Chol HaMoed
Encyclopedia
Chol HaMoed, a Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 phrase meaning "weekdays [of] the festival" (literal translation: "sand [of] the occasion"), refers to the intermediate days of Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...

 and Sukkot
Sukkot
Sukkot is a Biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei . It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Hebrews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.The holiday lasts seven days...

. During Chol HaMoed the usual restrictions
39 categories of activity prohibited on Shabbat
The commandment to keep Shabbat as a day of rest is repeated many times in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. The commandment is usually expressed in English in terms of refraining from the doing of work on Shabbat, but the Hebrew term used in the Bible is melakha , which has a slightly different...

 that apply to the Biblical Jewish holiday
Jewish holiday
Jewish holidays are days observed by Jews as holy or secular commemorations of important events in Jewish history. In Hebrew, Jewish holidays and festivals, depending on their nature, may be called yom tov or chag or ta'anit...

s are relaxed, but not entirely eliminated. For example, work that would normally be prohibited on the festival would be allowed to prevent financial loss or if the results of the work are needed for the festival itself. Work for public need is also allowed. Many tasks such as laundry washing, hair cutting and shaving are to be avoided except in some circumstances.

Hallel
Hallel
Hallel is a Jewish prayer—a verbatim recitation from Psalms 113–118, which is used for praise and thanksgiving that is recited by observant Jews on Jewish holidays.-Holy days:...

 and Mussaf
Mussaf
Mussaf is an additional service that is recited on Shabbat, Yom Tov, Chol Hamoed, and Rosh Chodesh. The service, which is traditionally combined with the Shacharit in synagogues, is considered to be additional to the regular services of Shacharit, Mincha, and Maariv.During the days of the Holy...

 prayers must be said on these days, as on Yom Tov, although on Chol Hamoed of Passover, an abridged form of Hallel
Hallel
Hallel is a Jewish prayer—a verbatim recitation from Psalms 113–118, which is used for praise and thanksgiving that is recited by observant Jews on Jewish holidays.-Holy days:...

 is recited. The tachanun
Tachanun
Tachanun or , also called nefillat apayim is part of Judaism's morning and afternoon services, after the recitation of the Amidah, the central part of the daily Jewish prayer services...

 prayer is also omitted.

Passover is a seven-day festival (eight in the Diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....

), of which days second through sixth - third through sixth in the Diaspora - are Chol HaMoed. Sukkot is a seven-day festival, of which days second through seventh (third through seventh in the Diaspora) are Chol HaMoed.

On Chol HaMoed there are four aliyot at the Torah reading
Torah reading
Torah reading is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll to...

 in synagogue, as opposed to the standard three of weekdays, pointing to the festive nature of Chol HaMoed.

Tefillin

On Chol HaMoed, there are variant customs regarding whether tefillin
Tefillin
Tefillin also called phylacteries are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form , it is loosely used as a singular as...

 should be worn. Many streams of Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...

 and Yemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen . Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet...

 do wear them, while Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazi followers of the Vilna Gaon
Vilna Gaon
Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman Kramer, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew acronym Gra or Elijah Ben Solomon, , was a Talmudist, halachist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic Jewry of the past few centuries...

 and Chabad
Chabad
Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...

 Chassidim do not. In the United States, there is a pretty fair split between those who do and do not wear Tefillin on Chol HaMoed. In Israel however, the Vilna Gaon has a stronger influence and almost all Jews abstain from wearing Tefillin on Chol HaMoed.

Among those who do wear tefillin on Chol HaMoed, some omit the blessings and others recite the blessings, depending on one's ancestral custom. Even those who wear tefillin on Chol HaMoed remove the tefillin before Hallel
Hallel
Hallel is a Jewish prayer—a verbatim recitation from Psalms 113–118, which is used for praise and thanksgiving that is recited by observant Jews on Jewish holidays.-Holy days:...

, out of respect for the festive nature of Chol HaMoed, a festive nature which is especially palpable during the recitation of Hallel. The one exception to this practice is the third day of Pesach, when the Torah reading (which follows Hallel) discusses the mitzvah of tefillin. Because the Torah reading on that particular day especially focuses on the tefillin, those who wear tefillin on Chol HaMoed retain their tefillin during Hallel and only remove the tefillin after the Torah reading is completed and the Torah scroll has been returned to the Ark.
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