Siman 490, Se'if 1 · The Torah reading on the second day of Pesach (Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 1)

Shulchan Aruch, Siman 490, se'if 1

"On the second day we read from Parshas Emor, from 'a bull or a sheep' until the end of the section, and the one who reads maftir reads together with the first reader, and the haftarah is from Melachim."
(Shulchan Aruch)

The Torah reading on the second day of Pesach (Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 1)

• What "maftir" means here: It does not refer to the haftarah from the Prophets, but to the reading from the second Sefer Torah, which is called "maftir." Don't confuse the two terms.
• The haftarah outside Eretz Yisrael: Outside Eretz Yisrael, where this day is the second day of Yom Tov, the haftarah is from Melachim (for Pesach, the passage about Yoshiyahu, "and after him none arose like him"), while on the first day the haftarah is from Yehoshua, about the Pesach they made at Gilgal. The Torah reading itself stays the same.
• The length of the reading: The section of "a bull or a sheep" opens with the laws of Pesach and continues through all the festivals, so it is a long reading. On an ordinary weekday one would shorten it, but on Chol HaMoed one may read at length.

How many aliyos, and how long the reading is: weekday, Chol HaMoed and Rosh Chodesh

• The rule on a weekday: The Gemara says that on a weekday the strict requirement is to read only ten pesukim. That we read somewhat more nowadays is a separate matter.
• The reason: People are rushing off to work, and we should not stretch out the davening at the expense of a congregation under pressure to get to their jobs.
• Chol HaMoed and Rosh Chodesh: On these days work is not the dominant factor (strictly speaking only certain types of work are permitted on Chol HaMoed, and on Rosh Chodesh people historically did not work the way they do today), so four people are called up.
• The principle: The greater the sanctity of the day and the less we need to accommodate people's work, the more aliyos we add.

Where the Kaddish is said when there are four aliyos

• The usual rule: Kaddish is said after the reading in the first Sefer Torah.
• On this day: Since the reading consists of four aliyos, Kaddish is not said after the third person, because the reading has not yet been completed. Therefore Kaddish is said only after the reading in the second Sefer Torah, at the conclusion of the whole reading.

A remembrance of Esther's feast at the second day's seudah (Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 2)

"The seforim write that it is good to include something at the seudah on the second day as a remembrance of Esther's feast, for on that day Haman was hanged."
(Mishnah Berurah)

• Working out the date: According to most poskim and commentators Haman was hanged on the sixteenth of Nissan, which is the second day of Pesach. Some disagree, but this is the majority view.
• The sequence of the feasts: Esther came before the king "on the third day," after thirty days in which she had not been summoned, and the king extended the golden scepter to her. That day the first feast was held, at which she invited the king and Haman to a second feast the next day. At that second feast, on the sixteenth of Nissan, the king's anger flared and Haman was hanged.
• A hint from the first day's haftarah: In the haftarah about the Pesach at Gilgal, which speaks of the mitzvah of milah, it says "and the mahn ceased on the morrow." The plain meaning is that the mahn stopped falling on the day after Pesach (and some say it stopped earlier, and they ate from what they had taken along). By way of a hint: Haman the wicked was hanged on the day after Pesach, the sixteenth of Nissan.
• How widespread the custom is: This custom is not common, and those who are familiar with it observe it.

"For Maariv, Shacharis and Minchah one davens as usual, and says Yaaleh V'Yavo in the berachah of Avodah; if he did not say it, we make him repeat. Likewise he mentions it in Birkas HaMazon, and if he did not say it, we do not make him repeat."
(Shulchan Aruch, se'if 2)

(The tefillos of Chol HaMoed are weekday tefillos with the addition of Yaaleh V'Yavo, not Yom Tov tefillos.)

Forgetting Yaaleh V'Yavo: the difference between tefillah and Birkas HaMazon

1. In Shemoneh Esrei

• The basic halachah: One who davened the Shemoneh Esrei of Chol HaMoed and forgot to say Yaaleh V'Yavo goes back and davens again.
• Realizing in the middle of the tefillah: As long as he has not finished his tefillah, he returns to "Retzeh." Some say that if he has already said Hashem's name in the following berachah there is no remedy other than starting from the beginning, while the Mishnah Berurah is more lenient: as long as he is still standing in Shemoneh Esrei he returns to "Retzeh."
• Why we make him repeat: A person is obligated to daven Shacharis, and in the Shacharis of Chol HaMoed one must say Yaaleh V'Yavo. Since he did not daven properly, he is like someone who did not daven at all, so he repeats.

