Halachos of Yom Kippur - Rabbi Yehoshua Lipsh shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast of Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 The laws of Yom Kippur. Let’s begin with the laws of Erev Yom Kippur. Strictly speaking, Erev Yom Kippur is not a Yom Tov. In fact, it says that according to the basic law, eulogies would be permitted on this day; it is not considered a Yom Tov at all. The one mitzvah it has is to eat, as we’ll see shortly. Nevertheless, the Jewish people have long had the custom not to deliver eulogies on this day and to treat it like a Yom Tov in every respect. Of course, that doesn’t mean work is forbidden. It means that the mitzvah of rejoicing, and the other practices associated with Yom Tov, are observed on Erev Yom Kippur as well. The mitzvah that Erev Yom Kippur does have is the mitzvah of eating. That is its central mitzvah—so much so that some poskim hold that it is a Torah mitzvah. Many poskim have discussed why we don’t make a bracha over this mitzvah as we do over other mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe writes that it is a mitzvah instituted by the Sages, but it has an allusion, a basis, in Scripture: the Sages based their teaching on a verse. Which verse? It says, “And you shall afflict yourselves on the ninth of the month, in the evening.” Now, the fast is on Yom Kippur, which is the tenth of Tishrei. So why does it say, “And you shall afflict yourselves on the ninth of the month”? We don’t fast on the ninth; we fast only on the tenth of Tishrei. The intent of the verse, the Alter Rebbe writes, is that we should prepare ourselves on the ninth for the fast the following day. In other words, there is a special mitzvah—and in the Alter Rebbe’s words, it comes from Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s love for the Jewish people. Out of His concern and great love for the Jewish people, He commanded them to eat on Erev Yom Kippur, the ninth of Tishrei, so they would be ready for the fast. In other words, so that the fast

02:09 Speaker 2 would be easier for them. Incidentally, poskim have drawn on this in addressing the well-known question of whether it is permissible to take the various pills available today that make fasting easier. The poskim write that it is clear there is a mitzvah to make the fast easier. There is no mitzvah, and no reason, for the fast to be difficult. On the contrary, there is a mitzvah and a reason for it to be easier, and for it not to cause a Jew harm, G-d forbid, or even a degree of distress. So if these supplements or pills help someone fast, they may certainly take them. Furthermore, the verse says, “And you shall afflict yourselves on the ninth of the month.” It should have said to eat. Why does it use the language of affliction, “And you shall afflict yourselves”? The Alter Rebbe cites the teaching that when a person eats on the ninth of Tishrei, Scripture considers it as though he fasted on both the ninth and the tenth. What does it mean that it is as though he fasted on both the ninth and the tenth? For most people, presumably, fasting is harder than eating. When a person eats on Erev Yom Kippur, not only has he fulfilled the mitzvah of eating, but it is as though he fulfilled the mitzvah of fasting. There is an interesting point: some say that eating on Erev Yom Kippur counts like two days of fasting, and then Yom Kippur itself also counts as a fast day, provided the person fasts, of course. So these three days are considered as though the person fasted for three days. In several places it says that fasting for three consecutive days is something very lofty. So some poskim write that a person who eats properly on Erev Yom Kippur and then fasts on Yom Kippur has the equivalent of three fasts. The Alter Rebbe gives another reason we eat on Erev Yom Kippur: Yom Kippur itself is a festival. It would have been appropriate for a festival, like all festivals, to have a mitzvah to eat

