Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

To not do work on the day of the holiday of Shemini Atseret: To not do work on the eighth day of the holiday — and that is the twenty-second day of Tishrei — as it is stated (Leviticus 23:36), “on the eighth day, a holy occasion; all work of labor shall you not do”; and this is what is called the holiday of convocation (atseret). And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Rashi on Leviticus 23:36) that it is called like this because it is the end of the appointed times. And metaphorically, it is as if the Holy One, blessed be He said to Israel, “Remain with Me one day, as your departure is difficult for Me.”

We have already said many times that the prohibition of work on all of the appointed times is the same. However I need to expand on the discussion here and inform you, my son, about the matter of this holiday which the Sages, may their memory be blessed, informed us (Yoma 2b), which is that it is a holiday on its own — meaning, that it is not part of the holiday of Sukkot. And even though you see all of Israel sitting in their sukkot on one of the two days of the holiday of this holiday of Shemini Atseret — it is not because it is a part of the holiday [of Sukkot]. As behold, we explicitly say in its blessings, “the eighth day of the holiday of convocation,” and there is no mention of the holiday of Sukkot in it at all. But because of the ordinance of the two days of the exiles, we must sit in the sukkah eight days; and seven — like the law of the Torah — will not suffice. And therefore we sit in the sukkah on the eighth day of the holiday of Sukkot. And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sukkah 47a), “We do sit” in the sukkah, in order to fulfill the obligation: Since they, may their memory be blessed, obligated us to add a day for each and every appointed time, we have also added to Sukkot and made the days of [the] sukkah eight days. But nonetheless, “we do not bless” over the sukkah on this day; as it is truthfully a different appointed time — since we are now experts in the fixing of the [new] moon. And it is more fitting for us to bless for the holiday of the convocation which is true than for the other which is because of the ordinance. And perhaps you will say, “Why did they not ordain to recite a blessing for both of them — and we would say, ‘on this holiday of Sukkot and holiday of the convocation’ — as on Shabbat and an appointed time, we mention both of them?” Behold, this is not [correct]. As Shabbat and an appointed time [can] both of them be as one day, but it is impossible for two appointed times to be together. And hence it is not fitting for us to recite the blessing like this. But it is fitting for us to sit in the sukkah — as sitting in the sukkah does not detract at all from the holiday of convocation; and there is in the thing, [a fulfillment of] the commandment of the ordinance of the two days of holiday of the exiles which they, may their memory be blessed, ordained on every appointed time, as we have explained above (Sefer HaChinukh 301).

And I will also inform you, my son, a little of what they, may their memory be blessed, said about the matter of the intermediate days of the festival — and they are the middle days that are in Pesach and Sukkot — which they, may their memory be blessed, [found to be] forbidden by the Torah in the doing of work. However which work is forbidden on them and which is permitted did not appear explicitly in the Torah. Nonetheless, the Torah still forbade work on them, such that the Sages learned the thing from Scripture in the second chapter of Chagigah 18a. Some of them learned the thing from the verse of “The holiday of matsot you shall guard” (Exodus 23:15) — and that is Rabbi Yeshayah. As it was implied for him, “You shall guard all of the days of the holiday of matsot from the doing of work” — but not that they all be the same in the work [that is prohibited]. And Rabbi Yochanan [reasons that] it comes from an a fortiori (kal vechomer) argument there from the first and seventh [days], that do not have holiness [both] before them and after them, etc.

And there is one there that learns it from, “all work of labor shall you not do” (Leviticus 23:7) — and that is Rabbi Yose HaGalili. And this is how the verse is explained according to him — meaning, on the first day is it that all work of labor is forbidden besides what is needed for the food of the soul, but on the intermediate days of the festival, not all work is forbidden on it. Rather some are forbidden and some are permitted; and Scripture gave them over to the Sages [to decide]. And Rabbi Akiva learns it from, “These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy occasions” (Leviticus 23:4) — as he establishes it as [referring to] the intermediate days of the festival. And from that which it is written in it, “holy occasions,” it teaches that it is forbidden in the doing of work. And it is possible that according to him, permitted work is learned by him from (Leviticus 23:36) “it is an atseret (which can also mean, a cessation)” — meaning that the eighth day is stopped from all work, but not the other days. Or also, he learned it from [the letter] hei (which means, the) of “the seventh,” written about Pesach in the Order of Re’eh Anokhi (Deuteronomy 16:8), “Six days shall you eat matsot,” such that they, may their memory be blessed, said “‘And on the seventh day it is an atseret’ — the seventh is stopped from all work, but not the sixth. And which work is forbidden or permitted? Scripture gave them over to the Sages [to decide].” And since the matter is given over to their hand, such that the Torah only forbade what they said, they divided work according to their will and opinion. And it comes out that all work they, may their memory be blessed, forbade, is forbidden to us from Torah writ; and that which they permitted is also permitted by Torah writ. As according to the understanding expounded from Scripture, this prohibition is given over to their hand.

