A Look at Cessation on Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur (Column 232)

With God's help

 

In this column I am posting a lecture (almost entirely unedited) that I gave regarding the meaning of Tisha B'Av in comparison to Yom Kippur. It can be studied on the Sabbath (I deal here with Jewish law and with its meaning as well, and therefore this falls under the category of "Torah as an object of study" that is forbidden to study on Tisha B'Av). May we all hear good tidings.

Affliction as Cessation

In Parashat Emor we find (Leviticus 23:26-32):

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: But on the tenth day of this seventh month, it is the Day of Atonement; it shall be a sacred occasion for you, and you shall afflict yourselves, and you shall bring a fire-offering to the Lord. And you shall do no labor on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person who will not afflict himself on that very day shall be cut off from his people. And any person who does any labor on that very day—I will destroy that person from among his people. You shall do no labor; it is an everlasting statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall afflict yourselves; on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe your Sabbath.

And in Parashat Pinchas, before the additional offerings of Yom Kippur, the Torah prefaces this by saying (Numbers 29:7):

And on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a sacred occasion for you, and you shall afflict yourselves; you shall do no labor.

In these two sources, the Torah binds together cessation from labor with cessation from eating and drinking (that is, cessation from pleasures). Plainly, it seems that both of these are called "cessation". So too in Parashat Acharei Mot, where there is a detailed command regarding the service of entry into the holy:

(1) The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons, when they drew near before the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses: Speak to Aaron your brother, that he not come at all times into the Sanctuary, inside the curtain, before the cover that is on the Ark, lest he die; for in a cloud I appear upon the cover. With this shall Aaron come into the Sanctuary: with a young bull for a sin-offering and a ram for a burnt-offering…

And at the end of that passage there is a command to do this every Yom Kippur, once a year (Leviticus 16):

 (29) And it shall be for you an everlasting statute: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves, and you shall do no labor, neither the native-born nor the stranger who resides among you. For on this day He shall make atonement for you, to purify you; from all your sins before the Lord you shall be purified. It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is an everlasting statute. And the priest whom he shall anoint and whose hand he shall fill to serve as priest in place of his father shall make atonement, and he shall put on the linen garments, the sacred garments. And he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and for the Tent of Meeting, and for the altar he shall make atonement; and for the priests and for all the people of the assembly he shall make atonement. And this shall be for you an everlasting statute, to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded Moses.

In Parashat Emor, with regard to the Sabbath and Yom Kippur, the term "a Sabbath of complete rest" appears. Nachmanides (Leviticus 23:2) writes:

Now it says, “These are the appointed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions; these are My appointed times,” with regard to occupational labor; but you must keep the Sabbath, making it a Sabbath of complete rest from every kind of labor in the world, for Scripture warns about the Sabbath many times. It further hints here that even when one of the festivals occurs, it does not override this so as to permit food preparation on it.

He explains that on a Jewish holiday the cessation is from "occupational labor", and therefore food preparation was permitted. But on the Sabbath and on Yom Kippur even food-preparation labors are forbidden. The essence of the cessation is not from "occupational labor" but from labor in general (including food-preparation labors). This is a fuller cessation, and therefore it is called "a Sabbath of complete rest".

Why indeed is Yom Kippur defined as a "complete rest", such that food-preparation labors are forbidden on it, like the Sabbath? Rashbam (Leviticus 23:27) wrote:

But “on the tenth,” etc.—on the other festivals, the labor of preparing food is permitted, while occupational labor is forbidden. But on Yom Kippur, which is a day of affliction, all labor is forbidden as on the Sabbath.

And likewise in Hizkuni (Leviticus 23:28):

"You shall do no labor"—as on the Sabbath, because it is both a festival and a fast day. But on the other festivals it says, "You shall do no occupational labor"; however, labor for food preparation is permitted. We have heard the prohibition—where do we derive the punishment? Scripture says: "And I will destroy."

From both of them emerges the conception that because eating is forbidden on Yom Kippur, there is no longer any justification for permitting food-preparation labors. Thus, in essence Yom Kippur is like a festival, but there is no need to permit food-preparation labors because one does not eat, and therefore de facto it is like the Sabbath. That is, on their view the distinction between Yom Kippur and a festival, and the comparison to the Sabbath, is accidental. The expression "a Sabbath of complete rest" receives a technical meaning, at least regarding Yom Kippur (or else it is generally a technical expression, or on the Sabbath it is essential—after all, on the Sabbath one does eat and nevertheless food-preparation labors are forbidden—and only on Yom Kippur is it technical).

However, there is another possibility: to explain that Yom Kippur is essentially a "a Sabbath of complete rest", since as we have seen there is also an obligation of cessation from food and drink, and therefore there is no basis to distinguish between food-preparation labor and servile labor. According to this proposal, Yom Kippur is called "a Sabbath of complete rest" because one ceases on it from food consumption itself, and therefore also from food-preparation labor. According to this, the affliction is part of the commandment of cessation on Yom Kippur.

And indeed, in Parashat Acharei Mot, immediately after the expression "a Sabbath of complete rest", the command of affliction appears, implying that affliction is part of the commandment of cessation. Likewise, at the beginning of chapter 8 of Yoma the afflictions are derived from the word "complete rest" (74a):

For Rabbah and Rav Yosef taught in the other books of the school of Rav: From where do we know that on Yom Kippur bathing, anointing, wearing shoes, and marital relations are forbidden? Scripture says: “shabbaton”—cessation.

