizid?” Why? How can it be that the circumventer should be stricter than the intentional transgressor?

Says the Rambam that they were strict more why? “She’im tatir lame’arim, nimtze’u hakol me’arim”. If you’ll allow circumventing, everyone will circumvent. If you’ll allow it, it’s easier than making an eruv tavshilin, everyone will make a circumvention, “veyishtakach shem eruv tavshilin”, the entire matter of eruv tavshilin will be forgotten.

“Aval hameizid eino matzui, Yisrael kedoshim hem”, Jews are after all holy Jews, it’s not… “ve’im ya’avor hayom lo ya’avor pa’am acheres”. He transgressed once, he won’t… what did he transgress on? He forgot to make an eruv tavshilin, and he said, you know what? But next year Yom Tov he’ll remember.

So why should he do it intentionally? We’re not talking meizid meaning he’s a poretz ol, right? Meizid means he has a reason, he wants… The answer is that he wanted to eat on Shabbos, he didn’t have an eruv, so he did it anyway.

By circumventing one has… but a circumventer is when he outsmarted the system. Ah, you outsmarted the system, the entire law of eruv tavshilin is nullified. That’s worse.

Comparison with Hilchos Eruvin Chapter 1

Speaker 1:

It’s not that this is from earlier by the matter of circumventing, the Rambam simply said that they were strict with circumventers because… he didn’t say a reason earlier.

Speaker 2:

What do you mean in the law?

Speaker 1:

Ah, Eruvin, in Chapter 1 Law 11, he said, if someone didn’t have and circumvented, “benei shechamru beme’arim yoser min hameizid,” because they were strict. The Rambam understood it there like that that it’s simply so, because it’s even worse someone who makes himself so deliberately, someone who is such a pious scoundrel with permission of the Torah, that the people around him should think he’s a tzaddik, but really it’s not, it’s even worse than an intentional transgressor.

Here the Rambam says more about eruv tavshilin. Look in the Maggid Mishneh there in Chapter 6, you’ll see that the law of circumventing and having more punishment is here in Chapter 6 by the laws of eruv tavshilin. There the Rambam speaks that he circumvents for weekday needs. That means, here he speaks that he circumvents for weekday needs. But the Rema is more, and the Rambam here explains, because the matter is he nullifies all the tavshilin. If he circumvented, it’s not said to lead to concern, but…

Speaker 2:

But what? But it’s the same thing, I don’t know, worse.

—

Law 11 — Two Days of Yom Tov: Condition in Eruv Tavshilin

Speaker 1:

Okay, now we’re going to learn what happens when there are two days of Yom Tov. Yes, says the Rambam, we’ve already learned that there is such a thing as Yom Tov Sheni. The Rambam meant people like in the first chapter I think.

Says the Rambam, shnei yamim tovim shechal’u bachamishi ve’erev Shabbos. It’s two days of Yom Tov, it’s Thursday and Friday, erev Shabbos. So when must one make the eruv tavshilin? One must make the eruv tavshilin before the first day of Yom Tov, “oseh eruv tavshilin miyom revi’i shehu erev Yom Tov”.

“Shachach velo hiniach”. Then there is such a solution, normally one cannot make an eruv tavshilin on Yom Tov itself, but when it’s two days of Yom Tov, there is the solution “manicho barishon”, one makes an eruv tavshilin on the first day of Yom Tov, “umasneh”, one makes the condition.

What does he say? “Keitzad?” The Rambam says, “maniach eruv tavshilin beyom chamishi ve’omer”, he says like this, “im hayom Yom Tov”, if today is the real Yom Tov, because it’s after all a doubt about the day. Before Heaven it’s revealed which day is Yom Tov. So says the Rambam. Really there’s only one day of Yom Tov. We’re speaking here when the two days of Yom Tov was truly a doubt about the day. Soon we’ll see what the Rambam says.

So if today is the real Yom Tov, “ulmachar”, tomorrow is really weekday, and we’re only treating it, we’re making it like Yom Tov because of a doubt, then “machar evashel ve’ofeh l’Shabbos ve’eino tzarich le’eruv”, because tomorrow is going to be a weekday, I’ll go cook, I don’t need for this any eruv tavshilin. And it also means, in this case he didn’t do any transgression with it, I mean, the eruv tavshilin is nothing, he didn’t do anything.

“Ve’im hayom chol ulmachar Yom Tov”, then he says, “be’eruv zeh”, he says the language, “be’eruv zeh yehei muttar li le’efos ulvashel mimachar Yom Tov l’Shabbos”. If tomorrow is Yom Tov, I need today an eruv, and now is erev Yom Tov, so he makes an eruv from erev Yom Tov.

No blessing it seems he doesn’t make here, because the second version one does say “be’eruv zeh”. Perhaps because it’s a doubt one doesn’t say a blessing, doubtful blessings.

Eruv Tavshilin with a Condition — The Rambam’s Innovation Regarding Our Times

Law 11: Eruv Tavshilin with a Condition — If Today is Weekday Tomorrow is Yom Tov

I mean, the first one does nothing, he didn’t do anything.

“Ve’im hayom chol ulmachar Yom Tov”, then he says “be’eruv zeh”, he says the language, “be’eruv zeh yehei muttar li le’efos ulvashel miyom tov l’Shabbos”.

If tomorrow is Yom Tov, I need today an eruv, and now is erev Yom Tov, it’s closed erev of erev Yom Tov.

Question: Does One Make a Blessing on Eruv Tavshilin with a Condition?

No blessing it seems he doesn’t make here, yes? Because the second version one does say “be’eruv zeh”.

Perhaps on a doubt one doesn’t say a blessing, doubtful blessings, it’s not that he doesn’t say a blessing, I don’t know.

I mean, one makes a blessing… on Yom Tov Sheni one does make a blessing, right? And when one makes… first, first Yom Tov. Why? Also, it’s still only a doubt whether he needs an eruv. Right, on the side that the second day is weekday, he doesn’t need an eruv.

So what, what’s different here? He can also make a blessing perhaps. It could be that the reminder is after all still a good reminder to remember the prohibition of… a general thing, but you’re saying he shouldn’t make a blessing, he shouldn’t make a blessing.

It doesn’t say that he doesn’t make a blessing. No, I think why not, because we need to say that if today is Yom Tov… It could be that making an eruv tavshilin on Yom Tov is something not a good thing.

No, eruv tavshilin doesn’t work on Yom Tov. The point of the eruv he already made from erev Yom Tov. Yom Tov. That’s not the problem.

The problem is, if he makes it only on the side that tomorrow is Yom Tov. All eruv tavshilin is on the side that tomorrow is Yom Tov. It’s not different from every eruv tavshilin.

Law 12: Similarly — Terumah and Ma’aser with a Condition

Translation

Says the Rambam, kiyotza bo, similarly, once we understand the matter that there is this dilemma (memah nafshach), that one can make such a type of eruv, such a condition (tenai), so kiyotza bo, there is a similar situation to this.

Hayu lefanav shtei khalkalot shel tevel beyom tov rishon. He has two baskets of produce that is not tithed, and on yom tov one may not tithe, right? We’ve already learned this.

But can he do this: he can say im hayom chol, if today is a weekday, then I can today, I may tithe, so tehi zo terumah al zo, let this basket be terumah for the second one, or a bit from the basket, whatever. It needs to be clarified after yom tov.

Okay, ve’im hayom kodesh? If today is yom tov, one may not make any terumah, so ein bidvarai klum, I have said nothing.

Vekorei aleha shem, he calls it terumah.

Question: What does “korei aleha shem” mean?

What does korei aleha shem mean? Does he need to do it or is it just an expression? Korei shem means he calls it a name, he says harei zo terumah. He said tehi zo terumah, and he says okay, harei zo terumah, umanicha, puts it away.

And tomorrow chozer ve’omer, he says this way, im hayom kodesh, ein bidvarai klum, I’m saying nothing, but then I’m already fine because I already did it yesterday. Im hayom chol, tehi zo terumah al zo. So he is protected from both sides.

Vekorei lah shem, umanicha kederech shekarah lah barishonah, umanicha, see that he called it shem terumah, ve’ochel et hasheniyah.

Perhaps the korei lah shem means, I just want to say, he needs to remember which one he made terumah, because he must say the same thing twice, so he doesn’t eat the terumah by mistake. Or deliberately, yes. Perhaps that’s the point.

Question: Why doesn’t yesh breirah help?

Perhaps how would yesh breirah help? Okay. No, it answers something. It’s from the Torah (mide’oraita), there is no breirah. Why should one make breirah that comes in? Yes, okay.

Summary: The tenai works for yom tov sheni shel galuyot, not for Rosh Hashanah

The point is, he needs to make the tenai, and the tenai works both for eruv tavshilin and for tithing, giving terumah on yom tov.

The same tenai can be made between two days of yom tov shel galuyot, but the tenai cannot be made when there are two different days, where one day is truly yom tov and one day truly not, but one observes it as yom tov.

Halakhah 13: Rosh Hashanah — No Tenai

Even the two days of yom tov of Rosh Hashanah, which the Rambam has already said has a different law, meaning it’s like one day, both have one kedushah.

So if he forgot and did not prepare on the fourth day and cannot prepare it, he cannot make an eruv on yom tov, because he cannot make the “im hayom” condition, because both have one kedushah.

She’eino maniach ela somekh le’acherim, he must rely or be somekh le’acherim more than on himself, or he does the advice that was said earlier, makneh lemi she’eruv.

Oh, it actually doesn’t work here, it’s forbidden to bake for Shabbat, for example.

