Admit It: You Wondered About This, Too…

Moed – The Singular Exception

The Mishna (by Rabbi Yehuda the Nasi) consists of six orders –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishnah

• Zera’im
• Moed
• Nashim
• Nezikin
• Kodshim
• Taharos

(See Midrash Rabbah Numbers 13, Midrash Tehillim 19 on varying order.)

These exact names are also found in Gemara Shabbos 31a and elsewhere.

Did you notice the odd man out in the lineup? Alright, I’ll put the precise question in Soncino’s words here –

“It might be observed that the designation ‘Mo’ed’ is in the singular, as distinct from the plural forms used to designate the other Orders, e.g., Nashim, Nezikin, etc.

“It has been suggested that the singular is here specially used to avoid the confusion that might arise through the employment of the plural Seder Mo’adim (or Mo’adoth) denoting as it does in Rabbinic literature the Order of the Calendar.”

The suggestion is clever, but that can hardly be the main reason. I cannot cover this topic any better, so I link to this Maayan essay called –

 משניות סדר ‘מועד’, ‘מועדים’ או ‘זמנים’-  על שמו של הסדר השני בשישה סדרי משנה

by Rabbi Mordechai Meir instead.

http://www.shaalvim.co.il/torah/maayan-article.asp?id=527

[The one slight question Rabbi M. Meir doesn’t cover is: should it have otherwise been Moadim or Moados?]

I’ll briefly summarize the best answer he gives (in my opinion). Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky maintains that the biblical word “Moed” is also used in the plural sense. Two examples of this are shown:

Tzefania 3:18 –

נוגי ממועד אספתי ממך היו משאת עליה חרפה

Eicha 1:4 –

דרכי ציון אבלות מבלי באי מועד כל שעריה שוממין כהניה נאנחים בתולתיה נוגות והיא מר לה

After a lengthy attempt to uncover 1] who was the first to notice and comment on this “singular” puzzle, Rabbi Meir mentions two other points (these three issues are dispersed throughout the long essay).

2] Likutei Sichos (talks by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson) Volume 32 p. 132 wonders why Maimonides calls his work on the festivals (etc.) “Zemanim” instead of the Mishnaic term, Moed.

3] Seder “Moed” was at some point (as early as 1563 / שכ”ג) called “Zemanim”, a name for which no original support can be found (By the way, I’m not that old, and I heard this title often in childhood).

To which Yours Truly wonders why he doesn’t simply add up one and two? The reason Maimonides had in mind for choosing to name his book ‘Zemanim’ was the same exact reason Moed was later called Zemanim (perhaps taking their cue from Maimonides); “Moed” is a peculiar name!

Maimonides always aims for greater clarity, so this isn’t surprising in the least.