Participating in a Seder Via the Internet During The Coronavirus Pandemic Part II of II

6 Nisan 5780
31 March 2020

Rabbi Moshe Grussgott
Kehilath Israel Synagogue
Overland Park, Kansas
U.S.A.

Dear Moshe,

I hope you and your family are well during this very trying time for us all. Thank you for your enquiries about points made in my responsum, “Participating in a Seder Via the Internet During The Coronavirus”.  Let me now try to answer them, and add another important point.

1. You question whether typing into a computer one’s login password would constitute the prohibition of writing on Yom Tov. But what is the actual prohibition of ketivah? “Writing” is one of the 39 major labours (avot mela’akhah) the Rabbis deemed to be biblically prohibited (d’oraita) on both Shabbat and Yom Tov (Mishnah Shabbat 7.2). That means using a indelible substance to make letters (in any language) on a nonerasable surface. A derivative (toladah) of this labour is making any indelible marking (roshem) on a nonerasable surface (Mishnah Shabbat 12.3, Shabbat 103b; Rambam, Hilkhot Shabbat, 11.17; Shulhan Arukh: Orah Hayyim, 340.5). There is no difference in the biblically prohibited status of either a major labour or a derivative labour (Baba Kama 2a). On the other hand, it is rabbinically prohibited (isur de-rabbanan) to even make a mark with an easily erasable substance on an easily erasable surface. However, this rabbinic prohibition does not apply to making a mark in the air, i.e., making no mark at all on anything tangible, whether erasable or not (Or Zaru`a: Hilkhot Shabbat, no. 76; Terumat ha-Deshen, no. 63). So, in my opinion, typing one’s password into a computer is in this category, because it only makes a mark for several seconds in cyber space, which means it makes no mark at all on anything tangible, even temporarily. (This is unlike writing on a computer a document to be saved, let alone to be printed out.) Since this is only to be done for the sake of observing the mitzvah of the Seder, one should by no means infer from this permission that a computer may be used on Yom Tov for any other purpose (and all the more so on Shabbat).
2. As for doing something on Yom Tov that appears to be turning Yom Tov into an ordinary weekday (hol), that impression can be remedied by slightly changing (le-shanot) the way the deed is done (Mishnah Betsah 4.1; Betsah 30a, Rambam, Hilkhot Yom Tov, 5.1; Shulhan Arukh: Orah Hayyim, 511.8-10). Furthermore, while in my opinion (expressed in my responsum on the use of electronic keys) the prohibition of using electricity on Shabbat is based on the rabbinic prohibition of heating a substance even if not for cooking purposes (Shabbat 40b-41a and Rabbenu Hananael thereon; Rambam, Hilkhot Shabbat, 4.2), that is not prohibited on Yom Tov (Mishnah Betsah 2.5). Rambam in his comment thereon points out that the biblical permission of preparing food on Yom Tov (see Sifre: Bemidbar, no. 147 re Exod. 12:16) “includes all bodily pleasures (hana’ot ha-guf ).” See Rema on Shulhan Arukh: Orah Hayyim, 511.2; Arokh ha-Shulhan: Orah Hayyim, 511.1. Note the following comment on the permission of even unneeded combustion (hav`arah) on Yom Tov (Ketubot 7a; see Betsah 12a): “this permission (hutrah) even if not for the preparation of food (okhel nefesh) should still be for the enjoyment of the day (hana’at ha-yom) or for keeping the Yom Yov mitzvah” (Ketubot 7a: Tosafot, s.v. “mi-tokh”). R. Baruch Halevi Epstein, Torah Temimah on Exod. 12:16, n. 143, makes the point that “okhel nefesh means anything that gives a person peace of mind (ha-meyyashev da`ato shel adam).” In other words, our emotional needs are to be fulfilled as much as our physical needs or our intellectual needs.
3. Surely, allowing somebody alone to participate in a real Seder with others will greatly enhance their simhat yom tov, which is much more than enjoying Yom Tov by ourselves (see Rambam, Hilkhot Yom Tov, 6.18 re Hos. 9:4 and Mal. 2:3). Nevertheless, on Pesahim 116a it is stipulated that even when a person is alone, he or she is still required to celebrate the Seder. Obviously, this is not recommended when there is the possibility of one’s being with others at the Seder, but perhaps it is like a person who is without a minyan for public worship, who is still obligated to pray alone. To rule otherwise would make a person a passive part of the community rather than being an active participant in the community, even when the community is not physically present with one. In fact, even when praying alone, the lone worshiper still says “we” rather than “I.” However, the mitzvah of ahavat yisra’el requires us to do everything possible to ensure that no Jew is alone at the Seder (or at any other time when communal participation is always to be preferred). As for mitigating against loneliness at Pesach, see Mishnah Pesahim 8.7; Tosefta Pesahim 8.13 re Exod. 12:4 and Prov. 27:10; Pesahim 91a and 95a; Rambam, Hilkhot Korban Pesah, 2.2 re Prov. 3:17. For the importance of including those who might otherwise be excluded, especially from the celebration of Pesach, see Shabbat 127a re Gen. 18:3; Beresheet Rabbah 48.13 re Gen. 18:6. Along the lines of the religious importance of interpersonal community for the proper celebration of Shabbat and Yom Tov, see Yerushalmi Eruvin 3.2/20d re Prov. 3:17.

May God enable you, your family, your congregation, and klal yisrael to truly celebrate Pesach with as much joy as we can possibly muster this most difficult year for the entire world.

Be-virkat chag kasher ve-sameach,
Rabbi David Novak