Home › Forums › Yom Tov › How are single girls supposed to be mekayem the Mitzvah of Simcha on Chol HaMoed
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October 18, 2016 10:35 pm at 10:35 pm #618535Lilmod UlelamaidParticipant
“There is a mitzvah of simcha on Chol Hamoed, as on Yom Tov. Therefore, men should eat meat or drink wine, children should be given treats, and husbands should gladden their wives with gifts of new clothing or jewelry (Kitzur Halachos: Yom Tov & Chol Hamoed by Rav Zev Hofstedter)”
So what is a single girl who doesn’t have anyone buying her clothes or jewelry supposed to do?? (It’s a good thing that I like meat and wine!).
October 19, 2016 1:38 am at 1:38 am #1187873thebabblerMember1. Treat yourself to stuff!
2. Try to be misameach someone in an even lonelier matzav.
3. Do all the things that bring YOU kosher simcha!!!
4. Call someone funny, who always makes you laugh:)
5. Ask Hashem to “notice” your valiant efforts to be b’simcha and help you maintain it, and that the next yom tov should be with family: your OWN!
October 19, 2016 1:47 am at 1:47 am #1187874theprof1ParticipantSo eat meat and drink wine. Or go to Century 21 and buy yourself stuff. I’m a man and buying stuff always makes one happy.
October 19, 2016 1:59 am at 1:59 am #1187875Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantThe Babbler – thanks for the ideas! Actually, I was hoping someone would offer to buy me jewelry or clothes :). According to Halacha that’s where my Simchas Chol Hamoed is supposed to come from!
Babbler, does buying myself a Sefer count? (I bought the above-mentioned Sefer before Sukkos in order to read it on Sukkos) I think I get more hanaah from sefarim than I do from jewelry or clothes.
October 19, 2016 2:00 am at 2:00 am #1187876Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantTheprof1 – but according to halacha, someone ELSE is supposed to buy it FOR me, and no one has done that :(.
anyhow, it’s assur to go shopping on Chol Hamoed.
October 19, 2016 4:26 am at 4:26 am #1187877thebabblerMemberLilmod, I bought me and my kids some great Jewish books to read over yom tov, def enhanced yom tov:) I reread “Galia”, which really makes one a better Jew!
October 19, 2016 4:50 am at 4:50 am #1187878writersoulParticipantMaybe, as you’re still the child of your parents, one of them should buy you candy? 🙂
October 19, 2016 8:12 am at 8:12 am #1187879Shopping613 ðŸŒParticipantYou can buy things on sale. Anyway try learning a sefer with friends, or going out to do something with them.
October 19, 2016 12:54 pm at 12:54 pm #1187880takahmamashParticipantanyhow, it’s assur to go shopping on Chol Hamoed.
It’s assur to make general, blanket, statements that may or may not apply to people reading the CR.
Two of my daughters work in retail in Yerushalayim, and I guarantee you, they have plenty of business from all sorts of customers over chol hamoed, including chareidim. If shopping is assur, perhaps someone forgot to tell them.
October 19, 2016 2:00 pm at 2:00 pm #1187881Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantShopping – but someone ELSE is supposed to buy it FOR me. The halacha is that someone is supposed to buy it FOR you. I’m still waiting for someone to offer to do so…
October 19, 2016 2:55 pm at 2:55 pm #1187882Lilmod UlelamaidParticipant“anyhow, it’s assur to go shopping on Chol Hamoed.
It’s assur to make general, blanket, statements that may or may not apply to people reading the CR.”
Not if it’s clear that it’s meant as a general statement which I thought was clear from the context of the conversation. It was not said in the context of a halachic discussion but rather as a side point in a not particularly serious discussion.
Regarding halacha, the Halacha is in fact that one is not allowed to go clothes shopping. There can however by exceptions, so in specific situations, a sheilah should be asked. Perhaps all of the customers had a reason why it was muttar in their case.
I’m just wondering – would you find it problematic for someone to say that it is assur to drive on Shabbos even though there are situations in which it is muttar?
