Q:
What is the purpose of Chol Hamoed?
A:
Chol Hamoed is meant to be an opportunity for people to think over what the Yom Tov is all about. On Yom Tov we’re very busy; we’re busy bringing korbanos and making seudos, and sometimes we forget to think about the lessons we’re supposed to learn from the yom tov. And therefore, Chol Hamoed is a time to think.
There is another opportunity at the end of Sukkos called Atzeres that is also intended to be an opportunity to recap the lessons of the Yom Tov. Shavuos is the Atzeres for Pesach; a few weeks after Pesach we come back to the Beis Hamikdash to recap the lessons of Pesach. And Shemini Atzeres is the Atzeres for Sukkos.
Shemini Atzeres really should be a while after Sukkos — it should be a few weeks later, an opportunity to come back to the Beis Hamikdash and review all the Sukkos lessons. But as the Gemara says, right after Sukkos the winter season begins; it’s the rainy season, and if you go home then, you won’t be able to come back a month or two later because the roads might be impassable. And therefore, the Torah says, make the Atzeres of Sukkos right after Sukkos. Pesach is in the springtime so you can come back a few weeks later for Shavuos and take the time to think over the lessons of Pesach. But on Sukkos we have Shemini Atzeres right away to think things over.
So you have two opportunities to review the lessons of Sukkos: Chol Hamoed and Atzeres. Maybe you were busy; first you were busy building your sukkah, and then you were worrying about your esrog, and therefore maybe you didn’t think about the Sukkos lessons sufficiently. So Chol Hamoed is an opportunity to think things over. It’s a few days that gives you the opportunity to appreciate the lessons of Sukkos more, and that way you finish off the yom tov with more inspiration; you can come back into the last days of yom tov with a new inspiration, with the inspiration that you’re supposed to get from Sukkos.
After that, you have one more day to think it over, and that’s Shemini Atzeres; that’s the day for cementing the lessons into our minds. Atzeres is like a final review — “What did I accomplish?” It’s like חֲסִידִים הָרִאשׁוֹנִים הָיוּ שׁוֹהִים שָׁעָה אַחַת אַחַר תְּפִלָּתָם. The tzaddikim used to stand a long Shemoneh Esrei, but when they finished, they took a long time to think back: “What did we accomplish in our Shemoneh Esrei? What places did we not think enough? Where were we mechadeish chiddushim in our davening?” They try to recall, and they make a cheshbon, a sum total of their Shemoneh Esrei.
Chol Hamoed is an opportunity to think over what it’s all about. It’s very important to think: “What is it all about? What’s yom tov all about?” We’re so busy bringing in yom tov; there’s so much work to do, and therefore many times people don’t think at all about the lessons of Sukkos. And therefore, you need some time to think it over. And that’s what Chol Hamoed is for.
TAPE #E-103 (March 1997)