Made in Israel?
הרב שי טחןכב אייר, תשפה20/05/2025Bal Tosif and the Question of Adding Holidays
תגיות:יום העצמאותחגיםבל תוסיף
When dealing with new and invented holidays such as Independence Day or Yom Yerushalayim, we must consider whether celebrating it violates the Torah prohibition of bal tosif—“Do not add to the Torah.” The Torah commands that we neither add to nor subtract from its mitzvot. The reason is clear: the Torah is complete and perfect, requiring no human additions. One who adds beyond what the Torah commands implies—Chas Veshalom—that the Torah is lacking and in need of improvement.
This question was already a dilemma in the Gemara (Megilah 14): how was Queen Esther permitted to add a new book to the Ketuvim and establish the holiday of Purim? The Gemara responds that Esther derived permission from a pasuk. Esther sent to the sages: “Write me for future generations.” They replied that it was not permitted—until they found a verse in the Torah that supported it: “Write this as a remembrance in the book” (Shemot 17:14). “Write this” refers to what is written here and in Devarim; “a remembrance” refers to what is written in the Nevi’im; “in the book” refers to what is written in the Megillah.
This served as the scriptural source permitting the inclusion of Purim and the Megillah, but beyond that, no such source exists to allow the addition of other holidays. Therefore, it is not permitted—especially when such days were not instituted by rabbinic authority but by secular individuals.
The Ramban addresses the issue of adding a holiday in his commentary (Devarim 4:2): "Even if one invents a mitzvah on its own—such as instituting a festival in a month of his own invention, like Yeravam did—he transgresses the prohibition of bal tosif. So too, the Sages said regarding the reading of the Megillah: 180 prophets arose for Israel, and they neither added to nor subtracted from what is written in the Torah, even a single letter—except for the reading of the Megillah… In the Yerushalmi, it says that 85 elders, among them several prophets, were distressed by the matter. They explained that the pasuk state: ‘These are the commandments which Hashem commanded Moshe’—these are the mitzvot that were commanded through Moshe; so said Moshe to us, and no prophet is to introduce anything new. But Mordechai and Esther want to introduce something new? They did not move from that spot and continued debating the issue until Hashem enlightened their eyes…"
This shows that the mitzvah of reading the Megillah and establishing the holiday of Purim was originally forbidden to them. If so, it falls under the prohibition of “do not add to it.”
Regarding how our sages had the right to add rabbinic decrees and enactments without violating bal tosif, the Rambam (Mamrim 2; 9) explains that the prohibition of bal tosif applies only when one claims that the law is a Torah obligation. However, if the sages clearly state that the law is derabanan—a rabbinic enactment—then it is entirely permitted.
One might argue that these new holidays are not actual religious holidays but merely days of celebration without any religious significance, and therefore should not violate bal tosif. However, we find in the Rambam (melachim 10; 9) that even a non-Jew is not permitted to invent and celebrate a holiday. This shows that even when a non-Jew establishes a day as a holiday—despite it lacking religious intent—it is still given halachic status as a holiday, and Chazal forbade participation. All the more so, if such a day is established by a secular Jew, it carries similar or even greater concern.
This question was already a dilemma in the Gemara (Megilah 14): how was Queen Esther permitted to add a new book to the Ketuvim and establish the holiday of Purim? The Gemara responds that Esther derived permission from a pasuk. Esther sent to the sages: “Write me for future generations.” They replied that it was not permitted—until they found a verse in the Torah that supported it: “Write this as a remembrance in the book” (Shemot 17:14). “Write this” refers to what is written here and in Devarim; “a remembrance” refers to what is written in the Nevi’im; “in the book” refers to what is written in the Megillah.
This served as the scriptural source permitting the inclusion of Purim and the Megillah, but beyond that, no such source exists to allow the addition of other holidays. Therefore, it is not permitted—especially when such days were not instituted by rabbinic authority but by secular individuals.
The Ramban addresses the issue of adding a holiday in his commentary (Devarim 4:2): "Even if one invents a mitzvah on its own—such as instituting a festival in a month of his own invention, like Yeravam did—he transgresses the prohibition of bal tosif. So too, the Sages said regarding the reading of the Megillah: 180 prophets arose for Israel, and they neither added to nor subtracted from what is written in the Torah, even a single letter—except for the reading of the Megillah… In the Yerushalmi, it says that 85 elders, among them several prophets, were distressed by the matter. They explained that the pasuk state: ‘These are the commandments which Hashem commanded Moshe’—these are the mitzvot that were commanded through Moshe; so said Moshe to us, and no prophet is to introduce anything new. But Mordechai and Esther want to introduce something new? They did not move from that spot and continued debating the issue until Hashem enlightened their eyes…"
This shows that the mitzvah of reading the Megillah and establishing the holiday of Purim was originally forbidden to them. If so, it falls under the prohibition of “do not add to it.”
Regarding how our sages had the right to add rabbinic decrees and enactments without violating bal tosif, the Rambam (Mamrim 2; 9) explains that the prohibition of bal tosif applies only when one claims that the law is a Torah obligation. However, if the sages clearly state that the law is derabanan—a rabbinic enactment—then it is entirely permitted.
One might argue that these new holidays are not actual religious holidays but merely days of celebration without any religious significance, and therefore should not violate bal tosif. However, we find in the Rambam (melachim 10; 9) that even a non-Jew is not permitted to invent and celebrate a holiday. This shows that even when a non-Jew establishes a day as a holiday—despite it lacking religious intent—it is still given halachic status as a holiday, and Chazal forbade participation. All the more so, if such a day is established by a secular Jew, it carries similar or even greater concern.
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