Moed Katan 2a: Balancing Priorities

It's been too long, but know we are (I hope) back for a while. We will be going through Moed Katan from beginning to end. Let's get started.

Moed Katan begins with a Mishna about whether one may water an irrigated field on Chol HaMoed or during the shemitta year. Hazal seems to be trying to balance competing values in this case. First, there is the value of Chol HaMoed and Shemitta - two times when working the fields is limited. Though Chol HaMoed for most of us has its pseudo-Yom Tov status - it is a time that rabbis seem to want to keep the observance of a Yom Tov, but that is just untenable. People can't live a full week with Yom Tov laws while maintaining their property and their jobs - not to mention without the internet! And this brings us to the competing values cited by the Talmud - dvar ha-aved - something that will be lost, and a tirkha yeteira - excessive exertion. The rabbis see these values as guiding what work can and can't be done during Chol HaMoed and Shemitta. So, if watering an irrigated field means saving yourself (the farmer) from a financial loss, then you should do it - as long as it doesn't involve excessive exertion on these days. The mishna and gemara that follows go on to apply these values in different situations.

For me, this seems to reinforce Max Kadushin's approach of value-concepts in thinking about our observance. The Torah gives us a number of important values that we seek to live by, but that sometimes come in conflict with one another. The question then becomes - how do we prioritize these values? Here the Talmud is trying to negotiate the best of both worlds, which is something we try to do as well - but we are not always able to do that. What ought to be our determining factors in prioritizing our Torah values? Ethics? Morality? Our society? Torah?

Good questions for the start of this mesekhet -- I'm looking forward to moving forward!