04:02 Speaker 2 and drink and a mitzvah to have a Yom Tov meal. But in practice, this is a day of affliction, a day when we cannot eat or drink. So eating on Erev Yom Kippur makes up for the Yom Tov meal of Yom Kippur. In the Alter Rebbe’s words: “Since Yom Kippur itself cannot be honored with food and drink as other festivals are, it must be honored on the preceding day.” Since we cannot honor Yom Kippur itself by eating, because of the mitzvah to fast, eating on Erev Yom Kippur serves in place of the eating that would have taken place on Yom Kippur. The poskim therefore discuss what happens when someone cannot fast for medical reasons or the like. A woman who has given birth within the past three days and cannot fast on Yom Kippur is not required to fast. What is the law in such a case? Does she need to eat on Erev Yom Kippur or not? Some poskim write that she is not obligated to eat on Erev Yom Kippur: the whole reason for eating then is to prepare for the fast. If she isn’t fasting, what is the point of eating? But in practice, we see from the Alter Rebbe’s wording that there is another aspect here. Eating on Erev Yom Kippur is not just preparation for the Yom Kippur fast; it also makes up for the eating that would have taken place on Yom Kippur. Since there is no Yom Tov meal on Yom Kippur itself—and even someone who does not fast does not hold a Yom Tov meal—by eating on Erev Yom Kippur, a person makes up for, or fulfills, the requirement of a Yom Tov meal and of honoring Yom Tov. Because the obligation to eat on this day is so significant, the poskim mention that even a taanis chalom, a fast after a troubling dream, is not observed then. This is less common today,

05:53 Speaker 2 but it was certainly practiced much more in the past. The halacha is that a person who had a bad dream that night may fast even on Shabbos. But on Erev Yom Kippur, because eating is a mitzvah—and not just any mitzvah, but eating itself is considered a fast—even someone who normally observes a taanis chalom does not do so on this day. Why? Because eating on this day also counts as a fast. So why fast? Even his eating counts as fasting. Later, with Hashem’s help, we’ll discuss the customs of eating on Erev Yom Kippur at length, particularly the final meal before the fast. But for now, speaking generally, in addition to the laws of that final meal, the poskim state that there is a mitzvah to eat throughout the entire day of Erev Yom Kippur. It says, “And you shall afflict yourselves on the ninth of the month,” from which the Sages learned that there is a mitzvah to eat on the ninth. So apart from the final meal, some poskim write that every time a person eats on Erev Yom Kippur, he fulfills the mitzvah of eating on Erev Yom Kippur. It is not limited to that final meal. As for saying Tachanun, since it has become customary to treat this day like a Yom Tov, we also have the custom not to say Tachanun, beginning the night before. That is, already in the bedtime Shema on the night following the eighth of Tishrei—the night of the ninth of Tishrei—we do not say Tachanun. Usually, when Tachanun is not said on a particular day, it is also omitted at Mincha the day before. But here we do say Tachanun at Mincha on the eighth of Tishrei. It is only on the night of the ninth of Tishrei—the night of Erev Yom Kippur, when kapparos are usually performed—that we do not say Tachanun. Why? Because that day already

07:45 Speaker 2 All of Erev Yom Kippur is considered a Yom Tov, but not to the extent that we omit Tachanun at Minchah on the preceding day as well. The custom of kapparos on Erev Yom Kippur: kapparos is an ancient custom. The halachic authorities give various reasons for it and discuss different laws and customs that existed in the past. It even has a certain source in the Gemara—not quite the way we do it with a chicken, but perhaps in another form that people practiced. In any case, it is a very old custom that spread throughout most of the Jewish people: the practice of doing kapparos on Erev Yom Kippur. In his siddur, the Alter Rebbe describes the entire custom, primarily according to Kabbalah, and we see there that the main element of kapparos is actually the slaughtering at the last watch of the night. The custom, the Alter Rebbe writes in his siddur, is to take a rooster. Why a rooster? We see that in Scripture a rooster is also called a gever, a word that also means “man.” Gever is also connected with gevurah, severity, and the slaughtering of the rooster, the Alter Rebbe writes in his siddur, draws out its blood. According to Kabbalah, this sweetens the severities. That is why it is done specifically in the morning, as the Alter Rebbe writes: at the last watch of the night, the light of kindness pervades the world, and that is a time to sweeten the severities. From this we see that the main element of kapparos is the slaughtering of the rooster. Besides that, there is also giving to the poor, which we will discuss shortly, and the practice of circling it over the head, as also appears in the siddur. But the main point of kapparos is, quite simply, that we slaughter the rooster. As the wording in the siddur says, the rooster will go to its death, and we will go to a long, good life and peace. The rooster, so to speak, undergoes the death

