The holiday that faces both ways: Chol HaMoed Sukkot 5785

Both Pesach and Sukkot are weeklong festivals. In Israel they are seven days in length while in the Diaspora they are a day longer. In Israel the first day is a full holiday while in the Diaspora the first two days are full holidays. The balance of the days of these holidays is called Chol HaMoed—the intermediate, less holy days of the holiday.

This extremely sophisticated concept—days that are holidays but not completely so—is a unique Jewish creation. Unlike the actual full holy days of the holidays, these intermediate days do not carry with them the entire gamut of restrictions on work. In fact, any work that is necessary for comfort or for preventing monetary loss is permissible. However, these intermediate days are not to be treated as ordinary workdays. Unnecessary work, tasks that are easily postponed till after the holidays, lawsuits and other contentious matters should not be pursued during Chol HaMoed. Therefore, in Israel and in many parts of the Diaspora, Chol HaMoed is a vacation, offering some welcome leisure time. Stores and offices are closed; entire families participate in touring, visiting friends and relatives and attending concerts and other forms of entertainment. Holiday clothing and finery is worn and festive meals are served. It is a joyous, sweet time of the year for all concerned, especially for the children who are free of school and their daily routines.

These days are a practical example of the Jewish ability to transform the everyday into the special, and the mundane into the holy. We can understand the concept of Sabbath and the holidays, times when work is inconsistent with the spirit and message of those days. But Chol HaMoed affords us an opportunity to work and not work, celebrate and yet not divorce ourselves from the demands of everyday life. This period has a rhythm of its own, being a time for family and friends, for study and reading, for relaxation and refreshment. But, even so, it is not summer vacation or midwinter break for it remains part holy—and that is what gives it its special resonance and feeling in the Jewish world.

One ancient custom of Chol HaMoed is to pay one’s respects to our great rabbis and scholars. In Israel, and in the Diaspora too the great rabbis, the Chassidic leaders, and the heads of the yeshivot all keep open house, holding court and making themselves available to visitors who may have traveled from all corners of the world to pay their respects to the Torah and its scholars. In Jerusalem, there is a special ceremony of “Blessing by the Kohanim” (priests descended from the family of Aaron), conducted at the plaza of the Western Wall. Hundreds of priests gather there to bless the tens of thousands of Jews who gather at the Wall to receive their heavenly blessing.

During Chol HaMoed of Sukkot, parties are held nightly to celebrate the “drawing of the water” service that took place in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Talmud describes how in Temple times this ceremony was celebrated with song, dance, torches and bonfires, jugglers and performers. The “drawing of the water” from the spring of Gichon, south of Jerusalem, and its libation on the altar of the Temple symbolically marked the beginning of the rainy season in Israel and the prayers for a bountiful rainfall during the winter months.

Though the Temple and its altar are not now present, the celebrations of Chol HaMoed Sukkot have survived and prospered. Throughout Jerusalem’s many neighborhoods, parties and celebrations take place. The Talmud stated that ‘sleep did not find our eyes’ at these festive Chol Hamoed nights. That still is pretty much the case for the young today during these special celebrations.

Shabbat Shalom and Moadim L’Simcha. Rabbi Berel Wein.