Chagigah 18a (יח.) — the Talmud in English

And if it is from the teaching of Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov

alone,

we would not know how many

days he completes.

Therefore,

it teaches us

the teaching

of Rabbi Elazar, who said in the name of Rabbi Oshaya,

that he completes all seven days.

And Reish Lakish said

there is another source for completion on all seven days of Shavuot: As it is stated: "

Three pilgrimage festivals you shall celebrate for Me in the year.

You shall observe the Festival of Matzot. For seven days you shall eat matzot, as I commanded you.

And the Festival of the Harvest

of the first fruits of your deeds that you sow in the field [the Festival of Weeks].

And the Festival of the Ingathering [the Festival of Sukkot] at the turn of the year, when you gather in your deeds from the field."

Which is the festival that you celebrate [

bring a festival offering]

and harvest,

when you are permitted to harvest

on it?—

You must say: This is

the Festival of

Assembly.

And the verse is speaking of the days of completion, as it proceeds to explain.

For

when,

when is it possible for there to be a festival on which you both celebrate and harvest?

If you say that it is on the Festival day

of Shavuot itself, this is certainly not so.

For

harvesting on a Festival day—

is it permitted?!

Rather, is it not referring to the days of completion

of the Festival of Weeks, namely, the six weekdays following it, on which harvesting is permitted and on which one brings a festival offering as a completion offering for the pilgrimage festival?

Thus you have learned that there are days of completion for Shavuot on the days following the Festival day.

Rabbi Yohanan

wondered

about

the words of Reish Lakish:

But if that is so, regarding what the Torah said concerning the Festival of Sukkot,

"the Festival of the Ingathering"

",

shall we also explain and say:

Which is the festival “on which there is ingathering

”? You must say: This is the Festival of Sukkot?!

It is impossible to explain it in this manner.

For

when,

when is it possible for there to be both celebration and ingathering on the Festival of Sukkot?

If you say that it is on the Festival day

itself, that is impossible. For:

Labor on a Festival day—

is it permitted?!

Rather,

perhaps you will say

on the intermediate days of the festival?

That too is impossible. For

the intermediate days of the festival

also—

is it permitted

to perform labor on them?!

Rather,

necessarily, the meaning of "the Festival of the Ingathering" is:

a festival that comes at the time of ingathering,

during the period of gathering the produce.

And if so,

here too,

with regard to the Festival of Weeks, which is called "the Festival of the Harvest," its meaning must be that it is

a festival that comes at the time of harvesting,

during the period of harvesting the grain.

But it does not mean that one harvests on the festival itself, so that we could derive from here that there are days of completion.

And now the Gemara explains the law concerning labor on the intermediate days of the festival:

By inference

you learn from their words,

that both of them—

Rabbi Yohanan and Reish Lakish—

hold that it is prohibited to perform labor on the intermediate days of the festival.

From where are these matters derived?

As the Sages taught:

It is written: "You shall observe the Festival of Matzot. For seven days you shall eat matzot—as I commanded you."

And it is possible to read the verse as follows:

The Festival of Matzot—

you shall observe for seven days!

And since "you shall observe" is an expression of a prohibition, and it is stated with regard to all seven days—

the verse taught

that

the intermediate days of the festival are prohibited for the performance of labor!

These are the words of Rabbi Yoshiyya.

Rabbi Yonatan says: It is not necessary

to derive this law from "for seven days"; rather, it is derived by means of a

kal va-chomer,

as follows:

Just as

the first Festival day

and

the seventh Festival day

of

Passover,

which have no sanctity before them or after them [

because there is no sanctity before the first day of the festival, and likewise there is no sanctity after the seventh day, yet the Torah said that the Festival day itself

is prohibited for the performance of labor—

the intermediate days of the festival, which have sanctity

both

before them [

the first Festival day],

and

both

after them [

the seventh day of Passover and the eighth day of Assembly]—

is it not logical that they should be prohibited for the performance of labor?

And if you wish to refute this and argue:

The six days of Creation,

the weekdays of every week,

prove that they have sanctity before them and after them, and

nevertheless they are

permitted for the performance of labor!

This is not a refutation.

For it can be rejected:

What is true of the six days of Creation? They have no additional offering,

and therefore they are not prohibited for labor.

Can you say the same with regard to the intermediate days of the festival, on which there is an additional offering?