2. He forgot at Shacharis and then davened Mussaf

• The question of tashlumin: One who forgot Yaaleh V'Yavo at Shacharis and did not repeat, and then davened Mussaf: some say that when Minchah comes he must daven a make-up tefillah for Shacharis.
• A lenient view: Some say that since he davened Mussaf, and in Mussaf he mentioned the sanctity of the day, he does not need tashlumin. This is a dispute among the poskim: does the Mussaf tefillah repair what was missing?
• Forgetting at Minchah: One who forgot Yaaleh V'Yavo at Minchah itself and did not repeat davens tashlumin at Maariv.

3. In Birkas HaMazon: why we do not make him repeat (Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 3)

• The essential distinction: With tefillah there is an absolute obligation to daven, so a deficiency in the text requires repeating. With Birkas HaMazon there is no obligation to eat bread, and one who did not eat is not obligated in Birkas HaMazon at all.
• Eating bread on Chol HaMoed: Some say there is a mitzvah to eat one meal with bread during the festival, but it is not an absolute requirement. So the obligation is not absolute, and for that reason one who forgot is not made to repeat.

4. A comparison to forgetting "Retzeh V'Hachalitzenu" on Shabbos

• The Shabbos morning seudah: One who forgot "Retzeh V'Hachalitzenu" repeats, because he is obligated to eat a meal on Shabbos.
• Seudah shlishis: Some say he does not repeat, because there are those who hold leniently that there is no obligation to eat bread at seudah shlishis, so the matter is in doubt.
• The principle: A doubt does not warrant repeating the entire Birkas HaMazon and saying Hashem's name additional times. A clear obligation requires repeating; a doubt does not.

The Mussaf tefillah of Chol HaMoed

"And for Mussaf he davens in the same way that he davens Mussaf of Yom Tov."
(Shulchan Aruch, se'if 2)

• Mussaf on Chol HaMoed: Just as there is a Mussaf on Rosh Chodesh, so there is a Mussaf on Chol HaMoed, and in this respect its law is like that of Rosh Chodesh.
• The pesukim of the korbanos: We do not say "And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month," because that passage refers to the first day, which has already passed. Rather we begin from "And you shall offer a burnt offering," "like these you shall offer each day for seven days," and so on every day of Pesach.
• Concluding the text: We continue to the end of the passage about the korbanos, since the temidim were brought every single day.
• A question left for further study: A question was raised about skipping part of the text, and it was said that one must distinguish between obligatory korbanos and voluntary ones, and since a korban todah is not brought on Pesach it is not mentioned. This needs further clarification in the wording of the text.

The wording of "mikra kodesh" (se'if 3)

"The custom is that on Yom Tov one says 'this Yom Tov, a holy convocation,' and on Chol HaMoed one says 'this day, a holy convocation.'"
(Shulchan Aruch)

"But we do not have the custom of saying 'mikra kodesh' at all, neither on Yom Tov nor on Chol HaMoed."
(Rema)

• The accepted custom: We say only "this Festival of Matzos," without specifying whether it is Yom Tov or Chol HaMoed.
• The reason: So as not to get tangled up in changes of wording from day to day, a uniform text was set for all the days of the festival.

"HaRachaman, may He grant us a day that is entirely good" on Chol HaMoed (Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 5)

• Yom Tov that falls on Shabbos: One says each of the "HaRachaman" phrases separately: the HaRachaman for a day that is entirely Shabbos, and the HaRachaman for a day that is entirely good.
• On Chol HaMoed: One should not say in Birkas HaMazon "HaRachaman, may He grant us a day that is entirely good," because Chol HaMoed is not Yom Tov.
• A proof from the text: The very fact that on Chol HaMoed we do not designate the day as a Yom Tov shows that it does not have the status of Yom Tov, and therefore we also do not say the HaRachaman of Yom Tov on it.
• Differing customs: Some disagree and do say "a day that is entirely good" as on Yom Tov, and some have the custom on Pesach to say a longer version, as we say at the Seder: "the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads." There are various approaches here, and each person should follow the custom of his forebears.
• What is generally accepted: The accepted practice is not to say it, and one who does say it is not committing a transgression, since there is such an opinion.

