Resources for Moed Katan 24

1.     The גמרא says that a רגל is מבטל שבעה and has a discussion whether ר"ה and יוה"כ count as רגלים as well. The גמרא never discusses ימים טובים דרבנן. There is a fascinating discussion in the ראשונים as to what the status of פּורים is. תוספות on דף כ"ג in ד"ה מאן says that the reason that שבת is עולה for the מנין שבעה is because it doesn’t say “שמחה” by שבת (it only says עונג ) and only “שמחה” is a direct contradiction to the concept of אבילות. See the רא"ש here in סימן פּ"ה who brings the ספר המקצועות who points out that by פּורים it says “ימי משתה ושמחה”. Consequently, פּורים counts as a רגל and is מבטל the שבעה. However, he brings from the מהר"ם מרוטנבורק who says that from the fact that our משנה says that even after the בית המקדש was destroyed ר"ה and יוה"כ count as רגלים and doesn’t add פּורים is a proof that פּורים is not considered a רגל and is not מבטל שבעה. He does say though that even though it isn’t מבטל שבעה, one is not נוהג אבילות on פּורים since כלל ישראל were מקבל them as  ימי משתה ושמחה. Nonetheless, דברים שבצנעה are נוהג as it isn’t better than שבת. See the רמב"ם in הלכות אבל פּרק י"א הל' ג  who disagrees with both opinions mentioned above and paskens that all דיני אבילות  are נוהג. Interestingly, see the מחבר in יו"ד in סימן ת"א סעיף ז who paskens like the מהר"ם, and in או"ח סימן תרצ"ו he paskens like the רמב"ם! The מפרשים explain that the מחבר is מחמיר only for אבילות יום ראשון which he holds is דאורייתא, whereas in יו"ד he was talking about the other days of שבעה and there he is מקיל.

2.     The גמרא says that if a child is less than thirty days old he is not buried in any box or coffin. See the חידושי הר"ן who brings from רבינו נחשון גאון who says that if a child dies before they were eight days old, they give him a ברית מילה (without a ברכה) before they bury him and give him a name so that when there is תחיית המתים he will know who is father is. He also adds from the זוהר that מלאכי השרת give the child a ברית מילה and put his ערלה on the מומרים who had a ברית מילה so it should look in heaven as if the מומרים were ערילים.

3.     The גמרא brings a מחלוקת תנאים whether when one buries a small child רח"ל if one man can go out with two women to bury the child or not. The חכמים are מחמיר and אבא שאול is מקיל. See the רמב"ם in הלכות איסורי ביאה, פּרק כ"ב הל' ח who paskens that one woman can never have יחוד even with many men. The מפרשי הרמב"ם ask that this seems to be against everyone’s opinion, since both תנאים here seem to have allowed that! See the לחם משנה there who explains as follows: תוספות here in ד"ה אבא שאול explains that even though everyone agrees that one cannot have יחוד with one man and two women, by the case of burial אבא שאול is lenient since there is little יצר הרע at a time of burial. The לחם משנה explains that the רמב"ם must have learned the same thing in the רבנן; meaning they only allowed two men with one woman because it was a case of burial, but if there was no burial it would not be allowed.