However, Rashi there writes:

"Shabbaton"—and it is written in connection with affliction. Just as with the “shabbaton” said regarding the Sabbath, the Sages associated with it other acts that were not part of the Tabernacle labors and are not full-fledged labor, so too this “shabbaton” said regarding affliction, as it is written, “It is a shabbaton for you, and you shall afflict yourselves,” comes to add to the affliction beyond eating and drinking.

Rashi's meaning is not entirely clear. Does he mean that cessation has nothing to do with affliction, and that the word "complete rest" is merely an inclusive expansion? It is more plausible that he means to say that the affliction is part of the cessation, and therefore "complete rest" comes to include further afflictions beyond eating and drinking.

So too we find there on 76a:

Eating is forbidden. To what do these five afflictions correspond? Rav Hisda said: They correspond to the five references to affliction in the Torah: “And on the tenth” (Numbers 29); “But on the tenth” (Leviticus 23); “a Sabbath of complete rest” (Leviticus 23); and “a Sabbath of complete rest” and “and it shall be for you” (Leviticus 16).

However, Rashi there writes:

"And on the tenth"—in Numbers, and "But on the tenth" in the section “ox or sheep,” “a Sabbath of complete rest,” etc.—in all of them it is written, “you shall afflict” or “and you shall afflict.”

Seemingly, this means that only the expressions of affliction are being counted, and the terms "Sabbath" and "complete rest" are merely reminders of the verses and are not themselves being counted. Even so, their very use calls for interpretation.

From here it would seem that affliction too is the cessation, and not only labor. The expression "a Sabbath of complete rest" refers to food-preparation labor but also to eating itself (and also to the other afflictions). According to this, Yom Kippur is indeed a "a Sabbath of complete rest", even more so than the Sabbath.

The clearest expression of these ideas is found in Maimonides, in the Laws of Resting on the Tenth. First, the very name given to these laws, "cessation on the tenth", even though they deal mainly with the law of affliction and hardly at all with the laws of cessation from labor (which are included in the Laws of the Sabbath and Jewish Holidays). This indicates that affliction belongs to the laws of cessation on Yom Kippur. From Maimonides' wording it emerges that the words "a Sabbath of complete rest" are expounded twice: once with respect to the afflictions, and a second time with respect to labor. That is, on his view the sweeping prohibition of labor (including food-preparation labors) is not derived from the fact that eating is forbidden. These are two independent extensions of the obligation of cessation.

We will now cite his language at the beginning of the Laws of Resting on the Tenth:

Law 1: It is a positive commandment to cease from labor on the tenth day of the seventh month, as it is said, “It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you”; and anyone who performs labor on it has neglected a positive commandment and violated a prohibition, as it is said, “And on the tenth,” etc., “you shall do no labor.” And what is he liable for performing labor on this day? If he did so deliberately and willingly, he is liable to karet; if he did so unintentionally, he is liable to bring a fixed sin-offering.

Law 2: Any labor for which one is liable to stoning on the Sabbath, one is liable to karet for doing deliberately on the tenth day; and anything for which one is liable to a sin-offering on the Sabbath, one is liable to a sin-offering for on Yom Kippur. Anything forbidden to do on the Sabbath, even though it is not labor, is forbidden to do on Yom Kippur; and if one did it, he is given disciplinary lashes just as he is on the Sabbath. Anything forbidden to move on the Sabbath is forbidden to move on Yom Kippur; and anything forbidden to say or do ab initio on the Sabbath is likewise forbidden on Yom Kippur. In sum, there is no difference between the Sabbath and Yom Kippur in these matters except that deliberate labor on the Sabbath incurs stoning, while on Yom Kippur it incurs karet.

Law 3: It is permitted to trim vegetables on Yom Kippur from the afternoon onward. What is meant by trimming? Removing the spoiled leaves, cutting the rest, and preparing it for eating. Likewise, one may crack nuts and separate pomegranates from the afternoon onward because of anguish of soul. But when Yom Kippur falls on the Sabbath, trimming vegetables, cracking nuts, and separating pomegranates are forbidden the entire day. The people have already adopted the custom in Shinar and in the West not to do any of these things on the fast day; rather, it is like the Sabbath in every respect.

Law 4: There is another positive commandment on Yom Kippur, namely, to refrain from eating and drinking, as it is said, “you shall afflict yourselves.” By the received tradition they learned that the affliction that affects the person is the fast. Whoever fasts on it fulfills a positive commandment, and whoever eats or drinks on it neglects a positive commandment and violates a prohibition, as it is said, “For any person who will not afflict himself on that very day shall be cut off.” Since Scripture imposed karet on one who did not afflict himself, we learn that we are warned regarding eating and drinking on it. Anyone who eats or drinks on it inadvertently is liable to bring a fixed sin-offering.

Law 5: So too we learned by tradition that it is forbidden to bathe on it, or to anoint oneself, or to wear shoes, or to engage in intercourse; and it is a commandment to refrain from all these just as one refrains from eating and drinking, as it is said, “a Sabbath of complete rest”—“Sabbath” with respect to eating, and “complete rest” with respect to these matters. But one is liable to karet or an offering only for eating and drinking; if, however, one bathed, anointed, wore shoes, or had intercourse, he is given disciplinary lashes.

