JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

festivals
the great rejoicings on Passover (Ezra 6:22; II Chron. 30:21ff.)
and those “on the first day of the seventh month” (Neh. 8:2,
9ff.). These celebrations, especially when the people gathered
in the Temple, are testified to by Isaiah: “Ye shall have a song as
in the night when a feast is hallowed; And gladness of heart, as
when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the
Lord to the Rock of Israel” (30:29). The festivals are therefore
referred to as days of mirth, gladness, and joy. It seems that
the rejoicing of the people at the golden calf – “[they] offered
burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings and the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to make merry” (Ex.
32:6) – was typical of all festive celebrations, in which the huge
feast as well as dancing occupied a prominent place. The celebrations
were, however, limited by the sanctity of the festival,
and there is no hint in the Bible of the orgies, wildness, and
promiscuous abandon connected with the pagan festivals in
the ancient Near East. The Pentateuch even stresses the fact
that the rejoicings are of the whole community, including
slaves, and commands not to forget the levite, the proselyte,
the orphan, or the widow (Deut. 16:11, 14). During the early
Second Temple period it was customary to send presents to
the needy on the festivals (Neh. 8:10–12).
In the Apocrypha and Hellenistic Jewish Literature
During the early Second Temple period the laws of the Sabbath
and festivals came to be very strictly observed. The festivals
were celebrated with great rejoicings and it was customary
to invite the poor to the feasting (Tob. 2:1–2). Many would go
up to Jerusalem on all the festivals. During the persecutions
of Antiochus, observance of the Sabbath and festivals was
forbidden. *Demetrius, however, declared the Sabbaths, New
Moons, and festivals, including three days before and after, to
be holidays for all Jews in the Seleucid kingdom (testified to in
his letter to Jonathan the Maccabee; I Macc. 10:34).
In contrast to the Greek and Roman festival celebrations
which were accompanied by gluttonous, drunken, and bacchanalian
revelries, Hellenistic Jewish writers stressed the uniqueness
of the Jewish festivals. *Philo claims that the cessation
of work on the festival was a possible danger since eating and
drinking arouse lust and other low instincts. Giving vent to
these feelings without restriction could lead to vice and limitless
evil since the festival would serve as a protective means
against retribution. The lawgiver therefore did not permit
his people to celebrate their festivals in the way of other nations
but commanded them first to purify themselves through
the restriction of their desires for pleasure at the very time
of their celebrations. Then they were to gather at the Temple
to participate in the hymns, prayers, and sacrifices so that
the place, the sight, and the service would influence their
finer senses – sight and hearing – with a spirit of piety. Last
but not least, by commanding the sacrifice of a sin-offering,
he warned the people to stop sinning; for it seems that a person
would not transgress at the very time he asks for forgiveness.
Those gathered for the festive banquet do not come to
stuff themselves with meat and wine like other nations, but
through prayers and psalms follow the tradition of their
forefathers. Therefore the Day of Atonement is also a festival
though the partaking of food is forbidden and there is
no wild rejoicing, merrymaking, and dancing accompanied
by song and music which arouse uncontrollable desires. Ignorance
of the nature of true happiness leads people to assume
that on the festivals joy is to be achieved through physical
indulgences (Philo, Spec. 2:193–4). Philo further states that
the true significance of the festival is to find pleasure and
enjoyment through meditation about the world and the harmony
existing in it (ibid., 2:52). Were man’s virtue constantly
to rule his desires, his whole life, from his birth to the day he
dies, would be one long festival (ibid., 2:42).
In Talmudic Literature
The term ḥaggim, as referring to Jewish festivals, hardly occurs
in rabbinical literature (except in prayers which are in
an archaic language). Instead, the festivals mentioned in the
Bible are called mo’adot. Mo’ed (though not ha-mo’ed) in the
singular is mostly applied to the intermediate days, especially
to distinguish them from festival days on which no work at all
is allowed. These are usually called yom tov. As in the Bible,
yom tov was also applied in rabbinic literature to days of rejoicing
(general or private) not mentioned in the Pentateuch, and
on which work was allowed. These were either new festivals
ordained for all times or days of rejoicing for certain events.
It is doubtful whether the Day of Atonement was included in
the term yom tov (but see Ta’an. 4:8).
The commandment concerning the feast of unleavened
bread, that “… no manner of work shall be done in them…,
save that which every man must eat, that only may be done
by you” (Ex. 12:16), was interpreted by the sages to mean
that work, for purposes of eating, is allowed on all those festivals
(Sif. Num. 147) on which “servile work” is prohibited
by the Pentateuch. (In contrast to the Sabbath and the Day
of Atonement where it is ordained “ye shall do no work.”)
The types of work forbidden on the Sabbath but allowed on
yom tov for the purpose of eating (Beẓah 5:2) are kneading,
baking, slaughtering, skinning, salting, cutting, burning, and
carrying (the last two are also permitted for purposes other
than eating; Beẓah 12a–b). Hunting, reaping, sheaf binding,
threshing, winnowing, selecting, and grinding are forbidden
(as to sifting, opinion is divided). Types of work for the indirect
preparation of food (שפנ לכוא ירישכמ) are permitted.
The differentiation between the types of work allowed and
those forbidden is apparently based on customs prevalent at
the time. Except for the work permitted for the sake of food
and some other minor allowances made (see Beẓah 5:1), everything
forbidden on the Sabbath is also forbidden on the
festivals. Moreover, the prohibition of handling *mukẓeh
(non-usable) objects is stricter on the festivals than on the
Sabbath so that the festival prohibitions should not be taken
lightly (Beẓah 2a–b).
The festivals are also similar to the Sabbath in rejoicing
and in honoring the day. All halakhic Midrashim interpret the
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