Resources for Moed Katan 19

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The משנה quotes ר' יהודה who says that you are allowed to write תפילין for your personal use on חול המועד. The simple reading of the משנה is that there is a מצוה to wear תפילין on חול המועד. However, תוספותhere in ד"ה ר' יוסי explains that there is no proof from our משנה since ר' יהודה  is לשיטתו that even שבת ויו"ט  are זמן תפילין . He also brings the בה"ג who paskens not to wear תפילין on חול המועד just like we pasken not to wear תפילין on שבת ויו"ט. However, תוספות asks on himself that the reason we don’t wear tefillin on שבת ויו"ט is because תפילין is an “אות” and on שבת ויו"ט we already have the “אות” of not doing מלאכה. However, if you hold מלאכת חול המועד is only דרבנן, then how can that דרבנן אות help for the דאורייתא אות of תפילין? He answers that since we eat מצה and sit in a סוכה on חול המועד we have a דאורייתא אות as well. The questions seems obvious—there isn’t any חיוב to eat מצה on חול המועד at all! So how can that be the אות?! See the מעשה רב in אות קפּ"ה where the גר"א proves from exactly this point that there is a מצוה דאורייתא to eat מצה all seven days, even though the חיוב is only on the first day. (The מפרשים on the מעשה רב explain why the איסור אכילת חמץ is not a sufficient אות). As an aside, see theפּרי מגדים סימן ל"א מ"ז ס"ק א who brings the question of the א"ר as to why the ש"ך says to keep your tefillin on during a ברית since the ברית is an אות--don’t we see that one should never have two אותות on at once (like תפילין and יו"ט)? He answers that we actually always need two אותות because you need שני עדים. It’s just you always have the אות of the ברית, so you only need one more and not two.

 

  1. The גמרא says that if 7 or 8 days have passed before יו"ט, then יו"ט is מבטל the שלושים. However, if only three days have passed, then יו"ט is only מבטלthe שבעה but not the שלושים. See the מאירי in ברכות דף ט"ז who asks why יו"ט isn’t מבטל both at once? After all, from the first day the person isn’t cutting hair or laundering clothes, so even though שבעה hasn’t concluded, לכאורה the שלושים has already started? He answers that in principle the question is correct, it’s just that יו"ט can’t be מבטל two things at once. See also the שולחן שלמה הל' חול המועד עמ' ר"ז who suggests that “שלושים” may be a borrowed term and that there are really two separate חיובים: one חיוב is for seven days and one חיוב is for the 23 days after שבעה

 

  1. The גמרא brings רב עמרם who said that שבעה doesn’t end on the last day until the מנחמין See the ריטב"אwho says that רב עמרם’s חידוש is that we don’t say מקצת היום ככולו unless there were actual מנחמין who came and left. However, if the person never had anyone visit, then the shiva would not be over until the nighttime. Consequently, if the seventh day was Shabbos where there are no מנחמין, then דברים שבצנעה would continue until nightfall. See the רמב"ן in תורת האדם דף רט"ו בדפוס מוסד הרב קוק who disagrees and says that מקצת היום ככולו should kick in right away. (The רמב"ן himself holds that מקצת היום ככולו actually starts from the nighttime.) However, if the person continues to have a שבעה house with people coming to comfort him, then the full דיני שבעה will continue until the comforters leave. In other words, מקצת היום ככולו is optional and if the person wants he can continue אבילות the whole day.

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