Law 6: Just as ceasing from labor applies both by day and by night, so too ceasing for affliction applies both by day and by night. One must add from the ordinary onto the holy at its entrance and at its departure, as it is said, “And you shall afflict yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening”—that is, begin fasting and afflicting oneself from the evening of the ninth adjacent to the tenth. So too at its conclusion, one remains in affliction a bit into the night of the eleventh adjacent to the tenth, as it is said, “From evening to evening shall you observe your Sabbath.”

The Sefer HaChinukh too, commandment 313, writes similarly:

To fast on the tenth day of Tishrei, which is called Yom Kippur, as it is said, “On the tenth day of the month,” etc., “and you shall afflict yourselves.” The explanation is given in Sifra: affliction that is a deprivation of life. What is that? Eating and drinking. So too did the Sages, of blessed memory, explain it in the Talmud (Yoma 74b). It has also been received by tradition that bathing, anointing, wearing shoes, and marital relations are forbidden on that day. The language of the Sifra is: From where do we know that Yom Kippur is forbidden in bathing, anointing, wearing shoes, and marital relations? Scripture says, “a Sabbath of complete rest”—that is, the doubling of cessation indicates cessation from these activities and cessation from nourishment of the body.

The cessation is double: from one's activities (labor and productivity) and from the body's nourishment.

What is the meaning of this double cessation? Seemingly, it is rooted in the beginning of Parashat Acharei Mot, where we see that the whole passage concerns entry into the holy, and the obligation of affliction and cessation from labor forms the background that the entire community provides for the priest who enters the Holy of Holies. This is part of the entry into the holy, which requires suspension. On all the festivals there is an encounter with the Holy One, blessed be He, that requires partial cessation (only from servile labor and not from food-preparation labor); on the Sabbath, the encounter requires a broader cessation (also from food-preparation labor); and on Yom Kippur still more so, also from pleasures. It is a complete suspension of our own affairs for the sake of an encounter with the Holy One, blessed be He. Below we shall see that absolute suspension is required only on Tisha B'Av.

Comparison to Tisha B'Av

From this, one may perhaps also explain the connection to Tisha B'Av.

The Talmud in Pesachim 54b discusses the twilight period of Tisha B'Av, and in that context cites a baraita that rules:

There is no difference between the Ninth of Av and Yom Kippur except that the uncertainty of this one is forbidden, while the uncertainty of that one is permitted. What does “its uncertainty is permitted” mean? Is it not twilight? No—it is as Rav Shisha son of Rav Idi said: with regard to fixing the month. Here too: with regard to fixing the month.

Seemingly, this is a complete comparison between Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur. The only exception is that on Tisha B'Av there is no need to observe two days out of doubt, unlike Yom Kippur. In all other respects, Tisha B'Av is identical to Yom Kippur: its twilight is forbidden like the day itself, one is obligated in the five afflictions, pregnant and nursing women fast and complete the day, and its night is like its day.

The medieval authorities note that there are nevertheless several other differences between these two days: 1. One involves karet, whereas the other is only an ordinary prohibition. 2. Tosafot adds the Ne'ilah prayer (and there are also differences in the liturgy and in the order of the service, but that is because there are differences in the offerings. The comparison concerns only the commandments of the day). 3. Tosafot also mentions the permission to do labor in a place where that was the practice. 4. Tosafot, s.v. "for fixing the month", adds a difference with respect to the additional extension of sacred time. 5. See Lechem Mishneh on Laws of Fasts 5:10 and the commentaries there, where additional differences are discussed.

Tosafot explains that these differences were not brought in the baraita because it dealt only with prohibition and permission stemming from the laws of the day itself (and not with the additional extension).

At first glance, this comparison appears accidental. For some reason the laws are almost identical, but this came about by chance. Severe fasts look similar to one another. And indeed the Sefer HaChinukh writes there that the underlying rationales are entirely different: Yom Kippur is a day of repentance and atonement, whereas Tisha B'Av is a day of mourning and pain.

But the Sefer HaChinukh itself, in commandment 313, after completing the discussion of Yom Kippur, goes on to discuss Tisha B'Av:

I will also mention here what the Sages, of blessed memory, said regarding the fast of the Ninth of Av, which is known to be rabbinic. Although these two days are very far apart in their rationale and in all their particulars, since the term “fast” includes them both, we will say a little about it. I will inform you that the Sages were stringent about it in every respect, as on Yom Kippur: one must stop while it is still day, and bathing, anointing, wearing shoes, and marital relations are forbidden. Pregnant and nursing women fast on it like everyone else, which they do not do on any of the other fasts…

This requires explanation. After all, as he himself writes, there is no connection at all between the contents of these two days, and the similarity in the laws is merely accidental. So why does the Sefer HaChinukh bring the laws of Tisha B'Av within the laws of Yom Kippur?