09:48 Speaker 2 that would have been decreed for the person, and the person will receive a favorable inscription and sealing on Yom Kippur. So, as we said, the custom is to take a chicken: a man takes a rooster and a woman takes a hen. In many places, especially where there is a great deal of pressure and trucks bring in roosters and hens, people do not always distinguish between them. Sometimes, when a person finishes kapparos and reaches the shochet, it becomes clear—before or after the slaughter—that it was a hen, not a rooster, or vice versa. So the person has already done the whole kapparos procedure. If it is discovered before the slaughter, perhaps it really would be best to exchange it. But if it is discovered afterward, the halachic authorities write that a man also fulfills the custom with a hen, and a woman with a rooster. So even if the fellow on the truck brought the wrong chicken—a hen instead of a rooster—the kapparos still counts. After all, we do find in the halachic authorities that although our custom is to take specifically a rooster, primarily for the Kabbalistic reason we mentioned from the Alter Rebbe, that it is called a gever, someone who has no rooster may use a fish. The halachic authorities also write—and we will discuss this shortly—that someone without that can even use money. In any case, our custom, as noted, is to take a rooster and say over it, “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement.” The initials of those Hebrew words spell chatach, alluding to the Divine name associated with “He who apportions life to every living being.” The kapparos we do on Erev Yom Kippur are connected with a favorable inscription and sealing: Hashem’s sealing, through which He will decree life for us throughout the year. The custom is to circle the chicken around the head three times. Altogether, that comes to nine--

11:44 Speaker 2 nine times circling the chicken around the head. Each time, we say the text from the beginning, “People who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,” and then, “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement.” We do this three times, so it comes out that we circle it around the head nine times. In the Shulchan Aruch, the Alter Rebbe mentions various customs, such as placing one’s hands on the rooster, but he did not include that custom in his siddur. The halachah says to choose a white rooster specifically. An allusion was found for this in the verse, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall become white as snow.” At the same time, the halachic authorities write, and it appears in the Shulchan Aruch, that if white roosters are not readily available, a person should not go out of his way to obtain one. That is connected with the practices of the Amorites, who would seek out white roosters, and it is written, “Do not follow their statutes.” So if a person cannot find a white rooster, he may use another rooster available to him. Our preferred custom is for each person to have their own chicken. The halachic authorities do mention a custom in which several males perform kapparos with one rooster and several females with one hen. In earlier years, when circumstances were more difficult, that was indeed how people would generally do it: many men used one rooster, and so on. But nowadays, when roosters and hens are much easier to obtain than they once were, each person should of course have their own. The Alter Rebbe writes in the siddur that the number of chickens for kapparos should match the number of members of the household. In other words, ideally, each person should perform kapparos with a separate chicken. If someone is in a very difficult financial situation and truly has great difficulty paying for chickens for every member of the household, then

13:43 Speaker 2 one should know that the halachic authorities do mention this custom: one rooster can suffice for several boys, and one hen for several girls. Redeeming the kapparos: in the past, the custom was to give the meat of the kapparos chickens to the poor. But the Alter Rebbe writes that a better custom developed—to redeem the chicken with money and distribute the money to the poor. Apparently, it became the case, or still happens, that giving someone a chicken and telling him it was used by other people for kapparos embarrasses him. That is where the concept of redeeming kapparos came from. What does redeeming kapparos mean? It means that we take the chicken and redeem it: we keep for ourselves the chicken and its meat that would have gone to the poor, and instead give money to tzedakah. Redeeming the kapparos means redeeming the chicken itself, so one should give the value of the chicken to tzedakah. In places where the chickens themselves go to the poor, to soup kitchens and the like, a person does not have to give money for their redemption to tzedakah, because he is giving the chicken itself to tzedakah. The halachic authorities write that the entrails, liver, and kidneys of the kapparos chicken are thrown into a place accessible to all, as the Shulchan Aruch says, where birds can take those internal parts. Since it is appropriate to show compassion to living creatures on this day, we do so, and we want Hakadosh Boruch Hu to show us compassion from Heaven as well. A few more laws concerning kapparos: regarding a pregnant woman, the custom is for her to take three chickens—a hen for herself, and a rooster and a hen for the fetus. If it is a boy, the rooster is for him; if it is a girl, the hen is for her. So because of the uncertainty, three chickens are taken,

