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Posting on Webside on Chol HaMoed

A person works as an executive director for a number of news websites. Part of his job is curating content and managing writers. This particular person bills his clients monthly based on his time spent.
To take off completely for chol hamoed pesach would be somewhat of a loss in terms of the hours. However more importantly the websites would suffer because they would be lacking greatly in content during this time. As well the social media interaction would be down as well. He feels he has an obligation to the client and although the client is somewhat understanding (or perhaps pretty understanding) he realizes the importance of continuing his work during chol hamoed.

What it would amount to would be researching articles, posting them to the website, posting to social media, writing (on a computer), etc. It’s also managing a team of writers and their work as well — but this person deals with the technical side of the website as well.

Is there any heter for him to continue doing this on chol hamoed? Is it better to avoid altogether? Is it muter but perhaps not so “glatt”?

Answer:

Under the circumstances it is permitted for you to do the work you mention.

This is a case of a davar ha’aved, since refraining from work will cause a loss, and continual work is necessary to ensure this will not occur.

In addition to this, the work you describe does not involve the full melachos that are prohibited on Chol HaMoed.

Under the circumstances you can therefore continue to research and to post as required. Of course, you should ensure that this should not cause to miss out on the joy of Yom Tov.

Best wishes.

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