[HANASHIR:16999] Re: V'samachta B'chagecha

[Freedabet <Freedabet...>]

Actually, Sholom, your argument changed my mind from being against using 
V'samachta for Purim to being in favor of it.  Just because it is a quote from 
the Torah doesn't mean it can only applies to the Shalosh Regalim.  Since the 
p'shat of the text doesn't have anything other than 'be happy, it's a holiday' 
why not use it for all 'happy' holidays.  It's message would seem to be more 
useful at Purim than at, say, Shavuot (not that we shouldn't be happy at 
Shavuot, but the holiday doesn't exactly have that tradition, at least not in 
the US among non-Orthodox).

Michael

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: sholom (at) aishdas(dot)org 
  To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org 
  Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:18 AM
  Subject: [HANASHIR:16995] Re: V'samachta B'chagecha





  > FYI,
  > As was mentioned by Meris, "V'samachta B'chagecha" is for the Shalosh
  > Regalim  (Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot).  This goes back to the
  > rabbinic
  > classification of holy days.  The word "chag" is a technical term in
  > that context.  Purim  and Chanukah, post-Torah holidays,  are considered
  > "minor holidays," so the  term "chag" is not applied to them.

  Just to clarify -- and to anticipate the next question: "What about the
  song 'Chag Purim' ?"

  Basically, "chag" has two meanings.  It has a torah meaning (the shalosh
  regalim, as just explained by CantorJ), and it also has a contemporary
  meaning, which means "holiday in general".

  Context is everything. <g>

  So how do we decide which meaning "V'samachta" has?

  In this case, the answer is simple -- because the context is clear. 
  "V'samachta, b'chagecha" is itself a posuk (verse) right from the Torah,
  so, necessarily, it applies only to the shalosh regalim.

  -- Sholom



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