15:52 Speaker 2 Essentially, two hens and one rooster. Even if there are twins, the Rebbe writes that the custom is to take only three chickens. In fact, there are several reasons to say that one need not take three chickens at all. Taking three is itself somewhat of a stringency, because, as we said, the poskim mention a custom of using one chicken for several people. There is also some question as to whether the fetus needs its own atonement, and what exactly its status is within the mother. In any case, the Rebbe writes that the practice is to take three chickens, not five because of the possibility that there might be twins. If the sex of the fetus is known—there is ultrasound today, and a woman may have had the test for medical reasons and now know the sex of the fetus—the poskim write that she does not specifically have to take both a rooster and a hen for the fetus. For example, if she knows the fetus is male, she can take a hen for herself and a rooster for the fetus. But that is only if the ultrasound result is clear, because there have been cases of mistaken identification, especially in the earlier months. If it is later in the pregnancy, and the ultrasound clearly shows that the fetus is male or female, she can take the chicken corresponding to its sex. When the fetus is less than forty days old—say a woman has taken a test, whether a home pregnancy test, a blood test, or another lab test, and received confirmation that she is pregnant—even then, since until forty days the fetus is considered, in the language of the Gemara, “mere water,” it does not yet have an existence of its own. So there is no need to take three chickens; one hen is enough for

18:09 Speaker 2 the mother. The slaughter on Erev Yom Kippur—the slaughter of the kapparos. As mentioned, the kapparos custom centers primarily on slaughtering the chicken in the early hours before dawn. At the same time, the poskim write, and the Alter Rebbe also brings this in the laws of shechitah, that the shochtim must exercise great care on Erev Yom Kippur. There is often tremendous pressure on them amid all the commotion surrounding kapparos. If, G-d forbid, a shochet does not slaughter the chicken properly on Erev Yom Kippur, that is a serious transgression. For this reason, some people make a point of not eating the chickens slaughtered on Erev Yom Kippur at all, so as not to risk eating one slaughtered where there was inadequate supervision, where the knives were not properly checked, or where the shochet was under too much pressure. For the same reason, the practice of beginning kapparos during the Ten Days of Teshuvah has become widespread. True, as we saw, the main point of kapparos, or part of its significance, is to do it on Erev Yom Kippur in the early hours before dawn. But because the workload on the shochtim could lead to mistakes, Jewish communities have customarily started kapparos earlier, during the Ten Days of Teshuvah. So women and children, for whom it is naturally harder to get up before dawn—whether the children themselves or the women who have to look after them—can do kapparos from the beginning of the Ten Days of Teshuvah, at the times arranged in each place, so that the shechitah and the kapparos are done properly. If the children and the mother and so on can do kapparos at night, meaning at the beginning of the night before Yom Kippur, and then the father can take the chickens in the morning, before dawn, and have them slaughtered then—when, in the Alter Rebbe’s words, the attribute of kindness prevails in the world—that is certainly preferable, and one may do so. In many places, out of care for and affection for the mitzvos, people have adopted the practice of asking the shochet for the opportunity to recite the blessing over covering the blood. Now, the mitzvah of covering the blood actually belongs

