[Mesorah] RH a chag?

Micha Berger micha at aishdas.org
Wed Oct 10 20:27:19 PDT 2007


Wouldn't any set point in the circle of the earth's orbit -- as
approximated by the halachic year -- qualify as a chag? /Hgg/ implies
that chag is related to circles. And therefore isru chag is a cute pun --
the binding of a circle. (From which an old-style phone dial is a
"chug".)

Alternatively, chag refers to aliyas haregel, cognate to hajj (Arabic,
the pilgrimage to Mecca).

Last, I think to get a halachic chalos sheim "chag" is must have a
chagiga.

So, being literal would make RH a chag, but otherwise, no. And Yom
[Zikhron] Teru'ah doesn't call it a chag. However, Tehillim 81:4 --
Tiq'u bachodesh shofar, bakeiseh leyom chaggeinu.

SA is odd, as its hajj and chagigah are as the isru chag of Sukkos, and
not bifnei atzmah. Which would explain why YD 120:20 says that a neider
made WRT "the chag" includes both Sukkos and SA.

It would seem that it's part of the same chag as Sukkos, even though
it is in other ways its own holiday. It makes the lashon "regel bifnei
atzmah" weird -- explaining chag by losing regel.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "As long as the candle is still burning,
micha at aishdas.org        it is still possible to accomplish and to
http://www.aishdas.org   mend."
Fax: (270) 514-1507          - Unknown shoemaker to R' Yisrael Salanter



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