Resources for Moed Katan 5

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא says that for צורכי רבים, one can even be חופר a canal on חול המועד which is a מלאכה which entails a טירחא. There is a מחלוקת ראשונים as to why the רבים need the חפירה. Seeרש"יon the  רי"ף (probably the real רש"י) in ד"ה שאין רבים who says that the רבים needed the canal for drinking purposes. See the ריטב"א who strongly disagrees with this and says that any אוכל נפש is going to be מותר even for a יחיד and even if there is טירחא מרובה like קצירה. Rather, the גמרא’s discussion is regarding digging canals to water fields.

 

  1. The גמרא discusses exactly what can be done for a רבים a יחיד . See theרא"ש who brings the ראב"ד that understands our גמרא to be saying the following: for an individual, unless a loss is involved, one can never do מלאכה except לצורך המועד and it can only entail a מעשה הדיוט.  The only exception to this is a דבר האבד which would allow even a מעשה אומן  even שלא לצורך המועד. However, for a רבים one has three קולאs: one is that it can even be done שלא לצורך המועד as long as it is a מעשה הדיוט. The second is that one can even be מכוון מלאכתו למועד. The third is that one is even allowed to do a מעשה אומן as long as it is a צורך המועד. However, this third קולא is not essentially different than a יחיד in principle. Rather, we always assume that anything for a רבים is a דבר האבד since if you don’t do it when people have off from work, it will never get done. However, it is not 100% like a דבר האבד since if it were, it would even be allowed for something which is a מעשה אומן and צורך המועד. See the פּרי מגדים in משבצות זהב סימן תקמ"ד ס"ק ב who calls it a “קצת דבר האבד”. See the ריטב"א who disagrees with the ראב"ד entirely and says that nothing is allowed if it isn’t a צורך המועד, even for a רבים. When our גמרא says that חטיטה is מותר לצורך רבים even if the רבים don’t need it, it means they don’t really need it too much but it does make things a little more ברווח. See also the תשובות הרשב"א in ה"ד סימן שכ"ו who says that the only time a מעשה אומן is allowed לצורך רבים is for physical needs like digging for water or fixing the roads. However, for spiritual needs there is no היתר. Consequently, he forbade building a shul on חול המועד. This תשובות הרשב"א is brought להלכה in סימן תקמ"ד.
  2. The משנה says that we go out on חול המועד to be מציין את הקברים. The גמרא goes on to say that we know it is מן התורה from a פּסוק in יחזקאל. The גמרא then clarifies that it was really גמרא גמירי לה and יחזקאל came later and was אסמכוה אקרא. See the גמרא in נדה דף נ"זwhich says explicitly that ציון קברות is only a דין דרבנן. That would seem to be a סתירה to our גמרא which sounds like it is מדאורייתא as it uses the words מן התורה. See תוספות in בבא בתרא דף קמ"ז ד"ה מנין who says that our גמרא must mean it is דרבנן and the words מן התורה are לאו דוקא. However, see תוספות here in ד"ה הא מקמי who says that it is really דאורייתא. Interestingly, see the רמב"ן in ספר המצוות in his השגות on שורש ב who says that the רמב"ם is in incorrect in saying that anything that was נדרש  after הר סיני  must be considered דרבנן, and quotes almost every place where יחזקאל  said something and the גמרא says it was גמרא גמירי לה and יחזקאל  came and אסמכוה אקרא. He does not mention ציון קברות which would seem to indicate that he thought our דין was a  דין דרבנן. However, the רמב"ם could perhaps use the גמרא in נדה as a source that דרשות made with the י"ג מדות are at least “called” דרבנן.

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