Reciting Hallel in abbreviated form (se'if 4)

"On all the days of Chol HaMoed and on the last two days of Yom Tov we recite Hallel in abbreviated form, as on Rosh Chodesh."
(Shulchan Aruch)

"We recite Hallel in abbreviated form, because on the seventh day of Pesach the Egyptians drowned, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: The works of My hands are drowning in the sea, and you are singing a song before Me?"
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 7)

A close look at the language of the Midrash

• The wording of the Midrash: At that moment the ministering angels wished to sing a song before the Holy One, Blessed be He, over the drowning of the Egyptians in the sea. He said to them: The works of My hands are drowning in the sea, and you are singing a song? As it says, "and one did not draw near the other all the night."
• The derashah on the verse: According to the plain meaning, "one did not draw near the other" refers to the two camps; according to the derashah, "one to the other" refers to the angels, as it says, "and one called to the other and said, Holy, holy, holy." So the angels did not sing that night.
• The difficulty: The Mishnah Berurah abbreviated the language of the Midrash, since Klal Yisrael certainly did sing, and Moshe Rabbeinu led them in the Shirah. If the angels were not permitted to sing, why was it permitted for Yisrael? Roughly twenty answers have been offered to this question.

(Study of this difficulty is left for another time, including the words of Rav Chaim ben Attar on "Az Yashir.")

Why we do not say the complete Hallel on Chol HaMoed

• The reasoning: Since on the seventh day of Pesach we do not say the complete Hallel, we also do not say it on Chol HaMoed, so that Chol HaMoed should not be treated better than the final Yom Tov.
• The logic: It would not make sense for a Yom Tov to have half Hallel while all the days of Chol HaMoed have the complete Hallel. It looks strange, and the public does not perceive the underlying reason.
• The first two days: On the first day we complete Hallel, including at night, because everyone knows that this day is unique.
• The berachah on the abbreviated Hallel: The question of the berachah over half Hallel came up, and there are differing customs regarding it.

A parallel principle in the Gemara: the wording of the haftarah berachos on Shabbos Chol HaMoed

• The Maharsha's question: The Maharsha raises this very question and notes that there is an explicit Gemara on it.
• The facts: On Shabbos Chol HaMoed of Sukkos we conclude the haftarah berachos with "who sanctifies the Shabbos, Yisrael and the festive seasons," while on Shabbos Chol HaMoed of Pesach we conclude with "who sanctifies the Shabbos" alone, without mentioning the festive seasons.
• The Gemara's distinction: On Sukkos the korbanos change each day, as the bulls progressively decrease, so each day counts as a day in its own right. On Pesach it says "like these you shall offer each day for seven days," the korban is identical every day, and the days of Chol HaMoed are not days that stand apart.
• The seventh day of Pesach: The seventh day of Pesach is a Yom Tov, and it has the status of Yom Tov in every respect.
• In practice: On Shabbos Chol HaMoed Pesach one must be careful to say in the haftarah berachos "who sanctifies the Shabbos" alone.

In passing · Eating matzah throughout the seven days of Pesach

• Matzah is called bread: Even though matzah does not become chametz, it is bread in every respect, and one recites "HaMotzi lechem min ha'aretz" over it; this is also the language of Chazal and the Shulchan Aruch in this matter.
• The Gra's position: Every act of eating matzah on Pesach is the fulfillment of a mitzvah, as it says, "seven days you shall eat matzos." This is a highly distinctive position.
• The practical implication for Birkas HaMazon: According to the Gra, since eating matzah is a mitzvah, one who forgot Yaaleh V'Yavo in Birkas HaMazon on Chol HaMoed Pesach does have to repeat.
• The difficulty with this position: If every act of eating matzah is a mitzvah, why do we not recite "al achilas matzah" each time, just as we recite "leishev basukkah" each time?
• One of the answers: On Sukkos the mitzvah is ongoing and continuous, since every single moment of sitting and sleeping in the sukkah is a fulfillment of the mitzvah. Eating matzah depends on meals and is not a continuous fulfillment, so it is not comparable to sukkah.