And they said more generally that any work that if it is not done on the festival will [result] in much deterioration, is permitted to do. And this is [the meaning of] their saying (Moed Katan 2a), “We water an irrigated field (beit hashelachin) on the [intermediate days of the] festival” — meaning to say, a vegetable garden or what is similar to it which we water constantly, and it would deteriorate if we do not water it. The expression, shelachin is like shelahin, which is [known from the] usage, meshalhei, which is parched for water. And they, may their memory be blessed, said that when he waters it, he should not water it from a pool or from rain water; as there is much toil in the thing. [Rather], he waters it from the spring — meaning, that he channels it and waters [his field] with it. Behold that they were a little stringent about this, that he should not toil with a great toil; since this is only done to keep his garden fresh, lest all of it or part of it will dry up. But with any work [that prevents a true] loss, or it will close to certainly deteriorate if he does not do it on the [intermediate days of the] festival — such as someone who has olives and he fears that they will deteriorate if he does not extract their oil immediately, or grapes if he does not stomp them immediately or anything that is similar to them — they were not stringent about it. And they were not concerned with great toil [in this case]. Rather, he should do all of his needs for them — without any alteration — the way that he does it on a regular workday. And they, may their memory be blessed, likewise permitted (Moed Katan 12b) to harvest a vineyard that has reached the time to be harvested during the [intermediate days of the] festival. And they also said more generally (Moed Katan 8b) about this matter that a commoner (amateur) can sew in his [usual] way, but a craftsman must [alter his stitch]. And they certainly did not say this only about sewing, but rather the law is the same for all types of work, according to what appears. And I asked my teacher if we say so about writing — that a commoner can write in his [usual way] but he did not permit it to me. Maybe because we have found explicitly that they, may their memory be blessed, forbade (Moed Katan 18b) to correct even one letter in a Torah scroll, we should be stringent about writing.

And they forbade every man (Moed Katan 12b) to not plan his work for the festival — meaning that he not purposely leave his work before the festival in a way that he will do it on the festival because he will be available. As the intermediate days of the festival were not established to be involved in work, but rather to rejoice in front of God; meaning to say, to gather in the study halls and to hear pleasantness of the words of the book — “the laws of Pesach on Pesach, the laws of [Shavuot] on [Shavuot] and the laws of [Sukkot] on [Sukkot].” And the court destroys the work of anyone who plans his work for the festival and makes it ownerless for everyone [to take]. But if the one who planned his work for the festival died, they do not penalize the son after him; and they also do not prevent him from doing that work on the festival so that it not get wasted. And I [say] about this son, [An evildoer] “Prepares but the righteous one wears.” And they, may their memory be blessed, permitted (Moed Katan 13a) anyone who has a need — meaning who does not have what to eat — to do any work. And likewise they allowed the head of a household to do any work for the sake of someone (to hire him) who does not have what to eat. And according to what appears, the understanding of “he does not have what to eat,” is one who does not have money with which to buy his requirements — and even if he has a house and furnishings, as we do not obligate a person to sell his vessels. And the rest of the details of the distinctions of work on the festival are very many, and they are elucidated nicely in Tractate Moed Katan.

And let this principle be in your hand: That the law of the [intermediate days of the] festival — as the laws of rabbinic enactments on Shabbat — are such that you cannot compare and extract one thing from [another] thing. As sometimes you will find that our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, allowed a heavy [type of] work in one matter, and sometimes they were stringent about a light one in another matter. And do not wonder about the thing, given the introduction that I wrote — that the Torah only forbade and allowed on the intermediate days of the festival that about which [the Rabbis] agreed. And likewise with the matter of rabbinic enactments on Shabbat and holidays, we find places in the Gemara where they, may their memory be blessed, upheld their words even in the place of [a] Torah law [that would be pushed aside]; and [yet] sometimes they were lenient with them in a place where they saw that it was good to be lenient — and there is nothing empty in all of their words. And remember, my son, this principle that the laws of the festival — as the laws of rabbinic enactments on Shabbat — are such that we do not determine a thing from [another] thing. And do not be mistaken about it, as it was said by the greats of the world. And the opinion of Rambam, may his memory be blessed, (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Rest on a Holiday 7:2) is that every prohibition of work on the intermediate days of the festival is only from the words of the [Rabbis]. And the Rabbi would want to say that all of those verses that we said above, which are in the beginning of Tractate [Moed Katan], are only a memory device (asmakhta). But Ramban, may his memory be blessed, (Ramban on Moed Katan and Ramban on Leviticus 23:7) — and many with him — said the essence of the prohibition of work on it is from the Torah, as we have written; but the specific [types of] work and their distinctions were given over to the Sages, may their memory be blessed.