The in between days of Hol Hamoed TB Moed Katan

Today we begin massekhet Moed Katan. It is only three chapters long. The first two chapters discuss the laws of Hol Hamoed (חול המועד), the intermediary days of the festival. According to the Torah, Passover and Sukkot are seven days long. The first day and the last day are holy and no work is permitted on them. Are these intermediary days like the first day of the holiday (המועד) or are they like a regular weekday (חול)? Just by looking at the Hebrew חול המועד we can see that these intermediary days are somewhere in between holy and profane. The Mishnah on daf TB Moed Katan 2 begins with what melakha (מלכאה-work) is permitted and what is forbidden on Hol Hamoed.

“One may irrigate a field that requires irrigation on the intermediate days of a Festival as well as during the Sabbatical Year, both from a newly emerged spring that began to flow only during the Festival, and from a spring that did not just emerge and that has been flowing for some time. However, one may not irrigate a field with rainwater collected in a cistern, a procedure that requires excessive exertion, or with water drawn with a shadoof [kilon], a lever used to raise water with a bucket from deep down in a well…” (Sefaria.org translation) the Gemara begins to analyze what is the underpinning logic of what is permitted and what is forbidden.

Both Rashi ד"ה מַשְׁקִין בֵּית הַשְּׁלָחִין and Tosefot ד"ה מַשְׁקִין בֵּית הַשְּׁלָחִין cite the same Gemara in massekhet Haggigah daf 18a to understand the parameters of Hol Hamoed, “It is taught in another baraita: The verse states: “Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly for the Lord your God; on it, you shall do no work” (Deuteronomy 16:8). If so, just as the seventh day of the Festival is precluded from the performance of labor, so are the six intermediate Festival days precluded, since the word “and” in the phrase “and on the seventh day” connects it to the previous days.If so, perhaps: Just as the seventh day is precluded from the performance of all labor, so too the six intermediate days are precluded from the performance of all labor, even those whose performance prevents irretrievable loss.

“The verse therefore states: “And on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly,” literally, pause. This indicates that the seventh day alone is precluded from the performance of all labor, but the other six days are not precluded from the performance of all labor but only from certain forms of work. Since the Bible does not specify which types of work are prohibited, the verse has therefore entrusted the matter to the Sages exclusively, to tell you on which day work is prohibited and on which day it is permitted, and similarly which labor is prohibited and which labor is permitted.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Tosefot concludes that the verse allows the sages to teach which days a person is forbidden to do melakha and which days one is permitted to do melakha and what melakha is forbidden and what melakha is permitted. Based on today’s daf Rashi adds that monetary loss and excessive exertion are the two considerations why certain melakhot are permitted.

Here is the Gemara that Rashi bases his commentary upon. “The Gemara begins to clarify the underlying principle of the mishna, asking: Who is the anonymous tanna of the mishna who maintains that labor performed to prevent a considerable loss, such as watering a field that requires irrigation, yes, it is permitted on the intermediate days of a Festival; but labor performed to increase one’s profit, such as watering a field that ordinarily suffices with rainwater, no, it is not permitted? Furthermore, even in a case involving loss, one may not excessively exert oneself, as the tanna of the mishna renders prohibited all cases of watering fields with collected rainwater or with water drawn with a shadoof, even in a field that requires irrigation.” (Sefaria.org translation