20:34 Speaker 2 to the shochet, so we ask him to let us fulfill that mitzvah and do it in his place. You can also see in a video that the Rebbe himself covers the blood with earth, using a feather. The blessing is: “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the covering of blood with earth.” The poskim write, though, that one must be careful about this—and attention has been drawn to it recently. Before the blood is covered, the shochet must check that the shechitah was done properly, that the knife has no nick, and so on. Therefore, before a person covers the blood and fulfills the mitzvah, the shochet should check the knife and the signs of shechitah to make sure the chicken was slaughtered properly. If the shechitah was invalid—meaning the chicken was not slaughtered properly—kapparos must be done again. But if the shechitah was done properly and afterward it was discovered that the chicken was a treifah because of some defect at the back of its neck, the Alter Rebbe writes that the kapparos are valid and the person has fulfilled the obligation. The obligation, or mitzvah, of immersing on Erev Yom Kippur: this too is an ancient custom. People customarily immerse on Erev Yom Kippur; the custom is already mentioned by the Geonim. In practice, our custom, the custom of chassidim, is to immerse every day before davening. But the immersion on Erev Yom Kippur is required by the basic halachah, according to the Shulchan Aruch. Immersing every day is a pious practice. Men customarily immerse each day before davening so that their davening will be more fitting, as the Alter Rebbe writes in Likkutei Torah. But that immersion is not required by the basic halachah; a person has no obligation to immerse. On Erev Yom Kippur, there is a special mitzvah for a person to immerse in preparation for Yom Kippur. What is this mitzvah? What is the reason for immersing on Erev

22:35 Speaker 2 Yom Kippur? The poskim give two different reasons. One reason they mention is the possibility of impurity from a seminal emission: a person should immerse in case he has become impure in this way. Even if he immersed previously, he may have become impure again without realizing it, and therefore he should immerse. According to this reason, someone who knows for certain that he has not had such an emission, or who immersed the day before and knows for certain that he has not had one since, would seemingly not need to immerse. But there is another reason: a Jew immerses because he is like a convert. A person who converts must immerse; in fact, the conversion itself is effected through immersion. Since, on Erev Yom Kippur, a Jew is like a convert through his teshuvah, like a person returning to Jewish observance, there is a custom mentioned by the poskim for someone who has returned to observance to immerse as well. In its plain sense, what the poskim are discussing is someone who had abandoned Judaism, G-d forbid, and must immerse when he returns to it. So every Jew should immerse on Erev Yom Kippur, because Yom Kippur is a day of teshuvah. And since this immersion is like that of a convert, there are several details about which we are more particular. First, we are careful that there be no chatzitzah—no barrier between the body and the water. With our daily immersion, we generally are not particular about a possible barrier. Of course, that immersion is not obligatory, and even if there is a barrier, it is presumably not one that would invalidate immersion according to Torah law, so we are not particular about it. But on Erev Yom Kippur, the poskim write that the custom is to make sure there is no barrier on the body. One trims one’s nails or combs one’s

24:32 Speaker 2 the hair on one’s head and the like, so that there will truly be no barrier on a person’s body on Erev Yom Kippur. Another custom connected with the idea of a convert entering Judaism is to immerse three times. Some Chabad rabbis have written that one should immerse four times: once for purification from seminal emission, and another three times because of the idea of a convert entering Judaism. So, in practice, the custom is to immerse on Erev Yom Kippur. The Alter Rebbe writes about boys and unmarried girls, but the custom nowadays is that unmarried women do not immerse. Men from bar mitzvah age, and likewise married women, do customarily immerse on Erev Yom Kippur. The halachic authorities have also written that married women should not immerse if they are in the middle of their seven clean days. And if there is a concern, of course, that this could lead to wasting seed or affect a pregnancy, one must be careful to avoid such things. But generally, the custom is that married women also immerse, as stated in the Shulchan Aruch, because the idea of a convert entering Judaism applies to every woman as well. So again, we do not have unmarried women immerse, but the custom is that married women do immerse. As we said earlier, there is a special mitzvah to immerse on Erev Yom Kippur. The custom is to immerse before Minchah. The reason is so that the confession will be said in a state of purity. We will soon discuss the confession at Minchah. At Minchah we already say the lengthy confession that we usually say in the middle of Shemoneh Esrei, and so the custom is to immerse before Minchah, so that this confession will truly be said in purity. There are opinions that the immersion should take place immediately before Yom Kippur, and therefore after the final meal,

