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By Rabbi Eliyahu (Elijah) Collins
The sacred Calendar which was given to the children of Israel is among the greatest gifts ever bestowed upon man by the Creator. These identified days of holiness found in the book of Leviticus, Chapter 23, form and sustain a bond between us and the Eternal, and our observance of these sacred times brings us into an elevated state of holiness and connection with G-d. Awareness of the Creator’s investment in our personal and national life is amplified as each Holy Day elicits our recall of a distinct act of the Creator in the unfolding of human history.
For instance, during Shabbat we reflect on how G-d commanded us to rest as he did after the six days of creation; on Passover we recall our deliverance from the tyranny of the Egyptians; on Shavuot we commemorate G-d giving us the Torah on Mt. Sinai and our giving of the first fruits at the Temple; and on Sukkot, we remember how we lived in booths, both as we wondered in the desert for forty years, and as we harvested our crops on the land. Commemoration of each one of these historical moments requires the observer of the Holy Day to be mindful of prohibited acts as well as obligatory duties in acknowledgment of the day’s holiness.
Despite the noted contrast in required rituals and Mitzvot for the Holy Days, there remain two consistent identifiers for all appointed times. The first prerequisite is that there must be a “Holy Convocation”. This requires the observers of the Holy Day to assemble with others in a public display of acknowledgment of the sacred time; most fulfill this practice through the performance of “kiddush” which is a partaking of bread and wine during a recitation of Torah passages in which the Eternal declares the day holy. The second demarcation between a Holy Day and secular time relates to prohibited or permissible work. The nature of the work allowed varied among the Holy Days. Strict adherence to the dictates regarding labor was necessary to avoid desecration of sacred time, but how are we to discern between acceptable and prohibited acts on a specific Holy Day?
The Shabbat, or seventh day of the week precedes all other sacred days. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel asserts that the “Shabbat is last in creation, first in intention”. This was a shared understanding amongst rabbinic scholars; therefore, the Shabbat became the recognized litmus that they would utilize to determine the criteria for work. The Torah explicitly states “Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, sabbath of solemn rest to the Lord; whosoever doeth any work therein shall be put to death (Exodus 35:2-). The severity of the judgment for performing prohibited work on the Shabbat necessitated a clear understanding of allowable labor and work that this forbidden.
In recognition of the word “work” being used in a general sense, the Rabbis sought for means to obtain textual clarity. They accomplished this by employing the Second “Principle of Torah Exegesis and Interpretation”, which was developed by Rabbi Yishmael. This Principle states that “From similarity of words or phrases in a text it is inferred that the law expressed in the one must also be applied to the other” https://cojs.org/sifra-_the_thirteen_hermeneutical_rules_of_rabbi_ishmael/
Subsequently, the proximity between the verse prohibiting work on the Shabbat and the immediate detailing of the tasks required in the construction of the Tent of Meeting provided a list of prohibited actions. A criterion for “work” emerged, which would come to be identified as the “39 Melakot.” This list of prohibited actions on the Sabbath would prove to be beneficial in elucidating and reconciling other Torah passages related to the observance of Holy Days.
Cooking is regarded as work and therefore not permissible on the Shabbat. During the time of the construction of the Tent of Meeting, the hide from designated animals were cooked to convert it into a covering for the Holy Meeting Place. Refraining from cooking on the Shabbat was a demonstration of holiness. Yet close examination of the holy days will reveal that several of them do not have this prohibition as means to illustrate its sanctity. What are we to make of this contrast?
A review of the ordinance of Passover found in Exodus chapter 12 contrasts between the Shabbat and other Holy Days. In the 16th verse of the chapter, we read “And on the first day there shall be a holy convocation and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation; no work must be done in them save that which every man must eat.” This caveat permitted cooking on the first and seventh day of Chag HaMatzot, which the nation of Israel is commanded by the Creator to proclaim Holy. However, as we look at the words used to describe the Holy Days, we see a subtle grouping together of the Shabbat, Yom Kippur, and the other appointed or Feast Days.
There are Holy Days that are called Shabbat Shabbaton (the Sabbath of Sabbaths): the Shabbat and Yom Kippur, on which all work is prohibited. Then, there are the other Holy Days, which are not described as a Shabbat Shabbaton: Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Pesach, and Shavuot. These are days on which servile work (work that is not required to perform the Mitzvot of the Holiday) is not permitted, but tasks that are performed which are directly related to the Mitzvot of the Holy Day are permissible. Implementation of Rabbi Yishmael’s Second principle of Torah interpretation leads us to safely conclude that cooking is permitted on all Holidays, excluding Shabbat and Yom Kippur.
Maintaining the Holiness associated with each sacred day can be challenging. Because the sacred calendar is fluid and the days of the week for certain Holy Days vary, there is a high probability that one Holy Day may intersect with another. Great foresight and preparation are necessary to avoid inadvertently compromising the sanctity of one Holy Day for another impending sacred time. This is especially true when a feast, which is observed for two days, precedes the Shabbat. To help mitigate the issues that can occur under this situation, the Rabbis instituted “Eruv Tavshillin.” The execution of this practice is clearly described in the Mishna: “If a festival fell on the eve of the Shabbat, he may prepare a dish on the eve of the festival and rely upon it to prepare food for the Shabbat. One who prepares food and designates a dish for the Shabbat may then continue to prepare food for the Shabbat on the festival (Beitza 15B).” In this manner consecutive Holy Days can be met with the required joy and gladness without desecration by prohibited labor.
Through various means we have come to see why cooking is permissible on some Holy Days. This understanding has been substantiated through our review of De’oraitas (law derived from the Torah) examination of Hebrew terminology and commentary provided by our esteemed Sages. Prayerfully, this brief essay helped to clarify the distinction between Shabbat, Yom Kippur, and the Feast Days.
May we all experience the divine presence in the joy and gladness that the Creator intended when he privileged us to connect with Him through the sacredness of time.
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