The same thing regarding terumah. Yes, if he forgot to tithe on the fourth day, also on yom tov, on Rosh Hashanah it won’t help, because we said earlier that on motzaei Shabbat. Then there is no being somekh, for eruv there are all other solutions, being makneh, being somekh. For terumah he will simply need to wait.

Halakhah 14-15: The Rambam’s Great Chiddush — Nowadays One Cannot Make a Tenai

Says the Rambam, I’m not sure. The Rambam comes with a chiddush.

He says, kol hadevarim she’amranu, that one can do the memah nafshach trick. Hoyil uvizman shehayah beit din shel Eretz Yisrael mekadshin al pi hare’iyah, we’re talking about when there was still a beit din of Eretz Yisrael, and they would sanctify based on testimony, before they could say that they had seen the moon.

Vehayu benei hagaluyot, and then in Eretz Yisrael there was truly only one day of yom tov, and then only in chutz la’aretz there were two days of yom tov, because they didn’t receive the message in time when yom tov actually was.

Vehayu benei hagaluyot osin shnei yamim tovim kedei lehistalek min hasafek, in order to be stringent that if the month is chaser, they should start a day earlier. And it was done only lehistalek min hasafek, lefi shelo hayu yode’in hayom shekidshu bo benei Eretz Yisrael.

The Foundation of the Chiddush: Yom Tov Sheni Today is Only Custom, Not Doubt

Aval hayom, nowadays when it’s no longer sanctified based on testimony, uvenei Eretz Yisrael somkhin al hacheshbon, we rely only on the calculation that in Hilkhot Kiddush HaChodesh the Rambam will teach us how the calculation works, that we already know in advance which month is chaser and malei, umekadshin alav. We sanctify according to the calculation.

Precision: Benei Eretz Yisrael are mekadesh even today

Indeed, as you are medayek, let’s remember, we’re going to learn Kiddush HaChodesh, that even today the Rambam holds that the month becomes sanctified because the benei Eretz Yisrael sanctify it. The chiddush of the sanctification is only that once they sanctified based on testimony, today they sanctify based on calculation. But the practical difference is that we already know the calculation in advance.

Conclusion: Yom Tov Sheni is Custom Only

So also, ein yom tov sheni lehistalek min hasafek, that we observe yom tov sheni in exile is not because of doubt, but ela minhag bilvad, only a matter of custom.

It comes out, says the Rambam, lefikhakh ani omer… as the Rambam didn’t say earlier that it’s only custom… he didn’t say earlier clearly this part. Yes, yes, but he doesn’t say… be good, but there it’s not clear this part. He says the word minhag, yes. Yes, but there it’s… let’s not get stuck. Continue, yes. He does it not because of doubt, but because of custom.

“Lefikhakh Ani Omer” — The Rambam’s Own Chiddush

So the Rambam says here a great chiddush, lefikhakh yireh li… ani omer. Lefikhakh ani omer. About this I say, when the Rambam says ani omer, he’s saying it’s my chiddush, that one can no longer do the trick, she’ein me’arev adam, a person cannot make an eruv and make the tenai bizman hazeh, he cannot do it, not for eruv tavshilin, not for eruvei chatzerot and shitufei mevo’ot.

For eruvei chatzerot and shitufei mevo’ot there was also this thing, ah, one can do it on yom tov with the same trick.

Ve’ein me’asrin et hatevel al tenai, the same thing one cannot do tithing on condition.

Ela hakol me’erev yom tov, but this can only be done before yom tov, because you can’t say if today is such and such, because both days have the same kedushah achat from custom. Both days are observed only because of custom, therefore one can no longer do this thing. And this is the Rambam’s own chiddush.

Discussion: What does “ani omer” mean by the Rambam?

As when the Rambam says omer ani or ani omer or yireh li, the simple meaning is that others say differently, the Geonim say differently, but the Rambam says differently.

The point is that the Rambam holds that he only says things not differently. Yes, yes, when the Rambam says yireh li it’s not because he’s arguing with someone, and the Rambam says yireh li because it’s a chiddush. It could be even… okay, if there were Geonim he might have brought them, as someone says, but it makes no difference.

The Rambam doesn’t hold that one must be goress what the Geonim said. One must follow only the Gemara, and one doesn’t need to follow the Rambam either essentially, there’s no reason why one should follow the Rambam.

The Ra’avad’s Dispute

And the Ra’avad is indeed in dispute, the Ra’avad says there’s some kind of reason, yes, the Ra’avad says a sevara, but we don’t see that one should be mechaber, and he doesn’t agree, he’s not at all convinced.

That is, what does the Rambam say? But we know for sure that it’s held, what do you want? The Ra’avad says, it’s custom, it’s custom worse than it was before. But the trick no longer works, because we actually know which sevara.

Not clear. We don’t see that it should be so… one can understand, because we said both days. When we take the custom seriously, one would say, we know which day. The other day is nothing, but it’s not so. Rather we say both days are the same yom tov.

Not both are the same. The second day is because of custom. The first is not because of custom. The first is… so what’s the problem? Not clear.

Digression: “Omer Ani” — The Rambam’s Style Like Rabbi

In short, one can… I think, the Rambam uses the words omer ani or ani omer. The Rambam in the introduction to Mishneh Torah is a bit similar to… not similar, but he gives the feeling that just as Rabbeinu HaKadosh, the author of the Mishnah, made the Mishnah for a reason, he makes the Mishneh Torah for a reason, he even gives it a similar name.

The language omer ani is the language of Rabbi. Rabbi omer, omer ani is the language of the Mishnah many times.

Yes, you know why? It’s also a matter of humility, because he’s not like that is it. He says omer ani, there’s a certain humility.

No, why does Rabbi say omer ani? Because he wrote it, he is the “ani”. The same thing the Rambam is the “ani”. What the Rambam says goes with his… he uses the same… yes, okay, don’t take away my little interpretation, it’s a nice interpretation.

The Rambam uses the same… the Rambam sees himself a bit like the author of the Mishnah, walking in the footsteps of Rabbeinu HaKadosh. So, you understand what I’m saying. Okay. Yes, yes, yes.

It doesn’t come out from the piece. You say, both do it because it’s “omer ani”. Fine. Exactly.

No, why aren’t both mechaber, are they blocking? I want to say that one is mesader differently, when he has something to say it must be clear what his chiddush is.

That is, there are people who are manipulators, he makes a collection, and when he wants to say something he makes it as if it’s consensus. Even Rabbi did such a thing, he made a plain mishnah more or less the halakhah that he held.

There are those who say that Moshe Rabbeinu when he said something of his own also had to say “omer ani”, because obviously one knew it was the word of Hashem.

Okay, let’s continue. So, it’s interesting, that usually when he says, it just says what it says, although it’s often with his interpretation, but the Rambam didn’t look at his interpretation, the Rambam said what it says. That’s it, yes.

When he says a chiddush, then he says clearly that it’s a chiddush. A chiddush means to say, it’s not something that’s clearly stated, although it’s a sevara, it’s perhaps a good sevara, but the distinction isn’t stated.

Other things the Rambam says, it’s Torah she’be’al peh. This he would say is not Torah she’be’al peh, this is my Torah. Perhaps it’s also called Torah she’be’al peh, for all students of Moshe. Yes.

Transition to Simchat Yom Tov

Until now we’ve learned about eruv tavshilin. Now comes a tasty topic, we’re going to learn about this. By both we’re talking about cooking in honor of yom tov, and this is basically the last halakhah after this.

Simchat Yom Tov — Not in the Count of Mitzvot of Hilkhot Yom Tov

I’m not going to teach you the mitzvah, not mitzvah, because the Rambam didn’t count it at the beginning as a mitzvah. Not in the mitzvah count, there are twelve mitzvot. He says that the twelve mitzvot are only shevitah, but it is indeed a mitzvah.

I think he does count it in Hilkhot Chagigah. What they learned once on yom tov Sukkot, I remember I learned in a sukkah. And there one saw that the Rambam counts the mitzvah that one does with chagigah, but he holds that the main mitzvah is chagigah, as also included in this is also the simchah.

It appears many times in the Rambam that there’s sometimes a mitzvah that has two meanings, and both are from the Torah. It’s from the Torah, but he counts it in a different place.

Hilkhot Shevitat Yom Tov – Honor and Pleasure of Yom Tov and Joy of Yom Tov

Honor and Pleasure of Yom Tov – The Rambam’s Approach

Speaker 1:

I want, there’s an answer in the book. He says that the twelve mitzvot are only shevitah, but it is indeed a mitzvah. I think he does count it in Hilkhot Chagigah. And they learned once on yom tov Sukkot, I remember I learned in your sukkah with you, and there one saw that the Rambam counts the mitzvah that one does with your festival, but he holds that the main mitzvah is chagigah, and included in this is also the joy. There are many times in the Rambam that there’s sometimes a mitzvah that has two meanings, and both are counted. It’s certainly from the Torah. It’s certainly from the Torah, but he counts it in a different place. In Hilkhot Chagigah he only counts out what is more a thing, certainly from the Torah?

Speaker 2:

No, it’s certainly from the Torah.

Speaker 1:

It’s certainly from the Torah, there’s no doubt, it’s just… the Rambam will say it clearly, as already in Hilkhot Chagigah, but the list of mitzvot just doesn’t stand here, but essentially it is indeed another mitzvah. It could be the reason why the Rambam counted at the beginning twelve mitzvot is because the words shevitat yom tov. For shevitat yom tov there are twelve, there are more, which is not the word shevitah. It’s simchah.

