The Observance of a Festival
The first two
and the last two days of Pesah are full Festival days, to be observed
negatively by abstention from work, and positively by holiday rejoicing.
The prohibition
of work (melakhah) on the Festivals, Pesah, Shavuot, Sukkot, Shemini
Atzeret, and Simchat Torah (as well as Rosh Hashanah), is based on the
prohibition of work on the Sabbath, the details of which are given in
the Mishnah, Tractate Shabbat. In the Mishnah, at 7:2, thirty-nine basic
categories of prohibited work (avot melakhah) are given. Traditionally,
these types of activity are seen as those needed in the construction
and operation of the Tabernacle. We might note that they are the kinds
of activities involved in providing food, clothing, and shelter. Dependent
on these avot melakhah are various toldot melakhah, functions which
involve the same activity as avot melakhah, but in a different context.
The third type of activity prohibited on the Sabbath is one which rabbinical
tradition has proscribed as resembling, leading to, or being associated
with melakhah. The application of these principles to today's situation
may be the subject of debate, but it should be understood that the 39
avot melakhah form an intrinsic part of the concept of Shabbat.
Some examples
of common activity in which we should not engage on Shabbat are: gardening,
grinding food, cooking, cutting hair, cloth, paper, or other materials,
doing laundry, sewing, writing or erasing, building (i.e. changing the
physical configuration of things to make some use of them), kindling
or extinguishing a fire, adjusting any complex mechanism, and carrying
articles outside.
All of the
above applies to the Sabbath. On a Festival, the situation is somewhat
different. Whereas with regard to the Sabbath we are told "You shall
not do any work" (Exodus 20:l0), with regard to the Festivals the rule
is "No work at all shall be done on them; only that every person is
to eat, that alone may be prepared for you." (Exodus l2:l6). Thus, certain
activities, prohibited on the Sabbath, are permitted on a Festival.
It is permitted to carry things out of doors on a Festival (This permission
is derived from the necessity of carrying food from the house to the
sukkah on Sukkot). One may also cook and prepare food, and make other
use of fire on a Festival. In order to safeguard the sanctity of the
Festival, certain restrictions are placed on the preparation of food
and the use of fire:
l. Fire may
not be started fresh, but must be transferred from another fire, which
was burning before the beginning of the Festival. Thus, one may light
a gas stove if it has a pilot. Some authorities who do not permit the
use of electrical devices on Shabbat do permit such use on Yom Tov,
on the theory that the electrical current is always available.
2. Fire may
not be extinguished on a Festival (unless, of course, there is danger
to life).
3. Food may
be prepared on a Festival day only for that day itself.
In Deuteronomy
l6:l4 we read "you shall rejoice in your Festivals," and simha, joy,
is an intrinsic part of Festival observance. We wear our best clothes
on Yom Tov, eat large meals, say the appropriate kiddush over wine,
and chant the joyful Hallel psalms at the synagogue.
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