Commentary for Moed Katan 1:8
הַהֶדְיוֹט תּוֹפֵר כְּדַרְכּוֹ, וְהָאֻמָּן מַכְלִיב. וּמְסָרְגִין אֶת הַמִּטּוֹת. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, אַף מְמַתְּחִין:
A hedyot (a non-professional) sews (on Chol Hamoed) as he always does. [A hedyot is one who cannot hem a garment so that it is straight and well-aligned; but it emerges crooked, broad in one place and narrow in another.] And a professional "dog-stitches." [He makes stitches like a dog's teeth, which are not aligned, but one higher and one lower.] And beds may be girthed, [interlaced with bands]. R. Yossi says: They may be tautened. [If it had stood girthed for several days and the bands had loosened, he may tauten them; but he may not girth it. The halachah is not in accordance with R. Yossi.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
ההדיוט תור כדרכו – the “layman”/unskilled person is called anyone who doesn’t know how to direct the border of the garment so that it would be equal and properly directed, but rather curvy/windy to this side of that side and he makes it wide in this place and narrow in the other.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Moed Katan
Introduction
This mishnah deals with sewing on the festival. It introduces a principle which we have not yet seen in the previous mishnayot. There are certain types of labor that may be done by a non-professional but not by a craftsman. This prevents professionals from working on the festival, while still allowing ordinary people to engage in light labors.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
מכליב – he makes stitches like the teeth of a dog, and they are equivalent this one corresponding to that one, but rather one oon top and the other below.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Moed Katan
An ordinary person may sew in the usual way, but a craftsman may sew [only using] uneven stitches. An ordinary person can sew in a normal way, assuming he has an immediate need to do so. Sewing is not a heavy labor, and therefore it is permitted on the festival. However, a professional craftsman cannot sew in a normal way because that would allow him to engage in his profession during the festival. This is prohibited even if he is not paid for the work. The mishnah allows him to make some sort of uneven stitches. This might allow him to fix things that need to be fixed while still preventing him from engaging in his normal profession.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
מסרגין את המטות – they weave them with ropes longitudinally and crosswise.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Moed Katan
And they may weave the ropes of a bed. Rabbi Yose says: they may even be tightened. In the mishnaic period beds were made with a frame around which they would loop ropes. The tighter the ropes, the firmer the bed (this is the origin of the phrase “sleep tight”). The mishnah allows a person to weave ropes around the frame of a bed because this is not a significant amount of work. It is also necessary if one wants to sleep on a bed. There are two versions of Rabbi Yose’s statement. According to the version which I have translated he even allows ropes that are already on the bed to be tightened. We might have thought that since the ropes were already there that tightening them is not really necessary and hence forbidden on the festival. In this version, Rabbi Yose is more lenient than the previous opinion. According to the other version, Rabbi Yose only allows tightening ropes and not weaving ropes that are not already attached to the bed frame. In this version Rabbi Yose is stricter.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
ממתחין – if it had been woven for many days and the ropes became weak, they tighten them, but they do not weave them [with ropes longitudinally and crosswise. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yosi.
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