And perhaps you will say:

The New Moon proves that although there is an additional offering,

nevertheless it is

permitted for the performance of labor.

The New Moon too provides no proof. For

what is true of the New Moon? It is not called “a sacred convocation”,

and therefore labor was not prohibited on it.

Can you say the same with regard to the intermediate days of the festival, which are called

“a sacred convocation”? And since they are called “a sacred convocation”—

it is logical that they

should be

prohibited for the performance of labor!

It was taught in another beraita,

that another derivation was taught concerning the source for the prohibition of labor on the intermediate days of the festival:

It is written: "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Sukkot, seven days for the Lord. On the first day there shall be a sacred convocation; you shall not perform any labor of work. For seven days you shall bring a fire-offering to the Lord." And we expound this verse as follows:

“You shall not perform any labor of work—

for seven days!”

The verse taught

that

the intermediate days of the festival are prohibited for the performance of labor; these are the words of Rabbi Yosei the Galilean.

Rabbi Akiva says: It is not necessary

for these derivations; rather, the prohibition of labor on the intermediate days of the festival can be learned from here:

It

is

written: “These are the appointed festivals of the Lord,

sacred convocations, which you shall designate in their appointed times.”

But

with regard to what,

which appointed festivals,

does the verse speak

and call them "sacred convocations"?

If it refers to the first day

of Passover, that is impossible, since

it has already been stated

concerning it

“a cessation.”

If it refers to the seventh day

of Passover, that too is impossible, because

indeed,

concerning it too

it has already been stated, “a cessation.”

Thus, the verse can be speaking only of the intermediate days of the festival.

To teach you that

the intermediate days of the festival are

prohibited for the performance of labor.

It was taught in another beraita: “For six days you shall eat matzot, and on the seventh day there shall be a cessation for the Lord.”

Just as the seventh day is “restricted”

from performing labor,

so too the six days are “restricted”

from performing labor.

Perhaps you will say:

Just as the seventh day is restricted from all labor, so too the six days are restricted from all labor.

The verse states: “And on the seventh day—

a cessation” [

rather than "On the seventh day there shall be a cessation" [Tosafot, Moed Katan 2a], to teach you:

Only the

seventh

day is restricted from all labor, while the six days

of the intermediate days of the festival are not restricted from all labor.

Thus, the verse entrusted the matter only to the Sages, to tell you [

that they should tell you]

which day is prohibited

from labor entirely

and which day is permitted

to perform it.

And they said that the intermediate days of the festival are not prohibited with regard to all forms of labor.

Likewise, the verse entrusted the Sages with determining

which labor is prohibited

on the intermediate days of the festival

and which labor is permitted.

And they permitted performing labor on the intermediate days of the festival in five circumstances, including work involving the prevention of a loss.

We learned in the Mishna:

And they are permitted with regard to eulogies and fasting, so as not to uphold the words of those who say that the Festival of Assembly follows Shabbat:

And we raise a difficulty:

But was it not taught in a beraita: An incident occurred, and Alexa [

the name of a Sage]

died in Lod, and all of Israel came in to eulogize him, but Rabbi Tarfon did not allow them, because it was the Festival day of Assembly?

And we deliberated about it: Is it conceivable that on the

Festival day

itself

it would enter your mind

that all of Israel came in to eulogize him?!

But this is difficult:

If it was on the Festival day—

would they come?!

Surely they would not come to eulogize on a Festival day!

Rather, say:

Rabbi Tarfon did not allow them to eulogize him

because it was the day of slaughter.

Thus we have learned that eulogizing is prohibited on the day of slaughter!

And we answer:

There is no difficulty: Here,

where Rabbi Tarfon prohibited eulogizing, it refers to

the Festival day

of Shavuot

that fell immediately after Shabbat,

since eulogizing is not performed on Shabbat.

But

here,

in our Mishna, where eulogizing is permitted, it refers to

a Festival day that fell on Shabbat, and the day of slaughter after it is a weekday, when eulogizing is permitted.

And you should not raise a difficulty from the incident involving Alexa, for the Festival day of Shavuot that year fell on a weekday, and for some reason they did not offer the sacrifices and make the following day the day of slaughter on another day; therefore eulogizing was prohibited [Rashi].

Three areas of ritual purity:

The first is the purity of the hands.

The second is the person's intention regarding purity when immersing.