26:38 Speaker 2 and so, in practice, our custom is to immerse three times on Erev Yom Kippur: once in the morning, as on any other day before davening—I am speaking about the men, of course—once before Minchah, in order to confess in a state of purity, and once more after the final meal, immediately before Yom Kippur. The principal immersion is the one before Minchah, and before that immersion the custom, as stated in the Siddur, is to receive lashes, as we will discuss shortly. One must remember that the immersion after the final meal must, of course, also take place before sunset. One must be very careful about this, because the prohibition against washing begins at sunset, as we will discuss shortly. But the custom is to immerse a third time before sunset. As for the lashes before immersion, the Alter Rebbe writes that all the people had the custom to receive lashes before davening, before Minchah. The Shulchan Aruch does mention the custom of doing so after Minchah, but in the Siddur the Alter Rebbe writes that the lashes should be before Minchah, and the custom is indeed to receive them before immersing. The actual thirty-nine lashes prescribed by the Torah are, of course, not administered today. Sadly, we no longer have ordained rabbinical courts, courts that can administer lashes. Ordination of that kind has ceased, so today’s rabbinical courts do not have the halachic authority to administer lashes. Also, to administer actual lashes to someone who, Heaven forbid, committed a transgression, he would first have to be warned; only then could he be lashed. Nevertheless, the custom is for a person to accept lashes upon himself. Where did this custom come from? It is so that he will take to heart the need to repent for the transgressions he has committed, and also, in the Alter Rebbe’s words, to humble his heart and prepare it to serve Hashem, the honored and awesome One, with awe and reverence. So, as noted, the custom is to receive lashes before davening and before immersing. This is, of course, not

28:50 Speaker 2 an absolute obligation, since we do not administer lashes today. And receiving these lashes would not exempt someone if he had actually been given a proper warning. Nevertheless, the custom is to receive lashes on Erev Yom Kippur. The person receiving them sits bent over, facing north. What does facing north mean? He bends forward with his face toward the north. Why? It says, “Gold comes from the north”—meaning, as it says, that wealth comes from the north. “One who wishes to become wealthy should face north.” And since, as it says, most of a person’s sins arise because of money—many sins involving robbery, theft and so on, which people stumble into without noticing, are connected with money. Other sins involving honor and the like are also often connected with money. So he bends toward the north to recognize where sin comes from. The custom is for the person administering the lashes to strike in this order: on the right, on the left, and below in the middle, like the vowel sign segol. And they recite the verse, “But He, being merciful, forgives iniquity and does not destroy; many times He turns away His anger and does not stir up all His wrath.” They do this three times. Since the verse has thirteen words, three times thirteen makes thirty-nine—the thirty-nine lashes customarily received on Erev Yom Kippur. After the lashes, as noted, the custom is to immerse, as we discussed at length regarding immersion on Erev Yom Kippur. After immersion comes Minchah, and at Minchah we have our first confession. Why, in fact, do we confess at Minchah? Seemingly, the principal confession, the mitzvah of teshuvah, belongs to Yom Kippur. Nevertheless, the Gemara says that there is a concern that something might go wrong for a person during the meal. What does that mean? There is a concern that at the final meal a person might become intoxicated, or that, Heaven forbid, he might choke on his food.

