this is nogeah a shtikle to Daf Yomi which just started Moed Koton:
1) I heard from Rabbi Shimon Schwab, Z"L the following:
if a person has a job that for example pays $1K a week with a total of 52K per year and he takes off on chol ha'moed - do we consider that a loss of 2K from his yearly salary or do we look at it as income for each week and then it is not considered a loss from the principle?
2) some of today's jobs are B"H fairly easy - i.e. sitting at a terminal - is that considered 'work' on chol hamoed?
aurel littmann, brooklyn,ny
Dear Aurel,
I have the questions in the order you asked them:
1) Here's the way I see it: if he is paid by the week then it is not considered Davar haAvad. If losing the amount that you normally earn were considered a Davar haAvad than no one would have to stop working on Chol haMoed. However, if he is paid 50K for the year and he gets a two thousand dollar bonus if he works the entire year, then it would be considered a Davar haAved because he would lose that bonus even if he only missed one day of work. That's a lot more than the normal loss for not working.
2) The Gemara (Moed Katan 10) and Shulchan Aruch (OC 539:1) both say that doing business - Sechorah - is Asur on Chol haMoed. The Poskim say that the reason is because of the toil involved (Torach) (there is no Melacha involved). "Toil" here does not mean lifting heavy boxes because even lending money as a business (539:14) is Asur.
Your question is does this apply to someone who is not technically involved in Sechorah and has an easy desk job that doesn't involve Melacha. See Shulchan Aruch 538:4-5, that talks about tasks like covering drying fruit so it won't be ruined by the rain. The Din is that it is Mutar because of Davar haAvad.
The Klal that seems to emerge from these Dinim is that activities that involve one's Parnasah and involve some Tirchah are Asur unless it is Davar haAvad. According to this a job that involved no activity - a security job that just involved watching closed circuit TVs - might be Mutar. Or maybe the minimal amount of Tircha in even such a job might make it Asur because it is a job.
b'Yedidus,
Yonasan Sigler
This is not a Psak Halachah