Moed Katan 12 - January 24, 22 Shvat - a podcast by Michelle Cohen Farber

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Today’s daf is sponsored by Judith Weil in loving memory of Rabbi Simcha Krauss who passed away this past Thursday. “A gadol hador who believed history will judge us on the issue of Agunot and so devoted his life and extraordinary knowledge and abilities to ameliorate their plight. Yehi zichro baruch.”

Today’s daf is sponsored anonymously to show love and support for women undergoing IVF. 

If gentiles do work for a Jew on Yom Tov or Shabbat as a contract worker (one who gets paid for the job not per hour), they can do it only if the property is outside of techum Shabbat as otherwise people will think the Jew hired them as day workers on Shabbat. This is only if there is no other city right nearby that is inhabited by Jews. But on chol hamoed, since Jews can travel beyond the techum, it is forbidden even outside the techum. Several cases are brought where rabbis were stringent as they felt that since others look up to them, they have to keep to a higher standard. Several times the Gemara brings this to explain why someone was stringent when the halakha permitted it. If one gets paid for work on chol hamoed, then that work should not be done. One can give items to a gentile worker who is working as a contract worker in order for it to be returned after the holiday. One cannot mate animals on chol hamoed but can put them in an enclosed area, hoping they will mate. One cannot enclose animals in a field in order to fertilize the field on Shabbat, Yom Tov or chol hamoed. If one has a gentile shepherd, one cannot send the gentile any gentile workers to help. If the gentile works for the week/month/year, then one can send him workers to help. The Mishna brings a parallel case to the previous Mishna regarding a wine press instead of an olive press. Why are both necessary? Rav said that laws of chol hamoed are so complicated as the cases are very specific and it is hard to know what general rules can be learned from them. They are also compared to laws of Shabbat as many things are permitted and yet forbidden. A number of rabbis harvested their fields even though it says in a braita that one cannot deal with crops that are attached to the ground. How is this resolved? One can grind for the purposes of the holiday. Can one "pretend" that one needs more even if one does not really? What if there just happens to be extra? One can cut a palm tree even if one only needs the sawdust, however Abaye cursed anyone who did this. A story regarding Rav Ashi who did this is brought in the Gemara. One can bring in fruits to protect from theft and other items to protect from getting ruined, as long as one did not delay this in order to do it specifically on the holiday. This, however can only be done privately, which means during the day and not at night. Why is daytime considered more private?

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