One might have thought that on both days we are meant to repent, and therefore also to fast, though for different reasons. But this too is difficult, both in the context of Yom Kippur and of Tisha B'Av. On Yom Kippur the fast is not necessarily part of the laws of repentance, but rather part of the laws of elevation and detachment from matter. As we saw in Maimonides above, the affliction belongs to the law of cessation on Yom Kippur. This is the law of "cessation on the tenth". So too the Sefer HaChinukh writes there:

Among the roots of the commandment is that it was among God's kindnesses to all His creatures to establish for them one day each year to atone for sins together with repentance, as I wrote at length in the section Aharei Mot, positive commandment 1. Therefore we were commanded to fast on it, because food and drink and the other pleasures of the sense of touch arouse the material side of a person to be drawn after desire and sin, and they impede the form of the wise soul from seeking truth, which is the service of God and His good and sweet discipline for all people of understanding. It is not fitting for a servant, on the day he comes to judgment before his Master, to come with a darkened and confused soul because of food and drink, amid the material thoughts within him, for a person is judged only according to his deeds at that moment. Therefore it is good for him to strengthen his wise soul and humble the material side before it on that honored day, so that it may be fit and prepared to receive its atonement, and not be prevented by the screen of desires.

He explains that the fast does not come to express or create pain, but to detach from matter and from the body.

And on Tisha B'Av too the fast is not a matter of repentance but a matter of pain and mourning. Repentance here is a side issue, if at all.

If so, the halakhic similarity is surprising, and the difference from the other fasts only strengthens that surprise. The other fasts too are meant to occasion repentance, and yet their laws are different. Tisha B'Av is also a rabbinic fast, like the other fasts, and therefore the fact that it is compared to Yom Kippur rather than to the other fasts calls for explanation.

The Prohibition of Labor on Tisha B'Av

Now, in the Mishnah in Pesachim there, we find the following law:

Mishnah: In a place where the custom is to do labor on the Ninth of Av, one may do labor. In a place where the custom is not to do labor, one may not do labor. And everywhere, Torah scholars refrain from work. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: A person should always present himself as a Torah scholar.

It appears that everything depends on custom, and yet it is clear that there is a value in not doing labor. Usually there is reason not to behave like a Torah scholar if one is not really such a person, because of pretentiousness. But here the Mishnah instructs us that it is fitting for all of us to do so.

This Mishnah is cited in the sugya in Ta'anit 30b, and in Tosafot s.v. "whoever does", there, they wrote regarding it:

Whoever does labor on the Ninth of Av will never see a sign of blessing—meaning, in that labor which he regularly does on the Ninth of Av, he will never see a sign of blessing.

This implies that they understand the prohibition of labor as labor that distracts one's attention from the fast. And this indeed also emerges from the Talmud there:

We learned there: In a place where the custom is to do labor on the Ninth of Av, one may do labor; in a place where the custom is not to do labor, one may not do labor; and everywhere Torah scholars refrain from work. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Every person should always present himself as a Torah scholar. So too it was taught in a baraita: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: A person should always present himself as a Torah scholar, so that he may fast. Another baraita taught: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Whoever eats and drinks on the Ninth of Av is as though he were eating and drinking on Yom Kippur. Rabbi Akiva says: Whoever does labor on the Ninth of Av will never see a sign of blessing. And the Sages say: Whoever does labor on the Ninth of Av and does not mourn for Jerusalem will not see her joy, as it is said: “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad with her, all who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all who mourn over her.” From here they said: Whoever mourns for Jerusalem merits and sees her joy, and whoever does not mourn for Jerusalem does not see her joy. So too it was taught in a baraita: Whoever eats meat and drinks wine on the Ninth of Av—about him Scripture says: “and their iniquities shall be upon their bones.”

We see that the purpose of not doing labor is to avoid distracting one's attention from the affliction. If so, the labors under discussion are earning a livelihood and the like, and regarding that they said that such work will not bear a sign of blessing (that is, one will not profit from it).

But in Tosafot s.v. "There is no difference between", in Pesachim there, a difficulty is raised from the force of this Mishnah against the baraita cited above:

"There is no difference between the Ninth of Av and Yom Kippur"—the fact that it does not mention labor, which is permitted on the Ninth of Av in a place where that is the custom, seems to Rabbi Isaac to be because at the end it states that labor is permitted in connection with the clause, "There is no difference between the Ninth of Av and a public fast."

Tosafot explains that for those who had the custom to do labor there is yet another difference between Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av, but they answer that this was already brought earlier.

But Tosafot's words are very puzzling. Even in a place where the custom was not to do labor, there is no similarity to Yom Kippur. On Tisha B'Av the discussion concerns labors that distract the mind from the fast, whereas on Yom Kippur these are the thirty-nine primary categories of labor and their derivatives, as on every Sabbath and festival.

From Tosafot's words it appears that in those places where labor is forbidden on Tisha B'Av, this is like Yom Kippur. Seemingly, this implies that in those places where the custom was to prohibit labor on Tisha B'Av, the prohibition falls on the thirty-nine primary categories of labor by virtue of cessation. If so, the similarity between Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur grows stronger, and it includes the prohibition of labor as well. There is something in Tisha B'Av of the cessation of Yom Kippur.

One should also note that Tosafot, who asked why the prohibition of labor was not mentioned, could have answered that here the discussion concerns only the laws of the fast and not the laws of labor. According to our approach, this is very well understood, for the prohibition of labor too is part of the law of affliction, and the affliction too is part of the law of cessation. It is an inseparable part of that very same law.

