Resources for Moed Katan 23

1.     There is a discussion in the poskim as to whether there is an obligation of קריאת התורה incumbent on the ציבור as a whole or whether it is incumbent on each individual. The נפקא מינה is if an individual missed a few words of קריאת התורה if he needs to find another minyan to make it up. See the הליכות שלמה in תפילה, מילואים סי' י"ז who wants to bring a proof from our גמרא since it says that when the נשיא dies the people only come to the בית הכנסת to lein but not to daven. רש"י adds that everyone must daven at their homes. Rav Shlomo Zalman זצ"ל points out that if there was only a חובת ציבור, then if there is no ציבור gathered why would they need to create a ציבור by coming to shul? It must be that it is a חיוב on each individual and that’s why they had to come to shul to lein. However, the way the ריטב"א learns the סוגיא there is no proof since the ריטב"א says that they only gathered so that the בית הכנסת itself should would not be completely בטל.

2.     The גמרא says that a person whose wife died cannot get married for three (or two) רגלים. See תוספות in ד"ה עד who quotes several reasons for this הלכה: so that the man should forget his wife; so that he should not bother his new wife with mention of his old wife, etc. See the חידושי הר"ן who gives the following unique explanation: three רגלים is the amount of time one who made a נדר to bring a קרבן has to bring it before he is עובר on בל תאחר. Since the גמרא says that a person’s wife dies רח"ל בעון נדרים, this will remind him to think why his first wife died and to be careful in the ענין of נדרים.

3.     There is מחלוקת ראשונים regarding which holidays count as the three רגלים. The רא"ש here in סימן מ"ח quotes “those who wanted to say” that ר"ה ויוה"כ would count as רגלים since they count as רגלים for the rest of דיני אבילות. The רא"ש rejects this since the point here is to give the person time to forget and if they counted as רגלים then the requisite time would not pass for the person to forget. Therefore, it must be that ר"ה ויוה"כ don’t count as holidays. There is another seemingly unrelated מחלוקת ראשונים as to whether we pasken like ר' יהודה that one must wait 2 רגלים or like the ת"ק that one must wait three רגלים. See תוספות in ד"ה עד שיעברו who says that you cannot apply the principle of הלכה כדברי המקיל באבל since this הלכה is about forgetting, not אבילות. Other ראשונים do pasken like ר' יהודה because of the principle of הלכה כדברי המקיל באבל. See the שו"ת חתם סופר in יו"ד סימן ש"נ who suggests that these מחלוקתים are interrelated. The ראשונים who say that ר"ה ויוה"כ count as holidays hold that the need to wait for three רגלים is מדיני אבילות (as an honor to the previous wife). Therefore, it makes sense to pasken like the מקיל and to say that ר"ה ויוה"כ count as holidays. However, the other ראשונים hold that the point is so the man forgets in which case paskening like the מקיל באבל may not be appropriate. It should be noted that the רא"ש paskens like the מקיל even though he holds the need to wait is so the husband forgets.

4.     The גמרא discusses whether there is אבילות בשבת or not. The גמרא does not have this discussion about רגלים. See תוספות in ד"ה מאן who explains that by שבת it does not say שמחה whereas by the רגלים it does. See the שיטה לתלמידי רבינו יחיאל מפאריז here who explains that יו"ט has a specific מצוה of ושמחת בחגיך which requires one to be inwardly happy and is in direct contradiction to אבילות, whereas עונג which is written by Shabbos does not mean that a person in his heart cant be worried or sad. It is interesting to note that there is a ספרי brought by the ב"י in או"ח סימן רפּ"א that says “וביום שמחתכם ובמועדיכם”, ‘וביום שמחתכם - אלו שבתות which is why on Shabbos we say in davening ישמחו במלכותך. See the העמק שאלה in חיי שרה, שאילתא ט"ו:י who explains that this just refers to "שמחת הנפש יתירא" and not physical שמחה.