Chol HaMoed is the term used to describe the days sandwiched between the first two days and the last two days of Sukkot or Pesach.
The word chol by itself means weekday, on which work is permitted. The word moed by itself means a Festival day, on which most work is prohibited. The phrase Chol HaMoed seems a contradiction in terms. What are these five days – festivals or weekdays?
The blessing we make at Havdalah to distinguish between the first two days of Sukkot or Pesach and the onset of Chol HaMoed, “Baruch hamavdil bein kodesh lechol,” suggests that Chol HaMoed is weekday. Yet the Torah refers to Chol HaMoed by the term moed, which is reserved for days on which work is forbidden. Then again, the Torah declares, “On the first [and second, outside Israel] day [of Sukkot], you shall not do any work,” clearly implying that on the five days of Chol HaMoed one may perform work. Nowhere, perhaps, is the confusion more visible than in the matter of tefillin on Chol HaMoed; those who consider it chol wear tefillin, and those who consider it moed do not.
In fact, the truth is somewhere in the middle. On Chol HaMoed some work is prohibited and some is permitted. According to some opinions, the work prohibition is biblical; according to others, it’s rabbinical. Whatever the source of the prohibition, all agree that the rabbis decide what work may and may not be done on Chol HaMoed.
For the Chayei Adam, the starting point for prohibited work on Chol HaMoed is Yom Tov itself. With a few exceptions, including lighting a fire, the Chayei Adam lists the melachot as being prohibited both on Yom Tov and Chol HaMoed. Others maintain that it is impossible to define what work is prohibited on Chol HaMoed. All agree, however, on what work is permitted on Chol HaMoed.
Before considering the various permitted categories of work on Chol HaMoed, one should be cognizant of the special status the rabbis ascribe to it, which is best summed up by the phrase “One who disrespects Chol HaMoed is compared to an idol worshipper.” The overriding principle is that work becomes prohibited if it has the effect of rendering Chol HaMoed as just another workday.
Work permitted on Chol HaMoed falls within one of five categories.
The first and perhaps broadest permitted category is known as “Tzorach HaMoed,” meaning work that enhances the joy of Chol HaMoed. Examples of activities that are permitted if they are performed in order to enhance the enjoyment of Chol HaMoed include driving, turning lights on and off (which according to the Chayei Adam was never prohibited on Chol HaMoed in the first place), repairing a leaking roof, erecting a sukkah, sewing torn clothes needed for immediate wear, and writing shopping lists required for Chol HaMoed.
Indeed, the determination of what falls into the first category is quite subjective and dependent on individual tastes and preferences. The only restrictions that apply to the first category are that work (other than work involved in preparing food) must not be performed in an artisan fashion and may not be deliberately postponed to Chol HaMoed.
The second permitted category is “Davar Ha’aved,” meaning work which, if not performed on Chol HaMoed, would result in financial or other loss. This important category includes conducting business or going to work when failure to do so would cause irretrievable loss of principal. Whether loss of profit is considered Davar Ha’aved is a point of debate. Clearly, if such profit is required for and used to cover Chol HaMoed expenses, work generating such profit would be permitted. Again, any work deliberately postponed to Chol HaMoed does not qualify as Davar Ha’aved. According to those who maintain that the source of prohibited work on Chol HaMoed is rabbinical, any doubt about whether a desired activity falls within either of these two permitted categories should be resolved in favor of permitting such work.
The third permitted category is work required for Tzorchei Rabbim, public welfare, such as repairing public roads or water pipes.
The fourth permitted category includes any work, otherwise prohibited on Chol HaMoed, that provides a worker the wages needed to cover his daily living expenses. None of the above mentioned restrictions (namely not performing the work in an artisan fashion and not deliberately postponing the work to Chol HaMoed) apply to the third and fourth categories.
The fifth permitted category involves all work required to cure the sick, including the not dangerously sick.
In order to ensure that people will honor Yom Tov by shaving and washing their clothes beforehand, the rabbis prohibit these activities on Chol HaMoed with certain exceptions. Most weddings may not be celebrated on Chol HaMoed so as not to lose the focus of the Chol HaMoed celebration. Engagements, however, are permitted.
Paradoxically, many of the Chol HaMoed restrictions, (no shaving, no washing clothes, restricted work, no tefillin, no weddings) are common to aveilut, mourning the dead. Depression is the flip side of happiness, or as the prophet Amos puts it, “I will turn your feasts into mourning.”
Indeed, Tractate Moed Katan, which sets out the laws of Chol HaMoed, also focuses on the laws of aveilut. The Talmud in Shabbat tells us that for a period of time after death the lost soul wonders back and forth between heaven and earth, trying alternately to penetrate the lifeless body and the space under God’s heavenly throne. The laws of aveilut, by focusing on the departed, accommodate this desire of the soul.
Perhaps Chol HaMoed is likewise trying to penetrate the holiness of the Festivals that surround it on either side. And the laws of Chol HaMoed, by focusing on the joy of the festival, accommodate that desire. Perhaps also the message is that in Judaism, outward appearances can be misleading and investigation of the soul is more telling.