However, the Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayyim 554:22, writes:

In a place where the custom is to do labor on the Ninth of Av, one may do labor; in a place where the custom is not to do labor, one may not do labor. And everywhere Torah scholars refrain from work, and anyone who wishes to present himself as a Torah scholar in this respect may do so. Even in a place where the custom is not to do labor, it is permitted through a non-Jew, even in one’s house. Commercial activity for profit and gain, in a place where the custom is not to do labor, is forbidden; and in a place where the custom is to do labor, it is permitted, though one should reduce it, for even from the beginning of Av one reduces business dealings.

Gloss: The custom is to observe the labor prohibition only until midday (Minhagim). And the custom is to be stringent until midday regarding any labor that takes some time, even ordinary work; but something that takes no time, such as lighting candles or tying and the like, is permitted. As for milking cows, it is preferable to have it done by a non-Jew, if that is possible.

From the wording of the Rema we see clearly that the discussion concerns labor that takes some time, without any connection to the Sabbath categories of labor. And so too all the commentaries there write. For example, the Magen Avraham (see also Machatzit HaShekel there), sec. 23:

Not to do labor—so that they not divert their attention from mourning (Bartenura on chapter 4 of Pesachim).

But the author of Terumat HaDeshen, sec. 153, discusses the law of milking on Tisha B'Av:

Question: On the Ninth of Av, is it permitted to milk cows and other animals, or must it be done through non-Jews?

Responsum: It appears that at first glance it is permitted. For on Hol HaMoed, where there is a prohibition against labor according to Rabbenu Tam and Rabbi Isaac on a rabbinic level, and according to some of the Geonim on a Torah level, even so it is plainly permitted to milk the animals oneself. If so, all the more so on the Ninth of Av, which is only a custom, as we learned in the chapter “Makom SheNahagu” (Pesachim 54b): “In a place where the custom is to do labor on the Ninth of Av,” etc. And we also learned, “In a place where the custom is to do work on the fourteenth,” etc., which suggests somewhat that the law of labor on the Ninth of Av and on the fourteenth is one and the same, and both are more lenient than Hol HaMoed, as stated there.

However, it seems that one should distinguish: on Hol HaMoed the prohibition of labor is because of cessation, so the Sages permitted ordinary labor, labor that is not burdensome, and whatever is needed for the joy of the festival. But refraining from labor on the Ninth of Av is because of affliction, as stated in the final chapter of Ta'anit (30b): Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says, A person should always present himself as a Torah scholar so that he may fast. Rashi explains there: so that he may fast—that is, for them the affliction was that they were idle from labor. According to this rationale, one could say that any labor, whether burdensome or not, and even ordinary labor, if it takes some time and one occupies himself with it, should not be done on the Ninth of Av, because thereby one interrupts the affliction. This excludes lighting candles, tying, or untying, which involve no duration and are certainly plainly permitted on the Ninth of Av. Likewise, labors that the Sages permitted for the joy of the festival should certainly not be done on the Ninth of Av, just as the Geonim ruled that a mourner may not do during his mourning any labor that the Sages permitted for the sake of festival joy; and it may be said that the same applies to the Ninth of Av.

In Mordechai at the end of tractate Ta'anit he wrote in the name of Raavyah that nowadays the custom is not to do labor on the Ninth of Av, in accordance with Rabbi Akiva, who said: Whoever does labor on the Ninth of Av is as though he were doing labor on Yom Kippur. However, I was very astonished by these words of Raavyah, for in all the texts available to us Rabbi Akiva says nothing about labor; rather, he says: Whoever eats and drinks on the Ninth of Av, etc. It is Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel who says there: Whoever does labor on the Ninth of Av will never see a sign of blessing, and that is the wording used by Rav Alfasi and the Rosh in their works. I was also astonished by what was said above, that one should present himself as a Torah scholar in order that he may fast; that is, the affliction for them consists in refraining from labor. For this reason we distinguished between labor on Hol HaMoed and labor on the Ninth of Av. In the first chapter of Ta'anit (12b) it asks: Granted, all the others are pleasurable acts and therefore they prohibited them on a public fast decreed because of rain—but why is labor prohibited? It is a hardship for him! Evidently, refraining from labor is, on the contrary, a pleasure for him and not an affliction. As for what the great authorities wrote, that one should not slaughter or prepare until after midday, and so it appeared, the reason is not the prohibition of labor but because when they occupy themselves with preparing food they interrupt the affliction. Specifically after midday, when the day declines and one longs to eat, there is, on the contrary, distress of soul when one deals with food. So Rashi explained in the chapter “Ve’elu Kesharim” (Shabbat 115a, s.v. motah). Gloss: However, I found in one commentary on tractate Ta'anit that Rashi explained that statement—“A person should always present himself as a Torah scholar so that he may fast”—differently. However, I found a responsum in the name of Raavyah as follows: On the Ninth of Av we are in a place where the custom is not to do labor. Therefore our holy forefathers equated their practice on the Ninth of Av and on Yom Kippur, that one should not slaughter or prepare for the evening meal until after midday, just as on Yom Kippur trimming vegetables is permitted from the afternoon onward. End quote. From here it appears that the reason is the labor prohibition that they adopted by custom, and so too this seems from the earlier Mordechai citing Raavyah. Therefore I hesitate to permit it, because he wrote that our holy forefathers equated their practice, etc.; thus it is best to be stringent, if possible, by means of non-Jews.

