Chagigah 18a — the Talmud in English

And if [the source is] from Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov

alone,

I do not know how many

days he completes.

Therefore

it teaches us

his teaching,

that Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Oshaya,

that he completes [the offering] throughout all seven [days].

And Reish Lakish said

another source for compensation throughout all seven [days] on Shavuot: for it is stated: "

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

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

And the Feast of the Harvest

of the first fruits of your work that you sow in the field [the Feast of Weeks].

And the Feast of the Ingathering [the Feast of Sukkot] at the end of the year, when you gather in your work from the field."

Which is the festival that you celebrate [bring a festival offering]

bring a festival offering]

and reap,

that it is permitted for you to reap

on it? —

You must say: this is

the Feast of

Atzeret.

And the verse is speaking of the days of compensation, as it explains and proceeds.

For

when

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

If you say [it is] on the festival day

of Atzeret itself, certainly this is not so.

For

reaping on a festival day —

is it permitted?!

Rather, is it not [speaking] of the compensation

of the Festival of Weeks, which are the six weekdays after it, on which it is permitted to reap, and on which one brings a festival offering by way of compensation for the pilgrimage festival.

You have therefore learned that there is compensation for Atzeret on the days following the festival day.

He said

he objected

Rabbi Yoḥanan

to the words of Reish Lakish:

But from now on,

this that the Torah said concerning the Feast of Sukkot,

"the Feast of the Ingathering",

shall we also here explain and say:

which is the festival "on which there is ingathering" —

you must say: this is the Feast of Sukkot?!

It is impossible to explain it in this way.

For

when

— when is it possible on the Feast of Sukkot for there to be celebration and ingathering together?

If you say [it is] on the festival day

itself. It is not possible. For:

labor on a festival day —

is it permitted?!

Rather,

perhaps you will say

on the intermediate days of the festival?

That too is not possible. For

the intermediate days of the festival

also —

is it permitted

to perform labor?!

Rather,

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

a festival that comes at the time of ingathering,

during the period of the ingathering of the fruits.

And if so,

here too,

concerning the Festival of Weeks, which is called "the Feast of the Harvest," its meaning must be explained as being

a festival that comes at the time of reaping,

during the period of the grain harvest.

But its meaning is not that one reaps on the festival itself, so that we could learn from here concerning compensation.

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

By implication

you learn from their words

that both of them —

Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish —

hold that performing labor on the intermediate days of the festival is forbidden.

From where are these matters?

For the Sages taught:

it is written, "You shall observe the Feast of Matzot. For seven days you shall eat matzot — as I commanded you."

And it is possible to read the verse in this way:

the Feast of Matzot —

you shall observe for seven days!

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

the verse taught

that

the intermediate days of the festival are forbidden with regard to performing labor!

[These are] the words of Rabbi Yashya.

Rabbi Yonatan says: It is not necessary

to learn this law from "for seven days"; rather, from

a kal va-chomer

it is learned:

And what

[of] the

first

festival day and the

seventh

festival day

of Passover, which have no sanctity before them or after them [because before the first day of the festival there is no sanctity, and likewise after the seventh day there is no sanctity, and nevertheless the Torah said that the festival day itself

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 forbidden with regard to performing labor —

the intermediate days of the festival, which have sanctity

indeed

before them [the first festival day],

the first Festival day],

and

indeed

after them [the seventh day of Passover and the eighth day of Atzeret] —

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

is it not logically necessary that performing labor should be forbidden?

And if you wish to refute 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 with regard to performing labor!

This is not a refutation.

For it can be rejected:

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

and therefore performing labor is not forbidden on them.

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 will prove [the matter], for there is an additional offering on it, and

nevertheless

performing labor is permitted on it.

There is also no proof from it. For

what is the case with the New Moon? It is not called "a sacred convocation,"

and therefore performing labor was not forbidden 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 the law that

they should be

forbidden with regard to performing labor!

Another [teaching] was taught,

another teaching was stated in a beraita: from where [do we know] that the intermediate days of the festival are forbidden with regard to performing labor?

It is written: "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast 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 present 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 forbidden with regard to performing labor; [these are] the words of Rabbi Yose the Galilean.

Rabbi Akiva says: It is not necessary

for these teachings; rather, from here one can learn the prohibition of labor on the intermediate days of the festival:

the verse

says

: "These are the appointed times of the Lord,

sacred convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times."

But

with what,

with which appointed times,

is the verse speaking

and calling them "sacred convocations"?

If [it refers] to the first

of Passover. It is not possible. For

it has already been stated

concerning it

"a cessation."

If [it refers] to the seventh

of Passover, this too is not possible, for

behold,

also concerning it

it has already been stated, "a cessation."

Thus the verse is speaking only of the intermediate days of the festival.

To teach you that

the intermediate days of the festival

are forbidden with regard to performing labor.

Another [teaching] was taught: "For six days you shall eat matzot, and on the seventh day there shall be a cessation for the Lord."

Just as the seventh is "restrained"

from performing labor,

so too the six days are "restrained"

from performing labor.

Perhaps you will say:

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

The text therefore says: "And on the seventh day" —

a cessation" [and it did not say, "On the seventh day there shall be a cessation" [Tosafot, Moed Katan 2a], to teach you:

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

Only the

seventh day is restrained from all labor, but the six days

of the intermediate days of the festival

are not restrained from all labor.

Thus, the verse entrusted it only to the Sages, to tell you [that they should tell you]

that they should tell you]

which day is forbidden

entirely with regard to labor

and which day is permitted

with regard to it.

And they said that the intermediate days of the festival are not forbidden with regard to all labors.

And likewise the verse entrusted it to the Sages to say

which labor is forbidden

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 labor involving a matter that will be lost.

We learned in the Mishna:

And they are permitted with regard to eulogizing and fasting, so as not to uphold the words of those who say that Atzeret is after Shabbat:

And we object:

But it was taught: It happened that Alexa died [the name of a Sage]

the name of a Sage]

in Lod, and all Israel entered to eulogize him, but Rabbi Tarfon did not allow them, because it was the festival day of Atzeret.

And we considered this: Is it conceivable that on the

festival day

itself

it would enter your mind

that all Israel entered to eulogize him?!

But this is difficult:

if [it was] on the festival day —

would they come!?

For they would not come on the festival day for a eulogy!

Rather, say:

Rabbi Tarfon did not allow them to eulogize him

because it was the "Day of Slaughter."

We have therefore learned that the Day of Slaughter is forbidden with regard to eulogizing!

And we answer:

It is not difficult: here,

where Rabbi Tarfon forbade the eulogy, it is speaking

of the festival day

of Atzeret

that falls after Shabbat,

because eulogizing is not done on Shabbat.

Whereas

here,

in our Mishna, where a eulogy is permitted —

[it is speaking of] a festival day that falls on Shabbat,

and the Day of Slaughter after it is a weekday, when eulogizing is permitted.

And from the incident involving Alexa, do not raise a difficulty for yourself, for the festival day of Atzeret that year was on a weekday, and for some reason they did not offer [the sacrifices] and make the Day of Slaughter on another day; therefore eulogizing was forbidden [Rashi].

For the three areas of purity:

The first, the purity of the hands.

The second, the person’s intention of purity at immersion.