31:01 Speaker 2 Therefore, the custom is to confess already at Minchah, so that a person has a chance to confess before Yom Kippur. At the same time, there is a custom that we will discuss later to confess again as Yom Kippur begins; we will speak about that separately. But the custom is to confess at the end of the prayer, as printed in the machzorim, listing the sins: “For the sin we have committed before You.” Each time we say, “For the sin we have committed before You,” the custom is to strike the heart. We strike the heart because, as it were, we are striking the yetzer hara, saying, “You caused me to sin.” Alongside each person making his own confession, the custom on Yom Kippur is for the prayer leader to recite the entire confession again during the repetition, with the congregation confessing along with him. But at Minchah, since the principal confession belongs to Yom Kippur, not to Minchah, the individual confesses, but the prayer leader does not repeat the confession during the repetition. The repetition was instituted for people who do not know how to daven, so that the prayer leader can fulfill their obligation on their behalf. But since confession at Minchah is not strictly obligatory, the custom is that the prayer leader does not repeat the confession during the repetition. There is a general rule for every Shabbos and Yom Tov that it is a mitzvah to add from the ordinary day to the holy day. We learn this from the verse, “On the ninth of the month, in the evening”: already on Erev Yom Kippur, there is a mitzvah to add to Yom Kippur. In practice, the Alter Rebbe writes in the Siddur that even a few minutes count as adding from the ordinary day to the holy day. In the Alter Rebbe’s Siddur, he writes four minutes. In any event, one must make sure to stop eating and drinking several minutes before sunset—four minutes before sunset. In the Siddur

33:03 Speaker 2 The Alter Rebbe distinguishes between visible sunset and actual sunset. We won’t go into that, but in general, after the time that is definitely sunset, one must add a few more minutes, extending the holy day into weekday time. And again, as mentioned, this is derived from a verse in the Torah, so this addition is something one must do. Lighting candles on Erev Yom Kippur: As on every Erev Shabbos and Yom Tov, there is a mitzvah to light candles on Erev Yom Kippur as well. When lighting the candles, besides the blessing “to kindle the light of Yom Kippur,” one also recites Shehecheyanu—“Who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this time”—for the festival. So, as mentioned, the blessing is “to kindle the light of Yom Kippur.” If a woman mistakenly said “to kindle the light of the holy Shabbos,” she must say the blessing again. If she catches herself immediately, she corrects it right away; if some time has passed, she must say the blessing “to kindle the light of Yom Kippur” again. But if she said “to kindle the light of Yom Tov,” since Yom Kippur is indeed a Yom Tov, she does not need to say the blessing again. Afterward, she recites Shehecheyanu. One must remember that a woman who recites Shehecheyanu then cannot recite it again when it is said in shul on the night of Yom Kippur. Why can’t she recite Shehecheyanu again? Because she has already fulfilled her obligation with the blessing she said earlier. It is a mitzvah to publicize this; the Rebbe writes that it should be publicized so that women do not, G-d forbid, recite a blessing in vain, since they have already fulfilled their obligation with the Shehecheyanu they said when lighting candles. As mentioned, Yom Kippur is a festival, so of course the custom is to wear Shabbos clothes and lay out fine clothes and fine bedding, as it says. The custom is indeed to wear festive clothes. The poskim also write that jewelry a woman wears on weekdays

34:52 Speaker 2 she may certainly wear on Yom Kippur, even if it is gold jewelry. We won’t go into what is prohibited now, but a woman may wear on Yom Kippur jewelry she normally wears on weekdays. So, as mentioned, the custom is to honor Yom Kippur as we honor Shabbos, with fine clothes and fine bedding. Some people—and this was also the Rebbe’s custom—wear Shabbos clothes already on Erev Yom Kippur. In any case, on Yom Kippur itself one must certainly wear Shabbos clothes. We’ll speak about the kittel in a moment. Besides the candles lit as on every Erev Shabbos and Yom Tov, there is a custom to light a ner chayim, a “candle of life.” The custom is to light it in shul. It is customary for the candle to burn throughout Yom Kippur. Of course, it must be placed somewhere safe, where it will not, G-d forbid, pose a danger. And even if the candle goes out on Yom Kippur, the custom is to relight it after Yom Kippur and let it burn out. In addition, the custom is to light a yahrzeit candle, which is lit at home. That is, someone whose father or mother has passed away customarily lights a yahrzeit candle on Yom Kippur, but the yahrzeit candle is kept at home. So the ner chayim is in shul, while the yahrzeit candle is lit at home. The custom is to wear a kittel on Yom Kippur. Among us, the custom is specifically for men to wear the kittel. The Alter Rebbe gives two reasons. One is to resemble the ministering angels, as it says. Another reason, seemingly the opposite, is that the kittel resembles the clothing of the dead—the shrouds worn after death. The custom of wearing it is meant to humble a person and bring him to complete teshuvah. Our custom is that someone who wore a kittel at his wedding