If so, Terumat HaDeshen cites in the name of Rashi in our sugya (the wording is not found in our text) that the prohibition of labor is because of affliction, and therefore even unskilled labor was forbidden (unlike the prohibition of labor on the intermediate festival days, which is because of cessation).

The Terumat HaDeshen objects to Rashi's view, on the grounds that refraining from labor is actually a pleasure (as is explicit in the Talmud, 12b; see Machatzit HaShekel on the above Magen Avraham), and leaves the matter unresolved. According to our approach, one could say that Rashi holds like Tosafot, that cessation from labor means cessation from the thirty-nine primary categories of labor and not only from difficult mundane labors,[1] and that this is the affliction.[2]

And in Terumat HaDeshen there he cites, in the name of the Mordechai quoting the Raviah, another version in the Talmud, according to which anyone who performs labor on Tisha B'Av is as though he did so on Yom Kippur. Terumat HaDeshen has the version that this statement was said in the Talmud about one who eats and not about one who performs labor. According to our approach, this is very well understood, for there is a similarity with respect to doing labor as well, in that Tisha B'Av too is like a day of "complete rest".

And in the above Magen Avraham, later in his remarks, he notes a practical difference: the prohibition of labor begins at night, unlike the other public fasts, where the prohibition of labor is so that people will come to pray (although his words require examination, since Rashi on Ta'anit 13a, s.v. "when they said", did not write that way):

And in Terumat HaDeshen he argued at length to give the commandment a rationale, as stated below, and it seems to me that for this reason labor is also forbidden at night (for one is also obligated to mourn at night). So too Rashi wrote in Pesachim 54b: during its twilight period eating and labor are forbidden. This requires further consideration, for in Ta'anit 13 Rashi explained: from here it appears that on the night of the Ninth of Av labor is permitted, and the prohibition applies only by day, though this is not publicized. Yet from the plain wording of all the halakhic authorities it appears that it is forbidden at night as well. This is unlike a public fast, where the reason is that people should be free and gather to pray (see sec. 575:3), and therefore they are permitted at night, since they would not gather at night, as stated in the Gemara. This is not so on the Ninth of Av, where the labor prohibition depends on local custom; those who practice it do so either so as not to divert their attention from mourning or because of affliction, and therefore it is forbidden even at night. Accordingly, any labor that involves no significant duration is permitted, since it does not divert one’s attention—so it seems to me.

Once again we see that the prohibition of labor is not there in order that people come to pray, but because of the day itself. True, the Magen Avraham writes that this is part of the affliction, but according to our approach we would say that it is part of the cessation.

Regarding labor on Tisha B'Av there is an interesting formulation in Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah, chapter 4 of Ta'anit, mishnah 6:

And among the things you must know is that all the practices that apply to a mourner apply on the Ninth of Av, and the laws of mourning will be explained in their place. The law of its fast is like that of the Yom Kippur fast—that is, bathing, anointing, marital relations, and wearing shoes are forbidden, and one adds from the ordinary onto the holy. Doing labor on it is very unbecoming.

Plainly, it seems that doing labor, even if it is not a full obligation, is part of the comparison to Yom Kippur (although one could reject this and say that he is merely proceeding to list the main laws of Tisha B'Av).[3]

Also in chapter 5, law 10 of the Laws of Fasts, Maimonides brings the prohibition of labor in the very same law in which he compares Tisha B'Av to Yom Kippur:

Pregnant and nursing women fast and complete the fast on the Ninth of Av, and bathing is forbidden whether in hot or cold water—even dipping a finger in water—and anointing for pleasure, wearing shoes, and marital relations are forbidden as on Yom Kippur. In a place where the custom is to do labor, one may do labor; in a place where the custom is not to do labor, one may not do labor. And everywhere, Torah scholars refrain from work on it; and the Sages said that anyone who does labor on it will never see a sign of blessing.

Here too, however, one can push this aside in the same way.

We also find in Rashi, Shabbat 114b, who wrote:

Rather, is it not with regard to trimming vegetables—in general, after they have been detached? Since this is not an act of labor, the positive commandment of “shabbaton” applies to it as a form of cessation. And since by Torah law it is forbidden on all Sabbaths of the year, here we do not permit it because of anguish of soul so as to override a Torah prohibition. On other Yom Kippurs, however, it is permitted because of anguish of soul, even though “shabbaton” is also written there—not because it is a matter of labor, but rather because it includes anything that hinders one from afflicting oneself, since we juxtapose it to “and you shall afflict yourselves.” Thus we expound it in the final chapter of Yoma (74a) regarding bathing, anointing, and the like.

Rashi holds that there is no positive commandment of cessation from labor on Yom Kippur, but only a prohibition. This implies that it is not like the other cessations on festivals, but rather is due to affliction. One could understand him as taking the prohibition of labor to be part of affliction (as the plain sense of his wording suggests), or as taking the affliction to be part of the cessation from labor (as in Maimonides). Perhaps this is only a semantic difference.

In any event, it seems that the prohibition of labor begins at night, since it belongs to the laws of affliction and cessation, and not like the other fasts (as in the above Magen Avraham), and this accords with the Rashi cited in Terumat HaDeshen above. And indeed Maimonides too does not distinguish between the day and the night.