Speaker 2:

Yes, but I’m saying that it’s… he’s going to say it clearly.

The Rambam’s Language: Honor and Pleasure of Yom Tov

Speaker 1:

Says the Rambam, keshem shemitzvah lekhabed Shabbat ule’angah, very good, because he began Hilkhot Shevitat Yom Tov, he said just as there are… thirty-nine labors, just as all the laws of Shabbat, so go all the laws of yom tov. He also says, just as there is a mitzvah of honor of Shabbat and pleasure of Shabbat, so it’s counted zakhor and… not zakhor, kavod ve’oneg, kavod ve’oneg, zakhor and Shabbat. We learn it from the verse im tashiv, or yes. Keshem shemitzvah lekhabed Shabbat in. The Ramban, says the Ramban, kakh kol yamim tovim, so also all yamim tovim. It’s a mitzvah shene’emar, he immediately brings the verse likdosh Hashem mekhubad. It means that every day that is holy to Hashem, whether it’s Shabbat or whether it’s yom tov, one must honor. Interesting, yes?

Speaker 2:

Vekhol yamim tovim is stated by mikra kodesh, that it’s kodesh, kodesh to Hashem.

Speaker 1:

We know that when there is, any day that is holy to Hashem must be honored. This is from the Prophets, this is from the words of tradition. Isaiah told us vekara laShabbat oneg likdoshei Hashem mekhubad, it says Shabbat and kedoshei Hashem. Perhaps the simple meaning means kedoshei Hashem the same as Shabbat?

Speaker 2:

From that no, every day that is holy, and yom tov is also holy.

Speaker 1:

It says before the Almighty it’s already holy, by the person it becomes holy through honoring it somehow. The point is that one sanctifies, the holy days should be called pleasure. From the Prophets, ukhvar beiranu hakavod veha’oneg behilkhot Shabbat, and in Hilkhot Shabbat he already said what kavod and oneg mean, there he said the matter of preparing for Shabbat and so forth.

Discussion: Distinction Between Shabbat and Yom Tov Regarding the Evening Meal

Speaker 1:

Vekhen, also here it’s ra’uy le’adam, it’s fitting for a person shelo yis’od, just as on erev Shabbat we learned that one shouldn’t eat any meal on erev Shabbat. We need to see, certainly seemingly a distinction. Vekhen ra’uy le’adam, he says perhaps ra’uy, perhaps it’s not an obligation, perhaps by Shabbat it’s more an obligation. So why doesn’t he need to say it again? If we’re already saying ukhvar beiranu, one should make it regarding this from there. What is there a distinction between Shabbat and yom tov?

He says first what he says. Ra’uy le’adam shelo yis’od, one shouldn’t make any meal be’arvei yamim tovim min haminchah lema’lah, ke’erev haShabbat, just as on erev Shabbat one doesn’t eat any big meal, no meal from minchah lema’lah, from a bit before Shabbat begins, shedavar zeh bikhlal hakavod. This is a matter of honor of Shabbat and also honor of yom tov. The big meals should be set aside for when it’s yom tov, one shouldn’t eat beforehand. Right. So why isn’t it clear? Why is there some distinction? Ke’erev Shabbat. If it’s the same thing, it should be the same. I even brought out the halakhah from the other, from all the halakhot of Hilkhot Yom Tov.

Speaker 2:

No, there is a distinction, if I remember, that the Gemara implies that the prohibition is only yom tov, not Shabbat.

Speaker 1:

The Rambam ruled according to an opinion that even Shabbat has a matter, but yom tov certainly has a matter, and it’s really backwards, if I remember. Or perhaps… something like that, he’s not explaining properly, perhaps the person will explain it briefly?

Speaker 2:

He’s not explaining.

Speaker 1:

Okay. It comes up in Shabbat, not in a minute in chapter 30.

Speaker 2:

No, you need to know what the distinction is. If it’s the same thing, you already know that it’s the same thing. It appears that it’s not the same thing, that there’s some distinction in how it stands in Shabbat and how it stands in yom tov. Regarding the topic of honor of Shabbat.

Speaker 1:

It didn’t say… On Shabbos he said it’s forbidden, but he said essentially it’s permitted, one may eat “le’echol v’lishtot ad shetechshach” (to eat and drink until dark), but out of honor for Shabbos one should refrain from establishing a meal, so that one enters hungry. Is there perhaps some distinction between what he says about Shabbos and what he says about Yom Tov?

Speaker 2:

It says yes, the Gemara that the Rambam brings is… both Shabbos and Yom Tov, it’s the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda. Seemingly the halacha is not like Rabbi Yehuda, the Rambam rules it anyway. So perhaps because of this he repeats it, because it’s perhaps only a proof, it’s not really a law, it’s only a proof, it’s a nice thing.

Speaker 1:

In Hilchos Shabbos the Rambam says this: One may not establish a large meal and feast. He says, even though one may eat, but in honor of Shabbos one should not establish a meal.

Speaker 2:

No, two different things. Establishing a feast is even early in the morning, the entire erev Shabbos. But he says, one may eat, but out of honor it is that one should not eat any large… one should not establish a meal at all. One should establish a meal, even not a large meal.

Speaker 1:

Exactly. That’s what he says here too, it’s the same thing. That one should not eat from Mincha time and onward.

One Who Disgraces the Festivals

The Rambam’s Language

Speaker 1:

“And anyone who disgraces the festivals,” someone who doesn’t make a large meal on Yom Tov, is disgracing the festivals. Very good, the Rambam says that there is honor, the opposite of honor is disgrace. So honor of Yom Tov is that one makes the meal then in all matters of honor. Therefore “one who disgraces the festivals” stands in the Mishna, is “as if he worshipped idolatry,” that’s the language of the Gemara, as if he worshipped idolatry. But the Rambam understands that this means that it’s not only about honor of Yom Tov, because that’s called disgrace. By Shabbos he also said that Shabbos and idolatry have some connection, yes, these are two great mitzvos. At the end of Hilchos Shabbos, yes. But Yom Tov is different, only the honor of Yom Tov. He doesn’t say “worshipped.”

Speaker 2:

Yes.

The Meaning of “As If He Worshipped Idolatry”

Speaker 1:

He says “as if he worshipped idolatry” means to say like the heretics, the Sadducees who don’t believe in the calendar of Chazal.

Speaker 2:

No, one must already come to this, not why should one make the Torah.

Speaker 1:

The simple meaning is that we learned in the parshiyos… This comes from the Gemara, yes, it says… in Avos it says there in Parshas Mishpatim in the covenant of Israel, it says “al eileh ma’asecha lo sa’aseh lecha” (on these deeds you shall not make for yourself), from this we learn “anyone who disgraces the festivals is as if he worshipped idolatry.” And the simple meaning is simply, if who is a gentile? The one who goes to the gentile holidays. That’s what they did, as we see, “v’kara lach v’achalta mizivcho” (and he will call you and you will eat from his sacrifice). What is a Jew? A Jew has Jewish holidays. Even if you observe all the halachos, but you disgrace the Yom Tov, you don’t make it so that it should be interactive, people should come then, the world will go to the theater instead, they go to idolatry. That’s “worshipped idolatry,” understand? That’s what I mean, that it’s simply the plain meaning.

Speaker 2:

Okay, wonderful.

The Joy of Yom Tov – The Obligation of Joy

The Rambam’s Language: Prohibition of Eulogies and Fasting and Obligation of Joy

Speaker 1:

The Rambam says, “The seven days of Pesach and the eight days of the festival, together with the other holidays, all are forbidden in eulogies and fasting.” That means to say the others, Shavuos, Rosh Hashana, etc. No eulogies are made and no fasting. What must one do? The Rambam says here, he lists the holidays. Okay, further, “And a person is obligated…” He lists two things, “all are forbidden in eulogies and fasting.” What yes? “And a person is obligated to be joyful and good-hearted on them, he and his children and his wife and his household members, and all who are dependent on him.” Everyone should be happy, “as it says ‘and you shall rejoice in your festival.’”

“Included in That Joy” – Two Layers of Joy

Speaker 1:

The Rambam says, as he mentions, “Even though the joy mentioned here is the peace offering, as we explain in Hilchos Chagiga,” that this is the main mitzva, “but included in that joy is to rejoice, he and his children and his household members, each one according to what is fitting for him.” This is that each person should rejoice.

“Each One According to What Is Fitting for Him” – Each Person According to His Joy

Speaker 1:

“How so?” The Rambam explains how each person rejoices. Each person, the father shouldn’t imagine that what he means he calls joy, that’s joy for everyone. Each person should truly be happy. So, what makes you happy, make others happy, but think of them. “How so? For the children one gives them roasted grain and nuts and sweets.” Candy. “And for the women one buys them clothing and jewelry.” I mean the women also need to eat. Besides that one adds clothing and jewelry. For you it’s not joy, everyone can, a father can also eat candy. The point is, it’s not joy that you eat candy, because you can buy yourself candy.

You must know, the distinction, I thought about this, one gives different things. For example, for children, for example, one withholds certain pleasures when it’s a fast, or during the nine days, I don’t know what, he does something. For a father it’s permitted. Why? Because for you it’s not joy that you eat ice cream. For your son, a small boy, it’s a whole joy, ah, today they distributed ice cream in cheder. The father did eat ice cream, not ice cream, meat, wine, understand what I’m saying? It can be that it goes… and it also goes to be lenient. That means, certainly, everyone can eat the candy in honor of Yom Tov, but that’s not the obligation of joy, you don’t fulfill it with that. For you it’s not joy.

