Writing on Chol Hamoed is forbidden, besides for certain circumstances. It only can be done for something that’s a davar ha’avud – something that’ll cause a great loss. If one comes up with a chiddush Torah that he might forget by the end of Yom Tov, he may write it on Chol Hamoed, as it is deemed a davar ha’avud. (Any questions le’maaseh should be addressed to one’s own contemporary Rav.)
’ Dovid Frankel was surprised when R’ Isser Zalmen Meltzer requested from him a pen and paper on Chol Hamoed. This brought R’ Dovid, his chavrusa, to ask, “Today is Chol Hamoed. Did R’ Isser Zalmen find a chiddush that can’t wait to be written until after Yom Tov? Is it perhaps a davar ha’avud, something that’ll cause a substantial monetary loss, which would allow one to write on Chol Hamoed?”
“No. That’s not the reason.”
“So why are you asking for a pen and paper?”
“It’s a matter of pikuach nefesh—a matter of urgency! It can’t wait till after Yom Tov.”
Hearing the words “pikuach nefesh,” R’ Dovid darted to retrieve the pen and paper.
This was surprising. “Pikuach nefesh?” he wondered. “I’ve been learning with R’ Isser Zalmen for some time, and no urgent matters have come his way. What could it be?”
R’ Isser Zalmen took the pen, wrote a pasuk on the paper and slipped it into the drawer of his desk.
This intensified R’ Dovid’s wonder. “Why is this pasuk a matter of pikuach nefesh? Had he said that he had a new insight into the pasuk, I’d understand, but pikuach nefesh?!”
Seeing the wonder on R’ Dovid’s face, R’ Isser Zalmen explained how this pasuk served as “survival.”
“On Chol Hamoed, I’m visited by the public. Many of them come simply to wish a gut Yom Tov, while others come to be shoel eitzah, seek guidance on their timely issues. They bring along a variety of questions.
“This poses a danger for me. Why? Because I can come to look down at them. Some of them open up to me with an ‘assortment’ of faults, deficiencies and shortcomings, leaving me in great danger—looking down at someone. This pasuk though saves me. It prevents me from viewing them in a negative eye.”
What was the pasuk? “עיניך לנוכח יביטו ועפעפיך יישרו לנגדך” (Mishlei, perek 5). R’ Isser Zalmen learned from it the way not to view others in a negative light. עיניך — your eyes, לנוכח יביטו — should look into yourself, and עפעפיך יישרו לנגדך — the one across you will be seen straight.
“If I examine my deeds,” R’ Isser Zalmen continued, “I’ll see that they are imperfect, and this would spare me from looking negatively at others. This year, I forgot to write down this pasuk before Yom Tov, and having its reminder is pikuach nefesh, as I am concerned that can fall into this trap, so I deemed it vital to write it, even on Chol Hamoed.”
