Responsa for Moed Katan 23:19

אמר אביי נקטינן הלכות מועד כהלכות שבת

Said R'Isaac B'Abba,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It is Isaac b. Abdimi on 11b.');">¹⁶</span> Who is the Tanna who requires that work [if done] should be done with a difference during the festival [week] where loss is threatened? It is not R'Jose.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since R. Jose holds that he can complete the process in the usual way.');">¹⁷</span> R'Joseph said, The halachah is according to R'Jose. Some [scholars] asked of R'Nahman B'Isaac: Is it permitted to coat a mead-cask [with resin]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Or pitch, to make it air-tight. V. A.Z. ');">¹⁸</span> in the festival week? - Said he to them: Sinai<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A complimentary appellation of R. Joseph as an eminent authority on the body of Baraitha-comments (on the Mishnah) , in contrast to Rabbah b. Nahmani, his great contemporary and predecessor as Principal of the Academy at Pumbeditha, who was called 'Uprooter of Mountains', a title descriptive of his method of acute analysis. V. Ber. ');">¹⁹</span> stated that the halachah is according to R'Jose. Supposing that R'Jose said [one may] in the case of wine, [does it follow] that he said [that one may] also in the case of mead? - [Indeed,] for what is the reason [that he allows] in the case of wine? [It is] because the loss on it is considerable; it is also considerable In the case of mead, as Abaye said, Mater<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Abaye was a posthumous child and his mother died in childbirth. He was brought up by a foster mother whose instructive sayings he frequently quotes as here. V. Kid. 31b.');">²⁰</span> told me: 'Better a coated cask of Six se'ahs than an uncoated cask of eight se'ahs'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A se'ah is about two and a third gallons.');">²¹</span> R'Hama B'Guria citing Rab said: The halachoth<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Traditional rules of practice.');">²²</span> appertaining to the festival [week] are like the halachoth regulating the dealings with Kuthites.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Samaritans who, when friendly, were treated as observant Jews, and when hostile and making common cause with the heathens in persecuting Jews and jeering at their religious practices, were treated as heathens. The attitude towards them, therefore, varied from time to time, according to circumstances. ,usueg');">²³</span> What is the legal import [of this dictum]? - Said R'Daniel son of R'Ketina, It is to say that they are 'sterile'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Some texts have 'tethered', i.e., inapplicable as 'rules in practice' owing to their frequent variability.');">²⁴</span> [regulations] and communicate nought<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Serving no purpose as definite instances from which to argue any definite principle.');">²⁵</span> to each other, as [for instance] Samuel said that they [may] coat a jug with pitch but may not coat a cask; while R'Dimi of Nehardea said that they [may] coat a cask with pitch but they may not coat a jug; one master being solicitous to avert loss,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' There is more loss involved in neglecting a cask than a jug, which is much smaller.');">²⁶</span> the other master being solicitous to avoid exertion<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The exertion entailed in coating a cask is greater than with a jug.');">²⁷</span> [during the festival week]. Said Abaye, We have it as tradition<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Abaye often uses that expression.');">²⁸</span> that the halachoth appertaining to the festival [week] are like the halachoth appertaining to the Sabbath:

Teshuvot Maharam