Discussion: What Is Joy for Different People

Speaker 2:

We’re talking here about the plus, we’re not talking… if I say that there is indeed a minus, I hear. Because father, when you buy a toy are you happy?

Speaker 1:

I have many baby fathers, yes.

Speaker 2:

Okay, they are emotionally more happy than the fathers who meat and wine, crazy, yes.

Speaker 1:

No, that’s… but anyway, what the Rambam says here is examples. I mean, if someone has a child who is yes, he’s already a modern child, he understands a steak, but he means to say that one should think into each person what is his joy.

“One Buys Them Clothing and Jewelry” – Not Necessarily New Things

Speaker 1:

“And for the women one buys them clothing and jewelry according to his means.” By the way, I mean “one buys them” doesn’t mean that one must buy new things for Yom Tov. It means to say that he should make sure that they should have for Yom Tov, but the joy of Yom Tov is wearing the clothing, not buying the clothing. People conduct themselves a lot, there are people who conduct themselves to buy jewelry for Yom Tov. Yes, I mean it’s a nice thing, there is the piety that one must buy a new dress for the wife. But I mean the joy of Yom Tov, I mean it’s a mistake. I mean what it says here “clothing and jewelry” doesn’t mean that she must have new jewelry every Yom Tov. It means to say that she must have what to wear in honor of Yom Tov, Yom Tov clothing.

But seemingly, old jewelry is not joy. Joy means that… it is joy, Yom Tov comes.

The Joy of Yom Tov: Clothing, Charity, and the Order of the Day

Halacha 18 (Continued) — Clothing and Jewelry for Women

But the joy of Yom Tov is wearing the clothing, not buying clothing. There are people who conduct themselves to buy jewelry for Yom Tov. Yes, I mean it’s a nice thing, there is indeed the reason that one must buy from time to time new dresses for the wife. But I mean the joy of Yom Tov, I mean it’s a mistake. I mean what it says here “clothing and jewelry” doesn’t mean that she must have new jewelry every Yom Tov. It means that she must have what to wear in honor of Yom Tov, Yom Tov clothing.

But seemingly, the old jewelry is not joy. Joy means this: Yom Tov comes, one puts on the jewelry, all week one doesn’t wear it. And in honor of Yom Tov, one puts on the nice clothing. I say, if someone buys for Pesach nice clothing, and it remained for Shavuos, one won’t buy new.

Okay, okay. It’s true that women have such craziness, constantly new clothing. Okay, so that’s included in the joy, one must buy new. But I say that the mitzva is not a gift. It’s not the plain meaning that a father… it’s not a matter of a gift, it’s not a matter of a gift. It’s that the man wants to eat well, and the woman wants to look good.

Yes, he says. Because “men eat meat and drink wine.” Why? Because for men, here the Rambam adds “for there is no joy except with wine,” “ein simcha ela b’yayin,” for people, for the people to whom the Torah was given, “dibur b’havah,” what it says “there is no joy except with wine,” he says, this means fathers. Who now, very good. This is until here the main joy, now the holy Rav says.

Halacha 18 (Continued) — Obligation to Share with the Poor

This wouldn’t mean that one has fulfilled it with this. “And when he eats and drinks.” First one must eat and drink. If one doesn’t eat or drink, nothing begins with that. When he eats and he drinks, yes. “When he eats and drinks he is obligated to feed the stranger, the orphan and the widow, together with the other poor unfortunate people.” One must make sure to give for the stranger, orphan and widow, and whoever is sad and poor.

In modern times one must add divorcees and divorced women and their children. But simply so, whoever is broken, the neighbor in the beis medrash. There is someone who forgot to include in this verse a divorcee.

The Rambam’s Sharp Statement — Joy of His Belly

And the Rambam adds here, “But one who locks the doors of his courtyard and eats and drinks, he and his children and his wife, and does not feed and give drink to the poor and the bitter of soul — this is not the joy of a mitzva, but the joy of his belly.”

Here the Rambam says basically that feeding means not only he should have money to buy, but it means him and him and him. Joy of a mitzva, it doesn’t mean, okay, you have fulfilled half of the mitzva, most of the mitzva. He says, no, you haven’t fulfilled anything. One is joy of a mitzva, but joy of his belly. Your stomach had pleasure. That doesn’t mean joy. It’s sharp.

Let’s finish, let’s try to understand it. Because “about these it is said,” about the people who only have themselves in mind, about them the verse says “their sacrifices are like the bread of mourners to them.” Their sacrifice, their celebration, their meat that they slaughter, is like bread of mourners. Bread of mourners means meat that was given for idolatry, which the idolatry defiles. “All who eat it will be defiled, for their bread is for themselves.” Because the end of the verse says, what is “their sacrifices”? Their bread is “for themselves,” their bread is for themselves, instead of bread being something that one shares with other people. If it were in honor of a Yom Tov, they would share it with others.

And not only that, “and such joy is a disgrace to them,” it’s a shame for them, “as it says ‘and I will spread dung on your faces, the dung of your festivals,’” the waste of your festivals. What is the waste of your festivals? The filth of your festivals? The excrement. What was eaten. “Peresh” means yes.

Innovation — It’s From the Law of Joy, Not From the Law of Mercy

It’s interesting, because before the Rambam says this, we would have thought that the joy in his home, as one thinks, simply that it should be happy in the house. But here one sees that it must be in honor of Yom Tov, because if not it’s… and a meal in honor of Yom Tov is such a meal that one calls other people to it. When you call to eat…

I mean one must understand here, even though the Rambam has a good proof, the Maggid Mishneh says here that as the source of the Rambam, he has no source for this piece of Torah. He said himself that he remembers. The verses say, the Almighty says, I need some waste, you should have a lot of that, and the disgrace of Yom Tov, that’s the joy of the Jews.

But I just want to bring out, it’s not the plain meaning that if you eat, you are obligated to give to the other one from the law of mercy, from the law of love of Israel. No, it’s from the law of joy. A joy that stands in the verse “and you shall rejoice in your festival, you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maidservant etc.” In other words, a joy means that there is breadth, there is for everyone. If there isn’t for everyone, you’re simply a glutton.

A joy doesn’t mean that you eat, but a joy means that there is a great celebration. A great celebration means that everyone eats, “you and your household and the poor and the destitute.” And if someone gives only for the nice Jews, it’s not joy. It’s further joy of his belly. Very good. Very sharp. Very sharp and very good.

And also the holy Zohar says the same thing, right? Yes, he brings it many times, several times.

Digression: Shabbos vs. Yom Tov Regarding Sharing with the Poor

This is an interesting innovation. I see the Meleches Shlomo brings it here, that on Shabbos one doesn’t say this. It doesn’t say on Shabbos that one must… but the answer is that Shabbos is not joy. It does say about the close ones, the servant, and to rest. But with joy, “v’karasa l’Shabbos oneg” (and you shall call Shabbos a delight).

The answer is however simple, on Shabbos one doesn’t make huge meals with parties. Shabbos is different… “kara menucha” (call it rest). No, but on Shabbos you also have the same idea, that a person will make rest by giving over the work to the servants. That’s further a selfish rest. Because we want that it should be a state of rest, not only that you should be at rest. But not the joy.

The Zohar says another Torah, he says that Shabbos is such a lofty thing that there is no explanation. But the simple plain meaning is indeed, perhaps it means this? Yes, perhaps it’s connected with this, because Shabbos is not celebrations, so externally. It’s more a… on Shabbos one may not carry, one can’t call everyone.

I mean the matter is seemingly that it begins with the chagiga. He also said that the main thing is indeed, it begins with the chagiga. And every Shabbos there is Musaf, but there isn’t any… on Shabbos one doesn’t bring large sacrifices, on Shabbos one doesn’t go up for the pilgrimage. It’s a certain atmosphere. In Jerusalem there was a situation, because there was a huge, all of Jerusalem was full of huge meals. That’s how Yom Tov looked.

But it’s not enough that you eat, but that everyone should have to eat. So the later ones say more like that it must be for the sake of Heaven. If the poor person doesn’t eat, one is not for the sake of Heaven. It shouldn’t be selfish. But the Rambam says not even that it’s not in honor of Yom Tov. It’s joy of his belly, it’s not honor of Yom Tov. It’s not joy of a mitzva, as the Rambam calls it.

Joy of a mitzva means that… I mean one must already enter not to be selfish and have intention when one eats. How does one have intention? The intention of eating, I have a new interpretation in the intention of eating. The intention of eating is to give charity before eating, so that other Jews should also have to eat. A new intention of eating. So it says “a person’s table atones.” So it says there in the commentators on the spot when one gives to the poor.

I mean the point is that honor of Yom Tov versus your honor means that when everyone eats, Yom Tov is an elevated day. When you eat, you had a good day. You can also have a good Tuesday when you eat a lot of meat, if you’re a wealthy person, whatever. The modern day, how you turn around in Jerusalem, how you turn around in a Jewish city, is joyful. It’s plain that the day has become a joyful day. When you eat, the day hasn’t become a joyful day. You also eat on a regular Tuesday sometimes if you have extra money.

Right, it can even be that, I mean so it says in Maor Einayim, that this is one of the reasons for Yom Tov, one of the reasons why the Almighty gave holidays, is so that the poor person should have… a wealthy person doesn’t need holidays, he would always when he wants meat. But one needs that sometimes there should be love of Israel, one should love each other with other Jews. One makes a time.