By the way, I do appreciate your sensitivity to phrasing things appropriately. I’m just not sure that it is relevant in this case. However, in case you are right, I will rephrase my statement:
In general, it is forbidden to go shopping on Chol Hamoed, although there are exceptions. And if someone wants to help me be mekayem the Mitzvah of simcha on Chol Hamoed by buying something for me, I am sure I can help them to find a heter 🙂
October 19, 2016 10:02 pm at 10:02 pm #1187883Abba_SParticipantThe father or the husband is suppose to provide Simchas HaChagfor his duaghter or wife. A stranger should not be providing these delicacies as it can be misinterpreted as Kiddushin money if the female is unmarried.
October 20, 2016 2:01 am at 2:01 am #1187884yehudayonaParticipantSwap gifts with another single female.
October 20, 2016 2:13 am at 2:13 am #1187885TheGoqParticipantDon’t rely on anyone else to provide your happiness and joy of life.
October 20, 2016 4:50 am at 4:50 am #1187886I. M. ShluffinParticipantNice one, Goq.
The Gra says that one of the most difficult mitzvos to fulfill is that of v’samachta b’chagecha. It’s not as easy as buying a new top. Hashem gave each of us the means to find true happiness within ourselves. That’s why it’s so difficult – because it’s inside of us, and we need to bring it out by arousing our neshamos through tefillah or talmud torah or hisbodedus, thinking of the beauty in creation or the incomprehensible wisdom of Hashem visible throughout everything in the world. Perhaps the above-mentioned halachos are meant as an aid for people unable to extract such simcha without external help. Just a thought.
Be happy!
October 20, 2016 9:27 am at 9:27 am #1187887Shopping613 ðŸŒParticipantMoney is hard these days and it’s hard to find stuff you like. If chol hamoed is when you finally get paid/money/coupons from chesed organazations that you did not have time to use before chag and things are on sale (pre-winter/and want buisness on chol hamoed) there’s no wonder why chareidi people do go shopping on chol hamoed.
October 20, 2016 9:42 am at 9:42 am #1187888Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantPeople, it was a joke!!! (I know I don’t do that very often, but it happens occasionally)
October 20, 2016 10:36 am at 10:36 am #1187889Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantShopping – If there is a sale, that is one reason why it can be muttar to go shopping on Chole Hamoed.
October 20, 2016 11:52 am at 11:52 am #1187890SoftwordsParticipantlilmod ulelamaid – if we think about it a little deeper we’ll understand that the halacha is explaining what materialistic items bring people simcha. For Men – good food. For Kids – Candies and treats. For Women – dresses and jewelry. It shouldn’t be understood that women must receive clothing from men (and if not they won’t be happy), rather it is stating that men MUST buy their wives presents for the Chag even if financially tight. Of course, if a woman is not married and independent she should buy herself a nice dress or jewelry for the Chag (even if she’s trying to save money). Hopefully, girls in such situation should be zoche to get married soon and have the extra joy of receiving a present from their husbands.
October 20, 2016 12:58 pm at 12:58 pm #1187891thebabblerMemberhalacha question: may someone buy a new outfit for second days of yom tov if they really need and was no time before yom tov?
October 20, 2016 4:17 pm at 4:17 pm #1187892thebabblerMembernever mind, I forgot: clothes cost money. Ha ha 🙂
October 20, 2016 6:25 pm at 6:25 pm #1187893Abba_SParticipantYes you can buy a new outfit and likewise you can wash clothing on Chol Ha Moed if you need it for the last days.
October 20, 2016 8:20 pm at 8:20 pm #1187895thebabblerMemberty
October 20, 2016 10:59 pm at 10:59 pm #1187896Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantGuys, guess what? You will not believe what happened to me tonight!!! As I was leaving the Kosel area, I handed 5 shekelim to a lady who was collecting money and continued on my way. All of a sudden she calls me back and guess what she handed me – a bracelet!!! I was so excited! I told her that she made my YomTov because according to halacha someone is supposed to give me jewelry and I had been waiting all Yom Tov for someone to give me jewelry!(and no, that’s not what I davened at the Kosel for) I don’t think she understood a word I said, but she “chapped” that I was very appreciative (for the idea that is, not the bracelet itself – the bracelet itself is probably either going to my 5 year old niece or the garbage).
Anyhow, wasn’t that incredible?? “Ratzon Yeraiav yaaseh” (not that I’m a yerayav, but whatever..) Maybe I should have started a thread about how I can’t celebrate Yomtov without a husband..