And the Minchat Chinukh there wrote that the five afflictions on Tisha B'Av belong to the laws of mourning and also to affliction in the manner of Yom Kippur. So too wrote Rabbi Yitzhak Zev Soloveitchik in the Laws of Fasts and in the stencil, vol. 2, p. 228.

The Nature of Tisha B'Av: Festival as Encounter

We can now understand the essential connection between Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur. The Talmud in Pesachim 77a derives that Rosh Chodesh is called a "appointed time" from the verse in Lamentations: "He proclaimed an appointed time against me to break my young men". But the plain meaning of the verse is that Tisha B'Av itself is called a "appointed time" (see, for example, the book HaMo'adim BeHalakhah, p. 360, regarding festival-like practices on Tisha B'Av). And indeed, several medieval authorities wrote that one does not say Tachanun on the eve of Tisha B'Av, because it is like a festival (see Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayyim 552:12). They further wrote that if it falls on the Sabbath one does not say "Your righteousness" (see the Rema there, and 559:1), and that if someone dies on Tisha B'Av one does not say "justifying the judgment" (559:4). Why indeed is Tisha B'Av a "appointed time"? Is there something joyful about it? And what about Rosh Chodesh? Is there something joyful about it? Why is the renewal of the moon a joyous event?

To understand this, let us reflect on the term "appointed time". The meaning of this term derives from the root of meeting or gathering, that is, a prearranged encounter (=not a chance one). Rosh Chodesh is called a "appointed time" because it is an encounter fixed at a prearranged time with a certain phenomenon, and through it with the Holy One, blessed be He (who daily renews the work of creation). "the house of assembly" is a place where people gather (=meet). "the house appointed for all the living" is the place where all meet at the end. "Can two walk together unless they have agreed to meet?".

The Talmud in Ta'anit 29a deals with Tisha B'Av and says as follows:

From where do we know that on the Ninth of Av it was decreed upon our forefathers that they would not enter the Land? For it is written: “And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the Tabernacle was erected.” And the Master said: In the first year Moses made the Tabernacle; in the second year Moses erected the Tabernacle and sent the spies. And it is written: “And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle of the testimony.” And it is written: “And they traveled from the mountain of the Lord a distance of three days.” Rabbi Hama bar Hanina said: On that day they turned away from following the Lord. And it is written: “And the mixed multitude among them lusted,” and “the children of Israel also wept again,” etc. And it is written: “until a month of days,” etc.—which brings us to the twenty-second of Sivan. And it is written: “And Miriam was shut out seven days”—which brings us to the twenty-ninth of Sivan. And it is written: “Send for yourself men.” And it was taught: On the twenty-ninth of Sivan Moses sent the spies. And it is written: “And they returned from scouting the land at the end of forty days.” But those forty days were one day short! Abaye said: The month of Tammuz that year was made full, as it is written: “He proclaimed an appointed time against me to break my young men.” And it is written: “And the whole congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night.” Rabbah said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: That night was the night of the Ninth of Av. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: You wept a gratuitous weeping—and I will establish for you a weeping for generations.

On Tisha B'Av it was decreed upon our forefathers that they would not enter the land. But this did not happen by chance. The Holy One, blessed be He, shifted the date so that it would fall precisely on Tisha B'Av. The Talmud's derivation from this verse is that Rosh Chodesh is called a "appointed time" (and not Tisha B'Av), but the reason is that everything is shifted so that the decree will fall specifically on Tisha B'Av. Why? Because it is a day predetermined for calamity.

If so, we now understand clearly why, in the plain meaning of the verse, the term "appointed time" refers to Tisha B'Av, even though the midrashic derivation is that Rosh Chodesh is the "appointed time". More than all the other festivals, it is precisely Tisha B'Av that is a "appointed time", for it contains a meeting fixed in advance. The Holy One, blessed be He, decided in advance that there we would meet, and He shifts the calamities so that they fall precisely on that day. Throughout later history too, Tisha B'Av is known as a time fixed for calamity. Therefore this is the principal day that Scripture calls "appointed time" without qualification, and from it the term is learned.

Presumably the other festivals too are called "appointed time" from that same root. This is not an expression whose meaning is joy. Its meaning is a prearranged meeting (on a fixed date and for a known reason). In that sense, Tisha B'Av is the father of all the festivals. On all the other Jewish holidays we attempt to relive history and to encounter it again. But on Tisha B'Av the encounter is not merely symbolic or ideational, but actual. We have set meetings with the Holy One, blessed be He, throughout history on Tisha B'Av, and the encounter occurs in reality (unlike the other holidays).

And this is what we find later in the Talmud in Ta'anit there:

And the second destruction—from where do we know it? For it was taught: Merit is brought about on a meritorious day, and liability on a culpable day. They said: When the Temple was destroyed the first time, that day was the eve of the Ninth of Av, and it was the conclusion of the Sabbath, and it was the conclusion of the Sabbatical year, and it was the watch of Jehoiariv, and the Levites were singing the song and standing on their platform. And what song were they singing? “And He brought back upon them their iniquity, and in their evil He will cut them off.” They did not manage to say, “the Lord our God will cut them off,” before the gentiles came and conquered them. And so too at the second destruction.