It’s also more, that every Jew should have two meals every day is indeed a part also, that “there is no poor person who doesn’t have a charity box.” But that’s not enough. You shouldn’t think that okay, the wealthy person usually eats only two meals, and on holidays he eats more. The poor person will always only eat the minimum. No, Yom Tov must be more.

But regarding Shabbos the Rambam said that one shouldn’t beg, one shouldn’t… “make your Shabbos like a weekday.” Now when Yom Tov isn’t here. Yom Tov everyone must… interesting. Because one goes, one can go to the other. I mean that Shabbos and Yom Tov is a great distinction, mainly because on Shabbos one doesn’t carry. So one can’t actually send and go. One can perhaps a little, there is an eruv. It’s not… right, Yom Tov is more different.

Before that, I heard, Rabbi Ari told me that before that the first Mishna in Shabbos is simply “the poor person extends his hand.” Because he stands outside and he begs. And if he will take out, he will be transgressing. I mean I said it.

But Yom Tov is the opposite. Shabbos begins with the problem that simply a poor person, call him in, not that he should stand outside and hand in his empty basket. Shabbos, yes, there is a certain ne’ilas chatzeiru (closing of the courtyard), because on Shabbos every Jew must sit b’menucha (in rest) in his home, one doesn’t drag around. You invite the guest into your home to eat, the guest will have food in your home, or you call him in and so forth. But Yom Tov is made that the door should be open, people should come and go.

Yes, again, it appears from the way it looks, it seems that Shabbos wasn’t such a big celebration. We make Shabbos meals today almost approximately the same as Yom Tov. Yom Tov is a bit more of an affair.

Halacha 19 — The Order of the Day on Yom Tov

So, the Rambam says further… One must actually bring more, one must try that Yom Tov should be more. One will buy more food, and one cooks on the day, but come, one adds a whole compassion, and one is very fine, one cannot have complaints.

So, the Rambam says further… Now let’s learn how… As if the Rambam goes that it’s like a boundary on simcha (joy), there is a mitzva of simcha, and nevertheless you should share with others. Another thing, and nevertheless… The Rambam probably means here what it says in the Gemara that in one place it says it should be lachem (for you), and in one place it says lashem (for God). The Gemara says it should be divided, it should be chatzi laHashem, chatzi lachem (half for God, half for you).

The Rambam says, if the Rambam adds in a bit differently, like Levi, he tries to explain, because it’s a type of simcha, it’s a simcha shel mitzva (joy of a commandment). Even though eating and drinking on the festivals is included in the positive commandment. Included in the positive commandment means what he said earlier that the main positive commandment means the sacrifices, and it’s included in the positive commandment. It’s also included in the verse. Yes, here he says it again, included in the positive commandment.

But a person will think to eat the whole thing. The whole day. How much more of the positive commandment? He says, one should not eat and drink the entire day. One shouldn’t eat the whole day. Rather, this is the proper way. This is the order? Or this is the religion? This is the order of things. Da’as of Torah, like…

He says thus, in the morning all the people rise early to the synagogues and study halls. One gets up early. Mashkimin means one gets up early, one goes to synagogues and study halls, and they pray… Especially early in the morning, the normal person gets up early. Yes. They pray and read the Torah about the topic of the day, one reads from the Torah portion of the day, as for each Yom Tov that Chazal established to read on that day.

And they return to their homes and eat. And when one finishes, they return to their homes, one goes back home and eats, when one eats. When one finishes eating, one goes to the study hall. Not early does one go either to the synagogue or to the study hall. As we learned in the laws of prayer that in the study hall is an even better place to pray, but there are two places where to pray. Learning there is one place, the study hall. You already said, study hall doesn’t mean a place, it means a… No, the learning, the shiur (class).

Halacha 20 (Continued) — The Order of the Day of Yom Tov

Speaker 1:

But here he says one does both, first one prays, then one reads the Torah. When one reads Torah it becomes a study hall. Ah, here he says and they go to the study halls, they read Scripture and study Mishna. I mean, everyone goes to his shiur, everyone learns his thing, until midday. There is, by midday one already stops after the meal and after the learning. Meal means breakfast. One gets up, one prays Shacharis, he says, an hour or two, I know, one even reads the Torah reading of Yom Tov, one goes home and eats a breakfast, one can’t starve. One comes back, one has a schedule of a few hours, then there is Mincha, and then comes the big meal. The big meal, yes. I mean, also on Shabbos one sees this, because the Rambam says that Shabbos should eat in a similar order to Shabbos, not exactly the same, but a similar order. Yes, and after midday they pray the Mincha prayer, and return to their homes to eat and drink the rest of the day with the night. Then one makes a long eating and drinking from early.

He doesn’t say it’s Mincha Gedola, perhaps it’s Mincha Ketana, it’s not clear when is the Mincha. After midday probably means Gedola.

Speaker 2:

Yasher koach, I’ll try to make this order. When it’s early means ten o’clock, but the meal should be after Mincha, that’s the main thing. One can make a small meal.

Speaker 1:

But it also appears here, one must pray Mincha three or four o’clock, and then make a meal until nighttime. To eat and drink the rest of the day with the night looks like one makes a spread and makes Kiddush. It’s one long long meal, the early with the nighttime afterward.

Speaker 2:

What happens in the middle? He doesn’t say he goes back for Ma’ariv. I don’t know.

Speaker 1:

When it’s only one day Yom Tov, one will mean Melaveh Malka like… Whatever, until one extends the meal, a big meal, is the whole afternoon.

Speaker 2:

The Rambam says, what does one do if it’s only two days Yom Tov?

Speaker 1:

Right, one makes Kiddush again. It makes sense, because what we do, one eats a big meal in the afternoon, no one wants to eat the next meal at night. It’s already long wanted from that. Because one didn’t have to have Mincha and so forth, but one didn’t have to have Mincha, it’s one long meal.

—

Halacha 21 — Boundaries of Simcha: Not Drunkenness, Laughter and Frivolity

Speaker 1:

The Rambam says, when a person eats and drinks and rejoices on the festival… Now comes a third limitation. First one said a limitation that one should give to others. A second limitation. And the simcha is that there is an order of chatzi lachem (half for you). Now comes a third order, that one shouldn’t go crazy. Because one said there is a mitzva of drinking wine, when one eats and drinks on the festival, one shouldn’t be drawn to too much wine. Wine is, as the Gemara says, wine is gorer al atzmo (draws itself), and laughter and frivolity. I say, wine has a nature that one wants more, and then one becomes laughter and frivolity. And he says, but one must not think that the more one increases in this, the more one increases the mitzva of simcha. The more is more simcha? There are other mitzvos where it’s like this, the more is more. But by Yom Tov there is the exact amount, more than that is no longer simcha.

The Rambam says, why? Drunkenness and excessive laughter and frivolity is not simcha, but wildness and foolishness, this is not simcha, but wildness and foolishness, this is called licentiousness, foolishness. And we were not commanded about wildness and foolishness, the mitzva is not to be wild and foolish, the mitzva is about the simcha that has in it service of the Creator of all, to rejoice with the Almighty who created everything. Such a type of simcha that is a type of service of God.

Discussion: Why “Creator of All”?

Speaker 2:

It’s not strange that it’s service of the Creator of all. I mean, I remember this expression Creator of all, as if one rejoices with the Almighty with the spirituality in prayer, also with the physicality, one rejoices with the Creator of all. Why does he call Him here Creator of all? What the Rambam is talking about now is the character of the simcha. What type of simcha?

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, I’m just saying about the expression Creator of all. It fits here, because at the beginning one thanked the Almighty who is the Almighty of prayer, and now the Almighty of the meal.

Speaker 2:

Ah, I hear what you’re saying.

Speaker 1:

As it says “because you did not serve Hashem your God with joy”. One sees that simcha is something that doesn’t interfere with service of God. On the contrary, service of God comes with simcha. And you learn, you see when here, that service is with simcha. And if simcha means laughter and frivolity, then it’s impossible to serve God, not through laughter, not through frivolity, not through drunkenness, this is the language of the Gemara, but only with true simcha. Therefore one should make sure… The Rambam made like a logical argument. Because someone comes and argues, it says in the Torah simcha, he means laughter and frivolity. The Rambam understood, in your same Torah it says simcha is connected with service of God. It can’t be that service of God is to be laughter and frivolity. Rather what, when it says the joy of Yom Tov, it means such a type of simcha that is not just laughter and frivolity or drunkenness. It’s simcha, but it’s not laughter and frivolity.

—

Halacha 21 (Continued) — Police on the Festivals, Mixing of Men and Women

Speaker 1:

He says, both times he limited. Earlier he said that because it’s a great mitzva to eat, a person thought, I should eat up all the food, not give in. So I should have more simcha. He says also a similar thing, I should have more wine. He says, no, it doesn’t work that way. For the same reason is another thing, for simcha also doesn’t mean there should be big celebrations of men and women.

So the court is obligated to appoint police on the festivals, the court is obligated to place police on the holidays, who would go around and search in gardens and orchards and by the rivers, by the places where people stroll, so that men and women should not gather to eat there and come to sin. One shouldn’t make meals of men and women, and come to sin.

At home the court doesn’t send any police, as the Rambam already said that there are no police. But also not relevant men and women, he has a family. Men and women means here strangers. Strange people shouldn’t make meals together. And likewise they should warn about this matter to all the people, one should send police where one can, but one must also tell them. Also at home there shouldn’t be any mixing, any mixture, so that men and women should not mix in their homes for simcha and not be drawn to wine lest they come to sin.