October 20, 2016 11:34 pm at 11:34 pm #1187897Little FroggieParticipantWhat’s the great idea of someone buying you something? Is that all what simchas Yom Tov is about? You can’t just get it yourself? You need a husband just so that “someone” is going to buy you something? I’m missing some here.
October 21, 2016 12:03 am at 12:03 am #1187898thebabblerMemberlilmod, that is a true sign that Hashem loves you and understands every individual persons needs !!! Wow!!!!!
October 21, 2016 12:04 am at 12:04 am #1187899thebabblerMemberI like your last line!
October 21, 2016 1:18 am at 1:18 am #1187900Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantThebabbler: “lilmod, that is a true sign that Hashem loves you and understands every individual persons needs !!! Wow!!!!!”
🙂 Thanks babbler!
October 21, 2016 6:21 am at 6:21 am #1187901Avi KParticipantLilmod, she can by it herself and rely on Rambam’s opinion (http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14276&st=&pgnum=265) that she has her own obligation of simcha. The Shaagat Arieh, in teshuva 65 (http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=1832&st=&pgnum=119), says that anything that gladdens a person is part of the mitzva (he also rules that a woman has her own mitzva).
October 21, 2016 6:54 am at 6:54 am #1187902Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantLF- yeah, you are missing the point. sorry. You probably have to be female to understand.
October 21, 2016 10:44 am at 10:44 am #1187903Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantLittle Froggie and anyone else who may have misuderstood me – I just want to make it clear that I did at all mean to imply chas v’shalom that I want a husband in order to buy me things!!!! That was not my point at all, and I hope no one took it that way! I am not materialistic at all and would never think of such a thing!!!
I do hope that when I have a husband IYH, he will occasionally buy things for me, not because of the value of the gifts (which could be a keychain or chocolate) but only because of the value of the giver.
October 21, 2016 12:30 pm at 12:30 pm #1187904Teacher_of_TorahMemberlilmod ulelamaid- I would like to thank you for posting this question…it is the foundation for a great deal of Torah learning, for both myself and my congregation. In fact, the sermon and shiur on Shmini Atzeres will be about the commandment to be joyful on holidays.
We all know the words “V’Samachta B’Chagecha”…in fact, we turned them into a popular song that is known all “over the world (VSamachta B’chagecha v’hayisah ach samaeyach). However, that is not actually a verse in the Torah…it is really a blending of two different verses:
“VESAMACHA BECHAGECHA ata u’vanecha u’vitcha v’avdicha v’amahsecha v’ha’Levi v’ha’ger v’ha’yasom v’ha’almanah asher b’shaarecha. Shivas Yammim Tachog L’Hashem Elokecha ba’makom asher yivchar Hashem ki yivarechicha Hashem Elokecha bechol tevuascha u’vechol maasey yadecha V’HAYISAH ACH SAMEYACH” (Devarim 16:14-16:15).
On the surface, this seems to be a commandment to be happy on the holidays, including Chol HaMoed. However, if that was the Torah’s only intent, it could have simply said “V’samacha Bechagecha lifney Hashem Elokecha”, or words to that effect. IMO, the fact that it specifically mentions the Ger, the Widow, the Orphan, etc teaches us that true joy comes from being b’simcha with others; when we include others in our celebrations, we reach a high level of joy that gladdens us even if there are troubles in our lives (ach samayach- “nevertheless, be happy”). Helping someone else enjoy the holiday (ex. visiting the sick, giving tzedakah to help people buy meat for yom tov, etc) is a conduit to being able to experience true joy.
You made someone else happy at the Kotel and Hashem blessed you with happiness as well. May He continue to bless you and bring you and happiness and may he fulfill the wishes of your heart for the good.
October 22, 2016 4:32 pm at 4:32 pm #1187905Shopping613 ðŸŒParticipantWow lilmod, Hashem must love you a lot!!! I’m so happy for you!!! Such Hashgata Pratis
October 22, 2016 7:34 pm at 7:34 pm #1187906Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantAMEN!
October 28, 2016 4:22 pm at 4:22 pm #1187907HashemisreadingParticipantkeychain?
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