The melakhot (creative acts/"labors") forbidden on Yom Tov are basically almost identical to those forbidden on Shabbat.  In general, the only exception is food preparation for the honor of Yom Tov.  Indeed, the Mishna states explicitly "There is no difference between Shabbat and Yom Tov except for preparing food" (Mishna Beitza 5:2.)  Likewise, there is practically no difference between the first and second day of Yom Tov outside of the Land of Israel, for "Everything that the Sages decreed, they decreed in the same manner as the Torah" (Pesachim 30b.)

 

Yet in the laws of burial there is a vast difference.  We learned that on Shabbat, even to move the body is permitted only in case of great need, and only via a subterfuge (chapter 88).  Yet on Yom Tov it is only permissible to perform a burial if every part of the burial is performed by non-Jews.  And on the second day of Yom Tov burial is even permissible to be performed by Jews, to the extent that the Talmud states that "Regarding care of a dead body, the Sages made the second day of Yom Tov like a weekday" (Beitza 6a.)

 

Different communities take advantage of these leniencies to different degrees, but this is the underlying law.  We will present one way of understanding this surprising distinction.

 

In the introduction to the laws of Shabbat we explained that the week is divided into two parts: the weekdays when we radiate holiness, and Shabbat when we absorb it.  On weekdays we are limited in our ability to absorb holiness, to perceive sanctity in worldly pleasures; therefore, we enjoy these pleasures in moderation, so that they shouldn't debase us.  But on Shabbat we have an extra soul, which enables us to appreciate all earthly pleasures as delights of the soul.

 

Yom Tov is an intermediary between these two aspects.  The days of "Yom Tov", which commemorate the miracles of our history when the natural world was subjected to God's will in a supernatural way, are days when we also have the ability to subdue our material nature and enable it to acknowledge God's goodness.  We don't have an extra soul on Yom Tov, but our ordinary spirit is especially amenable to conquering its baser nature and appreciating material enjoyments without becoming coarse.

 

So on these days we are allowed to perform melakhot which are direct preparation for material enjoyments.  The Torah refers to food preparation on Yom Tov as "okhel nefesh," nourishment for the spirit/soul (Shemot 12:16.)  Other labors are forbidden, because they are in the category of preparation for the body, which is permissible only on weekdays.  And on Shabbat no preparation is necessary, because we experience the world as complete and perfected (Likutei Halakhot Breslav, laws of Yom Tov.)

 

The burial of the dead is something done to assuage the soul, the spirit of the departed will only attain a degree of rest when the body is buried.  So to some extent we could consider the burial an "enjoyment of the soul" for which labor is permitted on Yom Tov.  However, preparations for burial, unlike the relatively light labors which are necessary for preparing food, would actually prevent us from enjoying the Yom Tov; therefore, they are permissible only when performed by a non-Jew.

 

As for the second day of Yom Tov, this day is observed outside of the land of Israel because of the doubt that existed as to when Rosh Chodesh (the first of the new month) was.  We are unsure if the previous month had 29 or 30 days, so we observe two days of Yom Tov.  But for the dead person, the second day of Yom Tov is like a weekday; the spirit of the departed is in the World of Truth, and there is no more uncertainty.

 

CHAPTER 201 – DEATH BY SUICIDE OR OF A WICKED PERSON

 

The fact that a person is not completely righteous certainly doesn't keep us from mourning him.  "There is no man who doesn't sin" (Melakhim I 8:46).  Indeed, one purpose of the customs of mourning is to provide atonement for the departed.

 

However, there are two categories of people whose transgressions are of a special character, whose passing we don't mourn.  One is a person who brazenly commits suicide; the other is someone who demonstratively severs his ties to the Jewish people.

 

SUICIDE

 

Repentance is the great hope of mankind and the greatest gift of the Creator.  Our tradition tells us that repentance was created even before the world (Pesachim 54a); this teaches us that the possibility of repentance is a prerequisite for our existence.  Since everyone occasionally falters, without the possibility of repentance we could never attain righteousness.

 

There is no sin which is so severe that repentance is not accepted, and we learned in chapter 194 that any person who repents and confesses his sins on his deathbed attains atonement for his sins through his death.

 

One sin alone leaves no possibility of repentance - suicide.  The unique horror of suicide is not the extreme gravity of the crime – which is after all an instance of murder, the most serious crime of all – but its finality.  The crime itself closes the door to any possible repentance.

 

This in itself betrays a complete lack of faith in the Creator.  Another sinner may say to himself that ultimately he is a believer, though a weak one, and someday he will repent and reconcile himself to God.  But suicide cuts one off from any such possibility.

 

This is the message of the prohibition to mourn a suicide.  However, practically speaking the Torah's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace.  If there is even a slight possibility that the person regretted his acts at the last moment, or if he was temporarily deranged, then we do not treat the case as a suicide.  Even a person who hangs himself could possibly have repented in the few moments before his death; and most people who commit suicide are profoundly disturbed at the time of their act.  So in practice a proper funeral is very rarely denied to a suicide, even if there is an explicit suicide note.

 

ONE WHO SEPARATES HIMSELF FROM THE COMMUNITY

 

"Will I not hate those who make You hated, God?" (Tehillim 139:21.)  The verse does not refer to one who is merely wicked, or even to one who hates God (God forbid), but specifically to one who makes God and His Torah hated among others.  Any person may have times of weakness in his or her faith, but only a brazen person whose faith is completely shattered will try and weaken the faith of others.

 

A person who is a welcome member of the Torah community yet converts to another religion belongs to this category.  Such an act can even weaken the morale of others in the community who hold fast to the Torah with all their strength.

 

Here once again the Torah and the Halakha are "ways of pleasantness."  In some cases mourning may even take place for an apostate.  One of the greatest early authorities, Rabbenu Gershom, mourned over his son who turned his back on his religion; he mourned to express his grief over the very fact that his son did not have the chance to repent before his death (Beit Yosef YD 345.)

 

"AND THE LOSS OF THE WICKED IS JOY"

 

We learn that the passing of the particularly wicked is not marked by sorrow from the verse "in the loss of the wicked is rejoicing" (Mishlei 11:10.)  While this sentiment is understandable, it may strike us as a bit rash and vindictive.  Our tradition is adamant that we never seek the death of the wicked, but on the contrary their rectification.  "By My life, says the Lord God, I do not seek the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from his ways and live!" (Yechezkel 33:11.)  Another verse states, "Sins shall disappear from the earth, and sinners are no more" (Tehillim 104:35); if the sins disappear, then the sinners are no more, since they have become righteous! (Berakhot 10a.)

 

We can escape the element of vindictiveness with the help of one important insight - the ultimate striving of everything in the world, including wickedness itself, is towards good.  This means that wickedness itself aspires to its own destruction. 

 

"The death of the wicked is a benefit for themselves and a benefit for the world; (the death) of the righteous - bad for them and bad for the world" (Sanhedrin 71b.)

 

Viewed this way, rejoicing over the death of the wicked is a communion with the soul of the departed just as much as mourning over the righteous.  Every soul is ashamed and mortified at the sins it commits; when death occurs it may feel a sense of relief that its terrible acts have come to an end.

 

"Complete and utter evil, which has no spark of good, rejoices in its own elimination, and its disappearance and reduction to nothingness is its greatest perfection and development.  We have to elevate ourselves to such encompassing heights of loving kindness, that we should aspire to do good to all; and that we even desire to do good to evil itself by eliminating it" (Rav Kook, Olat Raya II p. 314, on the Rosh Hashana Amida.)