Ah good, you see clearly that at home the police don’t go, as they saw after Yom Kippur, but he must tell them. The Rambam says it here, not in the laws, I know, in the laws of character where he talks about not being a scoundrel with permission of the Torah, because here he says that there won’t be true simcha if there will be men and women, it won’t be the simcha that has service of God with it.

Right, you also see clearly that what he said earlier, wine, laughter and frivolity, he means like usually laughter and frivolity in the Gemara means that which leads to immorality, right? He means this, he means such a type of mixture, one becomes familiar with the women and it becomes laughter and frivolity, it becomes a sin. This is the meaning of the laughter and frivolity that he talked about.

—

Halacha 22 — Chol HaMoed: Definition, Eulogies, and Fasting

Speaker 1:

Section 22.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

We learned about the simcha of Yom Tov, and now we’re going to learn about the matter of simcha of Chol HaMoed. The remaining laws of Chol HaMoed will be in the next chapter. But the part of simcha, since there are few laws, he puts it here together. I mean it’s also generally laws of simcha. There are more laws of simcha that are only here, and the word is apparently. And we already learned about a dead person on Yom Tov, it’s forbidden in eulogies and fasting, period. So there aren’t many laws, one may not. But on the other hand on Chol HaMoed one may. And they learned about this. So these are details of laws of eulogies and fasting that are for Chol HaMoed, and also a part of details of laws of eulogies and fasting specifically generally for Yom Tov with modesty. Okay.

So, the Rambam says, the days between the first and seventh of Pesach, the days that we call Chol HaMoed, which are the days between the first days of Yom Tov, and the first and eighth of the festival of Sukkos. And it comes out in the Diaspora it’s four within Pesach, and five within the festival, because on the festival there is one more day. As opposed to in the Land of Israel it comes out five days of Pesach and six days within the festival, because there isn’t the second day of Yom Tov.

The Rambam says, they are called Chol shel Moed, this is called Chol shel Moed, the weekdays of the festival. But they are called Moed, one also calls it plain Moed.

Discussion: Why “Moed” and Not Just “Chol HaMoed”?

Speaker 2:

No, he means to say that in the Mishna, many times when it says Moed, it means specifically on Yom Tov. That is, Moed means Chol shel Moed many times in the language of the Gemara. I don’t know why he brings it, ah, he’s going to say himself b’Moed what it means, he’s also going to use the language. Moed is what it’s called Moed Katan, and b’Moed, when it says there b’Moed, it means b’Chol shel Moed. When it wants to say Yom Tov, it says on Yom Tov or on the festival. Almost still by Yom Tov.

Speaker 1:

Therefore one says a good Moed. The word Chol is perhaps a bit disrespectful, it’s a bit downgrades the Chol HaMoed. He says, one calls it Moed alone. I say one calls it that, because it’s a part of… Apparently, according to the translation, it’s because Moed means appointed times of God. Appointed times of God includes everything, as it says at the beginning of the portion of the portion of appointed times, amen. Then it says on the first day a holy convocation. So in the Torah there is a distinction that the days that are called Yom Tov are called holy convocation, as opposed to the rest which is still a part of the Moed, but it’s not a holy convocation. The difference is not the word holy convocation, it’s not the word holy convocation, it’s not the word Yom Tov instead. But Yom Tov is not a word that appears in the Chumash, it appears perhaps in Megillas Esther. So it’s a part of the Moed, but it’s not a holy convocation or it’s not a Yom Tov.

Speaker 2:

It could be as you mean to say, Moed means the thing, the days when one gathers together, one gathers together, one gathers together. One means more that there is holiness in it, there is prohibition of work in it.

Speaker 1:

In these days, even though they are obligated in simcha and forbidden in eulogies and fasting, as he will say more later, what may one do? One hasn’t completely forbidden eulogies and fasting like Yom Tov, but it’s permitted to eulogize in them a Torah scholar in his presence. Someone who is a Torah scholar, one may eulogize him in his presence, meaning in front of the bier. But after he is buried it’s forbidden to eulogize him in them. But this is only in his presence, because after one has buried him, then one may no longer eulogize.

Discussion: Why Only in His Presence?

Speaker 2:

Any explanation why specifically this one thing that one has… What’s the problem? The Gemara says about this honor of Torah overrides, yes?

Speaker 1:

Ah, the Gemara is not honor of Torah overrides, I wanted. Yes, honor of Torah is more important than joy of Yom Tov, but this is only when it will really be a disgrace. One made a funeral without any eulogy, without any eulogy. It doesn’t mean what we call a eulogy by the way, one will speak. But what’s the problem? That for a person you didn’t have any eulogy. The same thing that for a king, not in his presence one can do it tomorrow. The whole problem is only when he is here, one is going to bury him today. The in his presence appears this is the main thing, the most important eulogy. There is always something of a matter of a eulogy, something of a matter of honor of the deceased, I know in the laws of mourning if it’s a matter, it’s apparently something of a matter, but the mitzva of simcha pushes it off. But when it’s not just a matter of a simple eulogy, but it’s a matter of honor of Torah scholars, then it does override Chol HaMoed.

Laws of Chol HaMoed: Eulogies, Mourning, and Tearing on the Festival

Eulogizing Torah Scholars on Days Forbidden in Eulogies

Speaker 1:

The Rambam says, and needless to say that Chol HaMoed is forbidden in eulogies and fasting, and it’s permitted for Torah scholars, then certainly other days that are similar to Chol HaMoed, that is, it’s a bit of Yom Tov but it’s permitted in work and so forth, which is also forbidden in eulogies and fasting, as it says in tractate Ta’anis, for example Rosh Chodesh and Chanukah and Purim, then needless to say that they are less than Chol HaMoed of a Yom Tov, which is just not a real Yom Tov, then certainly that one eulogizes in them also Torah scholars in their presence, because a Torah scholar one may eulogize in his presence, even though they are forbidden in eulogies and fasting, then certainly Chol HaMoed one certainly may.

The Sages said that eulogizing a Torah scholar is worthy enough to override not only Rosh Chodesh and Chanukah and Purim, but also Chol HaMoed. But this is also Rosh Chodesh and Chanukah and Purim one wasn’t more lenient, but also only in his presence, but after burial it’s forbidden to eulogize in them.

One Does Not Place the Bier of the Deceased in the Street on the Festival

The Rambam says further, because one forbade eulogies and fasting, one also forbade things that bring to this type of eulogies and fasting. Therefore, at a regular funeral one places out the bier in a public place and one should eulogize, but one does not place the bier of the deceased in the street on the festival, one doesn’t place out the bier on the street on Yom Tov and Chol HaMoed, so as not to accustom to eulogies, because if one will see the bier one will start making a eulogy. But what then? They take him out from his grave, one carries him directly from his house to the burial. One doesn’t make what we call a funeral.

Digression: What Does “Eulogy” Mean — Not a Speech

So, by the way, I want to say something important. People think, and it’s a mistake, we think that hesped means standing up and saying speeches. Hesped in the Gemara always means certain actions that one does to arouse the heart. Hesped is even an action. For example, we’ll soon see disputes about what one may do. But hesped is like it says in the verse “hafachta mispedi lemachol li” — He turned my mourning into dancing. You see that hesped is such an action that one does with the hands and with the feet, like a dance. One can do it with joy. One doesn’t need a choir.

So also one claps with the hands. I think it comes from the Mishnayos. Soon we’ll see about the women who only clap. A hesped itself is an action where one cries out “Oy!” and people weep. Not that one stands and says a speech. As far as standing and saying a speech, one may do that even on Yom Tov as well.

The hesped, the tradition where you see them clapping with their hands, and there are certain holidays when they clap and they beat. “Hoy adam yispedu lach” it perhaps says. Perhaps there are Hungarian Jews who still make a hesped that has the law of hesped, but most hespedim don’t have any law of hesped at all. I’m not talking about singing. But what is called a hesped is called in the Gemara “omrim bifnei hamet divrei hamet”. Well, one speaks about the deceased. Perhaps that’s not what’s called hesped. It’s permitted.

And usually when there’s a hesped on Chol HaMoed or Chanukah and Purim, one doesn’t say a hesped, one only says divrei zichronos. Whatever, all our hespedim are that. Hesped doesn’t mean standing and saying a speech. One should forget a bit about the holiness of the hespedim that existed in the times of Chazal. Yes, true, we call it hesped. But these are the words of farewell, divrei hamaspidim.

Speaker 2:

I don’t know about that…

Speaker 1:

No, I think that there it’s talking in general that one shouldn’t talk, it’s not talking about the hesped. I think that’s a Torah that the maspidim say, they simply give a drasha on the Gemara.

Speaker 2:

Yes, but there it means to say…

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, it’s a completely different thing, it’s not a matter of saying a speech. Speeches need to… even for living people there aren’t proper speeches, certainly not for dead people.

Speaker 2:

Okay. In short, what one says at a sheva brachos is the same as at a funeral, and that’s not what we’re talking about, right?

Speaker 1:

Yes.

V’ein misablin bamo’ed

Here there is however “v’ein misablin bamo’ed”. This means yes more, this means one may not mourn at all. End of the beginning, “v’ein misablin bamo’ed”.

Discussion: Prohibition of Mourning — Action or Feeling?

Speaker 2:

It’s from the laws of mourning, does he mean to say apparently. It’s not laws of mourning, or does it mean that one may not be sad?

Speaker 1:

One can call it laws of mourning. One is not mourning, one doesn’t do all the matters of mourning.

Speaker 2:

Not just being in mourning. I mean to ask, is it a prohibition on being sad, or is it a prohibition on sitting on a low bench?

