חגיגה 18:1 — Soncino English Talmud

, I would not know how many [days]; therefore we are told the statement of R. Eleazar In the name of R. Oshaia. Resh Lakish said: [It is written]: And the Feast of Harvest. Which is the Feast on which you feast and harvest? You must say: It is the Feast of Weeks. [Now] when? Should one say on the festival-day [itself]? Is reaping then permitted on the festival-day? It must refer, therefore, to [the period after the Feast] when the offerings can still be made good. Said R. Johanan [to him]: Now accordingly, [since it is written], the Feast of Ingathering [one can likewise argue thus]: ‘Which is the Feast on which there is ingathering? You must say: It is the Feast of Tabernacles. When? Should one say on the festival-day [itself]. is work then permitted on a festival-day! It must refer, therefore, to the mid-festival days’. But is [work] then permitted on the mid-festival days? It must mean, therefore, the Feast that comes at the season of ingathering. Similarly here [it means] the Feast that comes at the season of reaping. It follows therefore that both are of the opinion that on the mid-festival days it is forbidden to do work. Whence is this derived? — For our Rabbis taught: The Feast of Unleavened Bread shalt thou keep; seven days. This teaches concerning the mid-festival days that work thereon is forbidden: this is the view of R. Josiah. R. Jonathan says: This is unnecessary. [It can be proved by] an argument a minore ad majus. If on the first and seventh days, which have no sanctity before or after them, work is forbidden, how much more so is it right that work should be forbidden on the mid-festival days, which have sanctity before and after them. — But the six working days disprove [this argument] for they have sanctity before them and after them, and yet work thereon is permitted! — [No], whereas [this applies] to the six working days which have no additional sacrifice, can you say [the same] of the mid-festival days which have an additional sacrifice? — But the New Moon Day disproves this [argument]; for it has additional sacrifices, and yet work thereon is permitted! — [No], whereas [this applies] to the New Moon Day which is not called a ‘holy convocation’, can you say [the same] of the mid-festival days which are called ‘holy convocation’? Since it is called ‘holy convocation’ it is only right that work thereon should be forbidden. Another [Baraitha] taught: Ye shall do no matter of servile work — this teaches that it is forbidden to do work on mid-festival days: this is the view of R. Jose the Galilean. R. Akiba says: This is unnecessary. It is said: These are the appointed seasons of the Lord, etc. Whereof does the verse speak? If of the first day, behold it has already been said: Solemn rest. If of the seventh day, behold, it has already been said: Solemn rest. The verse, therefore, must speak only of the mid-festival days, to teach thee that it is forbidden to do work thereon. Another [Baraitha] taught: Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day shall be restraint [of work] unto to the Lord. Just as the seventh day is under restraint [in respect of work], so the six days are under restraint [in respect of work] — If [you should think that] just as the seventh day is under restraint in respect of all manner of work, so the six days are under restraint in respect of all manner of work; therefore Scripture teaches: ‘And on the seventh day shall be restraint [of work]’ — only the seventh day is under restraint in respect of all manner of work, but the six days are not under restraint in respect of all manner of work. Thus Scripture left it to the Sages to tell you on which day [work] is forbidden, and on which day it is permitted; which manner of work is forbidden, and which is permitted. AND MOURNING AND FASTING ARE PERMITTED, IN ORDER NOT TO CONFIRM THE VIEW OF THOSE WHO SAY THAT THE FESTIVAL OF WEEKS [INVARIABLY] FOLLOWS THE SABBATH: But behold it is taught: It happened that Alexa died at Lod, and all Israel assembled to mourn for him, but R. Tarfon did not permit them, because it was the festival-day of the Feast of Weeks. [Now] can you possibly suppose that it was [actually] the festival day? How could they come on the festival-day? You must say, therefore, because it was the day for slaughter! — There is no contradiction: in the one case, the festival-day [of the Feast of Weeks] fell after the Sabbath; in the other case, the festival-day fell on the Sabbath.34^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ

^ᵃnote:Sc. are allowed for making good the offerings of the Feast of Weeks.
^ᵇnote:Ex. XXIII, 16.
^ᶜnote:Ibid. and XXXIV, 22.
^ᵈnote:Lit., ‘the profane part of the festival’, i.e., the six half-festive days between the first day of Tabernacles, which is a festival-day proper, and the Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly, which is likewise a festival-day. The same term applies also to the five intermediate days of Passover. This period would correspond to that after the Feast of Weeks when the offerings can still be made good.
^ᵉnote:And not, as Resh Lakish would have it, a festival time at which feasting and reaping are combined.
^ᶠnote:Since Resh Lakish does not object to R. Johanan's statement regarding the prohibition of work on the mid-festival days, it follows that he must agree.
^ᵍnote:Ex. XXIII, 15.
^ʰnote:‘Keep’ is taken invariably to imply prohibition of work. By connecting the words ‘seven days’ with the verb ‘keep’, the prohibition is extended to the mid-festival days.
^ⁱnote:I.e.,the verse is not needed for the proof.
^ʲnote:I.e., holy days.
^ᵏnote:Lit., ‘six days of the beginning of (creation)’; cf Ex. XX, 9-11.
^ˡnote:Lit., ‘prove’ sc. the contrary.
^ᵐnote:I.e., the Sabbath.
^ⁿnote:V. Num. XXVIII, 19-24, and XXIX, 13-16.
^ᵒnote:V. Lev. XXIII, and Num. XXVIII and XXIX. ‘Holy’ implies the prohibition of work.
^ᵖnote:Lev. XXIII, 7.
^ᵠnote:This teaching is deduced by connecting the end of v. 7 with the words ‘seven days’ in the following verse.
^ʳnote:Ibid. v. 4 and 37.
^ˢnote:Lev. XXIII, v. 39.
^ᵗnote:V. next note. The reading should be emended to the ‘eighth day’ (v. R. Hananel a.I.), for nowhere is the term ‘solemn rest’ applied to the seventh day of a festival.
^ᵘnote:Ibid.
^ᵛnote:E.V. ‘a solemn assembly’!
^ʷnote:Deut. XVI, 8.
^ˣnote:For the verse concludes: ‘Thou shalt do no work therein’.
^ʸnote:I.e., since the verse indicates only that the prohibition of work does not apply uniformly to all the days of the festival, it must be the intention of Scripture to let the Sages decide how the prohibition did apply.
^ᶻnote:I. e., which day is a festival day proper, and which only a mid-festival day. For the fixing of the calendar, V. J.E. vol. III, pp. 498f.
^ᵃᵃnote:I.e., on mid-festival days: work which could not be postponed without incurring irretrievable loss was permitted.
^ᵃᵇnote:This is the correct reading viz.,thb,vu (‘it is taught’ by the Tannaim), not rn,htvu (‘it is stated’ by the Amoriam).
^ᵃᶜnote:Abbreviated form of the name Alexander. (12) Lydda in South Palestine (Roman name, Diospolis).
^ᵃᵈnote:Thus R. Tarfon forbade mourning on the slaughtering day, which contradicts the Mishnah.
^ᵃᵉnote:I.e., the case of Alexa.
^ᵃᶠnote:I.e., in the middle of the week, so that the slaughtering day was not on a Sunday. Mourning, therefore, was prohibited in accordance with regular Jewish law.
^ᵃᵍnote:I.e., that of the Mishnah.
^ᵃʰnote:Consequently the slaughtering day was on a Sunday, and, therefore, as a demonstration against the erroneous view of the Sadducees, the ordinary rule prohibiting mourning on the slaughtering day was waived.