Sichat Yosef: The laws of work and rest

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YOSSI ARON

FOR many within the Jewish community, this Pesach provides an eight-day break from work. The confluence of Pesach and the Easter weekend means there is effectively only one day (Thursday, April 1) on which any work is halachically permitted, so an extended holiday break is the order of the day.

One might add that such is halachically appropriate — as far as possible — one should take one’s holidays over yom tov periods including Chol Hamoed, rather than at other times, a principle that applies on Succot as well.
That said, within these eight days of Pesach, we experience days with three different levels of status regarding the halachic prohibition of work — Shabbat, yom tov and Chol Hamoed — providing an opportunity to explore the basis of each and the differences between them.
From a Torah perspective, the primary rest day is Shabbat. As per the fourth of the Ten Commandments, it is a day when “lo ta’aseh kol melachah” — “you shall not do all manner of work”. At that point, the nature of forbidden work is not defined. However, elsewhere in the Torah, the law of Shabbat is juxtaposed with the building of the mishkan, teaching that it is the activity involved in that construction that is forbidden on Shabbat.

The rabbis identified 39 elements of such constructive activity known as the “lamed tet melachot” — “39 basic types of work”. The common thread in all of them is that those activities bring about a change of status as man makes his imprint on anything that exists in this world by the word of God. Man’s earthly task is to continue the work of creation using raw materials that God created and that which existed before him. However, on the primeval Shabbat, God rested, and accordingly, we regularly do so as well.
Regarding the first and last days of Pesach and Succot (as well as Shavuot and Rosh Hashanah), we are also told that one may not do work. Nevertheless, for these yom tov days, the full laws of Shabbat do not apply.

The key source for this is the initial prescription of the festival of Pesach (Shemot 12). There we are told that while the prohibition of chametz extends across the festival, not doing any work applies only on the first and seventh days of Pesach. The verse then continues to say: “But that which may be eaten by every soul, that alone may be done by you.” Accordingly, out of the 39 forbidden types of work, cooking (and carrying) are permitted — for further details, a rabbi or appropriate literature must be consulted.

This of course leaves days two to six (in Israel; outside Israel days three to six) without such a proscription of work.

And it is those days, and the intermediate days of Succot, that are known as Chol (literally, the ordinary, unsanctified) of Hamoed (of the festival). They are part of the festival — chametz is forbidden on Chol Hamoed Pesach and we eat in the succah and bless over a lulav on Chol Hamoed Succot. But they do not have applicable to them all of the other restrictive laws relevant at their beginning and end.

Regarding the prohibition of work on these days, there is actually a dispute as to whether it is Torah-based or rabbinic. However, whatever the case, work that would otherwise be forbidden on yom tov is permitted if any one of five conditions apply:

* If it were not done, permanent loss would result.
* It is needed for the holiday.
* It enables a worker to make enough money to eat.
* It serves a public need.
* It is a simple act, such as flipping on a light switch, involving no craftsmanship.

The outcome is that while one technically really needs to think about what one does on these days, the Shabbat restrictions applicable for example to many ordinary lifestyle matters, ranging from shopping to travel, largely do not apply. Writing should not be done unless essential.

There is also a well-known difference of opinion regarding wearing tefillin. This revolves around whether with limited work restrictions, these days of the festival serve as a sign between man and God, therefore obviating the spiritual need for tefillin. Sephardim, Chassidim and the kabbalists oppose tefillin on Chol Hamoed as undermining the festive status of those days; additionally, in Israel, the ruling of the Gaon of Vilna has resulted in practically no-one there putting on tefillin on those days.

A chag kasher v’sameach to all.