Speaker 1:

Apparently it means the action. We’ll see, we’ll soon see that one may not be sad either. We learned earlier, it’s the reason why you eat, because you want to be joyful.

Speaker 2:

Be quiet. One may not be sad. In general, even when one is an avel, one may not be sad. Where did he find the permission to be sad? Rabbi Nachman said that there’s a mitzvah to be joyful always. There’s no permission at all. One must do it.

Speaker 1:

No, on the contrary. One was given a time for the… what that there’s a great mitzvah to be joyful? They said… and not always should you think about this, but one gives it a special time. Now you should be sad. Like it says in Rashi actually on Tisha B’Av, as if that’s the day when one should mourn over all sorrows, but one gives it a special day. It’s a mo’ed for me that one shouldn’t be sad.

Speaker 2:

It’s not clear to me where is the permission to be sad on Tisha B’Av either. Let’s cry, it doesn’t mean to be sad.

Speaker 1:

I don’t know the question of how isn’t the positive commandment of Rabbi Nachman overriding the other mitzvah of transgression.

Speaker 2:

Okay, nonsense. That talks about a different topic?

Speaker 1:

No, I don’t mean to be depressed.

Speaker 2:

Yes. These are all behaviors. What do you want in the premises of the page?

Innovation: Simchas Yom Tov — Reality, Not Feeling

Speaker 1:

I actually meant that when one says simchas Yom Tov one isn’t talking about a feeling, but one is talking about a reality. One is talking that there should be in the house, there should be meat, there should be a good uplifted atmosphere. If a person happens to be very sad about his sins or about something he lost, but he continues eating and singing with the children, he has fulfilled the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov. We’re not talking here about a feeling. Feeling is a tractate by itself. Feeling is for the Reishis Chochmah, one needs to ask that. We’re not learning Rambam now.

So I say, not being in mourning during the mo’ed means primarily the atmosphere, that one shouldn’t now cover the china closet and bring the low benches. How should one feel? Automatically the law is that it’s exempt, there’s overriding the… This is more expansive on the fear of the mourning.

Customs of Mourning That One Doesn’t Do on the Mo’ed

Further, what else doesn’t one do? All these customs on the mitzvos that one does for a deceased, v’lo mavrin, there’s some law, some custom that the neighbors bring seudas havra’ah, there one shows that the person himself can’t bring himself to eat, one gives him to eat. V’lo kol shena akavti, part of the keriah I think is that… so it used to be, we don’t feel ourselves doing this, but the custom used to be that one covers the shoulders. Part of keriah, one tears the shirt, and about this becomes the…

Speaker 2:

No, two things. I think two different things.

Speaker 1:

And one doesn’t go fully dressed something like that. It’s not the custom in… and in our time to do this custom, but it’s with matters of mourning. But who yes? Kerovim she’hem chayavim lehisabel alav. If they do yes, that is the keriah, these things they do yes.

But how does it fit with what we say “v’ein misablin bamo’ed”? Not mourning, but the things that one does once, only at the time of the funeral, does it mean one doesn’t do it the whole seven days or what? Therefore he says, this one does yes, the short thing. The longer thing from it, the days of mourning, no.

Speaker 2:

Yes, there are about this differences in customs in practice whether one tears keriah when it’s Chol HaMoed.

Speaker 1:

Okay. But yes, it seems that the “ein misablin” isn’t simply that one doesn’t do anything. One does do keriah. But you see that normally many people tear keriah, that is whoever feels close, whatever. But the kerovim tear keriah.

Keriah for a Chacham, Adam Kasher, and at the Time of the Soul’s Departure

But since, says the Rambam, when does everyone tear keriah, not just the kerovim? Since chacham o adam kasher, if he was a chacham or an adam kasher — the definition of adam kasher we don’t know here, but a kosher Jew, already twelve months healthy and wasn’t a treifah.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

O ha’omed bish’as netilas neshamah, or someone who was there at the time of the soul’s departure, harei zeh korei u’misabel bamo’ed af al pi she’eino kerovo.

Definition of “Adam Kasher”

What does this mean? Because adam kasher was very broad the definition. Adam kasher means an honest Jew, true. The law is originally that every chacham or adam kasher, he brings here the language from… You see in the Tur that adam kasher is one who isn’t suspected of any transgression, one doesn’t hear about him any transgression, he’s not a chacham, he’s an am ha’aretz, a simple Jew.

Adam kasher is like a Chassidic Jew, basically. You know Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, someone said about the Rachmistrivker Rebbe, Rabbi David, that he’s a real Chassidic Jew, he doesn’t waste a minute, but he doesn’t learn a word. So, that’s called an adam kasher, understand? He has other mitzvos.

Speaker 2:

No, I mean to bring out, he has other mitzvos. Adam kasher is a chacham. Chacham means an adam kasher, and adam kasher is the same thing just without the kosher. He doesn’t learn new things.

Speaker 1:

Yes, whatever. If he doesn’t learn, it’s also bitul mitzvah.

Speaker 2:

If his definition is bitul mitzvah, not learning will also be bitul mitzvah. But he’s a simple Jew. In former times there were very many people who didn’t have any education, they couldn’t learn or write. Today it’s difficult, because an adam kasher generally.

Speaker 1:

No, because we accept them, but I’m not making it correct. There once were people who were illiterate, they couldn’t read and write. They were honest simple Jews.

Speaker 2:

No, no, he can’t say Krias Shema either.

Speaker 1:

I don’t know. I wouldn’t say, it wasn’t… perhaps, but I don’t need to come to this. I would say that… certainly he fulfills kevi’us itim laTorah when he learns one perek in the morning like the minimum. But he said the Talmud Torah, that there’s a different path in life from being a talmid chacham. Not everyone must choose this. One can be an honest Jew, I’m a worker, most of the day I’m busy with the gentiles driving trucks. He learns certainly, he doesn’t neglect Torah, he’s not a learner. Precisely he is a baal kishron.

Speaker 2:

Not everyone with such baal kishron must become a learner. I think perhaps he must, but he’s talking about what is halachically.

Speaker 1:

Okay, it’s too much hashkafah for one.

And whoever is also at the time of the praise of Hashem is also, as if because of this is a greater sorrow, was I see the sorrow. There’s a law so we learn in laws, I want the world to further.

In Practice — Today’s Custom

The custom is that one doesn’t conduct oneself. Both of these laws, in practice, I don’t want to see that one conducts oneself. But the law, originally, is, first of all, we don’t make keriah, we make some remembrance of keriah with a pin. Most people don’t do real keriah. It’s because one doesn’t need to. Just as one stopped doing chalizas kesus because it’s not the custom, it’s not the custom by us to do keriah anymore. It’s not the custom.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it’s not with a canal how one proves oneself.

Laws of Yom Tov — Keriah for a Deceased, Hesped Before Yom Tov, and Conclusion of Laws of Yom Tov

Keriah for a Deceased — Custom and Reality

Speaker 1:

Both of these laws, in practice, I haven’t seen that one conducts oneself, but the law originally is, first of all, they don’t make keriah, they make some remembrance of keriah with a pin.

“Ad sheyisgaleh al halev etc.”. Most people don’t do real keriah.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and because of this is that one doesn’t need to. Just as one stopped doing chalizas kesus because it’s not the custom, it’s not the custom by us to do keriah anymore. It’s not the custom.

Speaker 1:

Yes, there is a way how one proves sorrow. We have other ways how one proves sorrow. Or we don’t prove sorrow, we go to therapy for the trauma. Well, that’s the way of proving sorrow, going to therapy.

Discussion: Keriah at the Soul’s Departure — Soul and Holiness of Israel

Speaker 1:

But in short, if you’re already saying too much hashkafah for today, I threw in, that the soul is always kosher. So the one who was at the time of the soul saw the kosher part.

Speaker 2:

Ah, ah, very good. No, such language is written, I remember, by everyone who stands at the departure of the soul, it’s like a Sefer Torah that was burned. Every Jew is kedushas Yisrael. When one sees literally how a Jew dies, one must tear keriah. Simply that one heard, one was at the funeral, that’s not yet such a thing.

But an adam kasher, but the one who saw a Jew dying, it’s two things. First of all, an adam kasher everyone needs. Even if not an adam kasher, if one sees how he dies, one must tear keriah.

Speaker 1:

I don’t think so, because you see the kosher part in him, you saw the soul.

Speaker 2:

Yes, okay.

It says that it’s the disgrace, it’s a certain chilul Hashem that a Jew dies. One means it’s a holy Jew. Today one sees on the internet such pictures, it could be also. One must know, there’s a certain thing, to see how a person dies there’s a mitzvah of tearing keriah. And one doesn’t conduct oneself surely, if one would conduct oneself doctors would have to buy every week a new coat, whatever, but it needs to.

Law: “V’ein korei b’Yom Tov sheni klal”

Speaker 2:

Okay, further. “V’ein korei b’Yom Tov sheni klal.” That is, all these things were Chol HaMoed. But Yom Tov sheni, you would think that because Yom Tov sheni is only a… also there’s a leniency, one makes a funeral through Jews. We discussed that one is more lenient on certain laws of a deceased. The one thing that one is lenient on Yom Tov sheni is such a deceased, that one makes him a proper funeral, all the Jews do melachos even. But even those who are mourning for the deceased, may not tear keriah on Yom Tov sheni at all, because even kerovim there’s no deceased. Honor of Yom Tov sheni.