The day of Tisha B'Av is a prearranged time for calamity. appointed time = appointed time. It is a day predisposed to calamity by its very essence, and the events did not determine this; on the contrary, the essence of the day determines the events, and the Holy One, blessed be He, rolls them onto that day. This is a "appointed time" in the fullest sense of the word.

At first glance, this is a sad festival, full of calamities. But it seems that what was predetermined was that this would be a day specially set aside for meetings with the Holy One, blessed be He. The character of the meetings depends on us, and our deeds caused the meetings thus far to look grim. Therefore, in the future there will be no day more festive for Israel than Tisha B'Av, for the character of the day as a "appointed time" for meetings with the Holy One, blessed be He, will always remain (this does not depend on our deeds). What will change in the future is the character of the meetings—whether they are joyful or sad.

This is why they explain that the Messiah was born on Tisha B'Av, and some decisors explain in this way the festival-like practices mentioned above on Tisha B'Av. It is a fixed, prearranged time for an encounter with the Holy One, blessed be He.

The Meaning of the Prohibition of Labor and of Affliction: Total Cessation

We can now understand the obligation to afflict ourselves and not to do labor, whether on Tisha B'Av, on the Sabbath and festivals, or on Yom Kippur, as well as the comparison between Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur.

Every encounter with the Holy One, blessed be He, requires preparation, and that preparation is the suspension of self. The Sefat Emet (Deuteronomy, after Parashat Vayelekh, Elul, second section) expounds the verse from Psalm 100: "He made us, and not we ourselves" (written: "and not," read: "and His are we").. If "not we", then "His are we".

On every festival we cease from our mundane occupations in order to meet with the Holy One, blessed be He. Joy is a product, not the cause, of these prohibitions (we saw above in Terumat HaDeshen that they constitute affliction and not joy). On the Sabbath the encounter is fixed in advance and not handed over to us, and therefore it is more of a "appointed time", and that obligates a greater cessation. The very essence of the day requires it. So too on Tisha B'Av and on Rosh Chodesh.

Above we saw that on Yom Kippur too the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies in order to meet with the Holy One, blessed be He, at a prearranged time, and therefore this is the most intimate meeting, one that requires a comprehensive cessation on the part of the entire community. Therefore Maimonides writes that this requires a double and redoubled cessation: both from labor and from pleasures. Elsewhere I explained that the atonement of Yom Kippur too is a product of this encounter (the enthronement that takes place on Rosh Hashanah—the encounter—brings about the atonement of Yom Kippur).

We can now also understand the total cessation that we find on Tisha B'Av. Since Tisha B'Av is the day with the strongest character of "appointed time", the cessation on it is the most absolute: labor (as on the Sabbath, and not only because of distraction), five afflictions (as on Yom Kippur), and even Torah study is forbidden on it.[4] The only thing that one might still have been able to do on that day is also forbidden. The reason is that even Torah is something that belongs to this world: an expression of the spiritual in the terminology and meanings it receives in this world. The encounter with the Holy One, blessed be He, requires that even this be suspended. We move to a different plane of being.

This is why these laws begin in the evening, because they derive from the very essence of the day. And in general, festivals are a single unit of time (see the law of "since it was set aside", and more). An encounter with the Holy One, blessed be He, is not made up of separate moments; rather, time is fused into one unit. In them we move into a spiritual time that is not composed of parts.

As we saw, Tisha B'Av has dimensions of joy (one does not say "Your righteousness" and the like). The Eliyahu Rabbah writes that there is value in eating a large meal on that day and afterward eating a limited meal as the pre-fast meal, because it is like a festival meal that existed on it in Temple times. But this is only a derivative of its being a "appointed time". An encounter with the Holy One, blessed be He, is joyous even if we are punished in it, in the sense of "Happy are you, Israel; before whom are you purified". The joy lies in the encounter itself, even if it comes at a heavy price (as with the water in the Land of Israel as compared to Egypt: there may be drought, but everything is in the hands of the Holy One, blessed be He, and that is the uniqueness of the land—and of us as well).

[1] However, Rashi there writes that the prohibition is not because of cessation, as on the intermediate festival days, but because of affliction, and this requires further examination.

[2] In any case, there is a novelty here: cessation from the Sabbath categories of labor contains an element of affliction. This may perhaps run counter to our usual conception of the Sabbath, and see further on this below.

[3] From Maimonides here it would seem that the law of adding from the profane to the holy would apply on Tisha B'Av as well, since it is part of the laws of cessation. However, this is not mentioned in the Laws. And indeed the Maggid Mishneh cited from Torat HaAdam of Nachmanides that there is no law of such addition on Tisha B'Av (see also Radbaz, 1477, and Minchat Chinukh, and Sefat Emet, Ta'anit 12b s.v. "in the Mishnah"), and this runs against the above Commentary on the Mishnah.

It may be that Maimonides, in the Laws, holds that not every cessation was given an obligation of such addition. The proof is that, on his view, the law of such addition on a Torah level appears to exist only on Yom Kippur, and not on every day on which one ceases on a Torah level.

[4] To be sure, the direct explanation is "The precepts of the Lord are upright, gladdening the heart" (and this requires examination in the case of someone who does not rejoice in study—see the introduction to Agat Tal), but at least in practice it is clear that what we have here is total cessation.