Law: “Nashim bamo’ed me’onos aval lo metafchos v’lo mekonenos”

Speaker 2:

Says the Rambam further, it’s the language of the Mishnah, “nashim bamo’ed”. Women, in former times the women had a special part in the mourning, like we read last night in Eichah, “kera lamekonenos”. Women were the ones who read, their voice arouses to crying. So “nashim bamo’ed” is like this: “bifnei hamet”, the women who are in front of the deceased, are “me’onos”. The Rambam is going to explain… “bifnei hamet” means before the burial, according to what the Rambam said, right? When the deceased is there.

Speaker 1:

Yes, not after one has buried and one simply makes to remember, many make a hesped afterwards. One speaks at the funeral, that’s our hint at the funeral, “bifnei hamet”.

Speaker 2:

“Me’onos”, the Rambam is going to explain what “me’onos” means, they may do this type of hesped, this type of weeping that’s called “me’onos”, “aval lo metafchos v’lo mekonenos”. But they may not clap with their hands or weep with a… We’ll see what the meaning is. He’s going to say, “eizo kinah, eizo kinah”.

Speaker 1:

No, but “metafchos” he doesn’t say. “Metafchos” he says means clapping, I think. One should make… In short, one needs to reintroduce it. I don’t know why one doesn’t do it.

Speaker 2:

He says “sofek kaf el kaf”, one claps, one pats with the hands. In short, one does some… So “nikbar hamet”, if one has already buried, it’s no longer “bifnei hamet”, “einan me’onos”, one also doesn’t do the “me’onos”. This is on the mo’ed.

“B’Rosh Chodesh u’vaChanukah u’vaPurim” has one level more, so “me’onos u’metafchos”, one also does the “metafchos”, “aval lo mekonenos”.

Definitions: Inui and Kinah

Speaker 2:

Now says the Rambam, what is the “me’onos” and “mekonenos”? “Eizehu inui? Shekulan onos k’achas”, when everyone weeps at once, everyone sings, or eulogizes at once.

Speaker 1:

He cries out, “Oy, he was so old, he died”, or he was so young, whatever.

Speaker 2:

“Kinah”, that is “inui”. And what is the “mekonenos”? “Kinah” is “achas omeres v’chulan onos”. I made here precisely a bit of kinos last night. One kinah they did, there’s a kinah, then the one said such a piece “zachor laHashem oy”, every piece ends with “oy”. So that’s made that the world should give a cry, everyone cries “oy”. Not simply a bee. So that’s called “kinah”.

Law: “V’asur l’adam she’ye’orer al meso kodem laregel shloshim yom”

Speaker 2:

Here is the English translation:

Now here’s an important law: “And it is forbidden for a person to arouse grief over his dead before the festival within thirty days”. Not only that, here comes a great stringency in the laws of the joy of the festival – not only on the festival itself when a deceased person has died, but a person who has had, unfortunately, a loss, someone has passed away, he is not allowed within thirty days before the festival, when certain laws begin to apply, just as “thirty days before the festival” certain laws begin regarding studying [the laws], and also regarding, for example, before Passover thirty days and so forth. So during these thirty days one may not arouse [grief] over the dead. Arousing [grief] over the dead means like our eulogies, making a eulogy, arousing crying over the person. One may not do this thirty days before the festival, “so that the festival should not arrive while he is sad, and his heart is worried from remembering the pain”. Because within thirty days he is already, he is already entering into the festival. Thirty days is a preparation for the festival, and if during the thirty days he has such an arousal, such a eulogy, he will enter the festival when he is still under the influence, how sad, he is mourning, how “his heart is worried from remembering the pain”, his heart is still preoccupied from remembering the pain.

“He Should Remove the Worry from His Heart and Prepare His Mind for Joy”

Speaker 2:

Rather, a full thirty days, “he should remove the worry from his heart”, he should remove the worry from his heart, “and prepare his mind”, he should direct his mind, he should focus on the joy that is coming on the festival. We see that thirty days before the festival one must already prepare to be in joy.

Discussion: Today’s Reality and the Difference Between Then and Now

Speaker 2:

But here we see indeed, you know, how far our current life is from the past. In today’s times, we go through so much, and the entire world is exposed to us, and in one day a person can read the news – people died, people were born, people became rich, people became poor. There is such confusion that no one is mourning for thirty days, the thing doesn’t last for thirty days. Here we’re talking about something more powerful – a person lived a more peaceful life, you know, and during the thirty days it has a great influence on him. I think it still has an influence, but it’s true that we don’t fulfill it. We are a coarse vessel, we shouldn’t look at bad news. But to arouse [grief] over the dead means, according to all opinions, more – it means making news. I think this law is also not observed. I haven’t seen that one shouldn’t make memorial gatherings within thirty days before the festival. This should be a law. Between Purim and Passover perhaps one doesn’t make any eulogies.

Speaker 1:

Have you heard such a thing? I haven’t heard. I didn’t do it for a regular message, I only… We’re talking about it.

Speaker 2:

Ah, it’s very interesting.

Story from the Gemara: “They Ask About the Laws of Passover Thirty Days”

Speaker 2:

I want to tell you, in the Gemara it says like this: There is a Mishnah, “They ask about the laws of Passover before Passover thirty days.” And the Gemara says here a dispute about the simple meaning. Rava said that the explanation is that there was a person who took money, he goes to make the pilgrimage for the honor of the festival, prepared money for the festival. There came some eulogizer – not his father, I don’t know, his brother, someone close to him died, so some eulogizer came, and in those days there were people, this was their job, to make other people cry. Today there are also such people, they’re called, what do you call the one who gives the speeches on Tisha B’Av? Yes, whatever. But then it was literally, they exploited people a bit, because he would go around to the funeral home and say, ah, you want to have a good cry? Today there are also in certain cultures professional criers, and he creates a situation where people should cry, and people want it, it’s an honor for the person, they want to express the feelings that they pay to take. He came with this person, he came before the festival, he knew that the other one had money, his wife gave all the money to him, so he didn’t have any money left for the festival. So the Sages said, you know what, before the festival one doesn’t make any eulogies. That’s how Rav explains it simply. Shmuel said no, the Rambam’s interpretation is that until thirty days he will still remember, the eulogy will be drawn into the festival. The Rav says Rav’s opinion is practically as if, that if he goes and gives away his money instead of for the festival he will… And we see that there was a matter of spending money on eulogies. Also here in the Gemara, Rabbi Yochanan made cheaper shrouds, cheaper funerals, affordable funerals. Our culture has changed a lot in this matter. And spending money on weddings, not on funerals. True that we spend money on funerals, not so much, it’s not really clear. Competition over who made a blessing at the grave. It also shows that people pay money for the good professional who can make people cry, and it’s literally giving money to an eulogizer, and one may not. Ah, it’s a festival thing. In short, the Rambam doesn’t rule like this. Rav’s opinion is that if he does it for free, it comes out in the Gemara that according to Rav one may, because the question is only that he will spend his money. But we see indeed, one can indeed learn that there is such a thing, that for the festival one must save money, it’s something that is expensive, in the past one had to make the pilgrimage, but even without that, and one does another thing, it’s like a practical yes, true, all these things are interesting, because also “arousing [grief] over the dead” means something where he is not sad, one goes to arouse the pain.

Innovation: “Arousing [Grief] Over the Dead” vs. A Person Who Is Already in Pain

Speaker 2:

But if a person is very strongly in pain, on the contrary, the eulogy is made to talk about it, to express it, to remove it from the heart. There is a thing when “if there is worry in a person’s heart, let him speak of it,” one talks it out, perhaps it’s a different category. Here we’re talking about, normally he wouldn’t have been in pain, one creates a whole situation to become in pain, perhaps it’s harder.

Shulchan Aruch and Turei Zahav: Eulogy at the Thirty Days

Speaker 2:

There is, he brings from the Shulchan Aruch 547 that it says that there is sometimes the custom is, for example, after the year, at the thirty days to make a small gathering for a eulogy, and if it falls out within thirty days, one doesn’t stop it, we haven’t heard. And the Turei Zahav says that it’s the opposite, why then is it simple, now it has ended, now is the last time that one cries, one expresses oneself, it’s the opposite. It’s true, to arouse in practice it looks like we see in the story. That’s before I bring the story, in any case it’s not the law like that opinion, but we see that it means that there is a process, that sometimes a person remembers, oh, someone passed away, let’s make. Make some situation to cry.

“And Prepare His Mind for Joy” — An Important Principle

Speaker 2:

Okay, that’s the law. The main point is the word “and prepare his mind for joy”. It’s a tremendously important thing. One must make a note thirty days before a festival. Purim is very good, because on Purim one already begins to direct one’s mind to joy, but one must also [do so] thirty days before Shavuot.

Question: Mourning of the Omer Period vs. Joy of the Festival

Speaker 1:

The question would be he should already have been lenient with the prohibition of making certain mourning practices during the counting of the Omer, one must know if it’s maintained. No, no, no, how does the law of mourning of the Omer period fit with the law of thirty days before the festival? Already a good question. I agree. And about this he holds that it’s audacious that the students of Rabbi Akiva died precisely then. They should have died at another time.

Speaker 2:

No, you understand, I mean, sometimes there is a tragedy, what will you do? You won’t knowingly make, it’s a question on that one.

Speaker 1:

Okay, very good.

Conclusion of the Laws of the Festival — Structure

Speaker 1:

Now we’re going to learn, in the sixth seventh chapter, the laws of Chol HaMoed. The seventh and eighth will be the laws of Chol HaMoed. Until here we have finished the laws of the festival, the end was… as one writes, it’s interesting the same structure. First the work and afterwards the matter of joy, the end is always that, and afterwards is the laws of Chol HaMoed.