36:52 Speaker 2 does not wear it again that same year. Therefore, a groom who married during the year does not wear a kittel on the first Yom Kippur after his wedding. Since the kittel is a garment designated for prayer, the Alter Rebbe writes in the laws of prayer that such a garment must be treated with respect and not worn into the bathroom. So if a person needs to use the bathroom or the like[?], he removes the kittel before entering. The Rebbe’s custom was to wear the sirtuk, the kittel over it, and the gartel—the belt worn during prayer—over that. On Erev Yom Kippur, close to the start of Yom Kippur, the custom is to put on the kittel and tallis. The custom is to wear the kittel and tallis for all the Yom Kippur prayers. One says the blessing on the tallis before Yom Kippur begins, before sunset. If the sun has already set and it is night, one cannot say the blessing on the tallis; it must be said before sunset. After putting on the tallis, the custom is for a person to bless his children with the traditional blessing for children. There is a mitzvah for a person to make amends with his fellow on Erev Yom Kippur. In practice, it says that Yom Kippur atones for sins between a person and Hashem, but it does not atone for sins between one person and another until he has appeased the person he wronged. The verse says, “For on this day He will atone for you, to purify you from all your sins; before Hashem you shall be purified.” From this our Sages learned that it is specifically sins “before Hashem”—meaning sins between a person and Hashem, when someone has acted improperly in relation to Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s commandments—for which he can ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s forgiveness on Yom Kippur. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as a merciful and forgiving King, forgives a Jew for his sins. But with sins between one person and another—that is, when

38:44 Speaker 2 someone has, G-d forbid, hurt another Jew—it is explicitly stated that one cannot approach Hakadosh Boruch Hu to ask forgiveness when the other person has not forgiven him. Therefore, throughout the year, when a person hurts someone else, he should—not merely should, he must—ask that person’s forgiveness. All the more so on Erev Yom Kippur, because Yom Kippur’s atonement is not complete when a person has hurt someone and that person has not forgiven him. The poskim discuss various details of how one should ask forgiveness and how far the obligation extends. Briefly, the obligation is to go and ask the other person’s forgiveness up to three times. It says that if the person is his teacher or his father—and some write this in other cases as well—he must ask even more than three times. In any case, the Alter Rebbe states as a simple matter that even if the other person has not forgiven him after several attempts, he is certainly free to go back several more times if he wishes to be more stringent. Ideally, a person should do everything in his power to ask forgiveness and have the other person forgive him. At the same time, of course, asking forgiveness does not mean continuing to behave as one has until now. Rather, it means genuinely regretting what one did and undertaking not to behave that way again. Therefore, if someone asks forgiveness but the person who was hurt sees that he intends to go on behaving as before, and is asking only for the sake of Yom Kippur, the poskim write that the injured person is not obligated to forgive him. He may withhold forgiveness. The Alter Rebbe’s wording is: “Even though”

40:30 Speaker 2 Although throughout the year a person should promptly seek forgiveness from someone he has wronged, on Erev Yom Kippur he must be especially careful about this, so that the hearts of all the Jewish people will be at peace with one another and there will be no opening for the Satan to accuse them. In other words, asking forgiveness on Erev Yom Kippur is not just a private matter—someone wants to be forgiven, so he asks the other person to forgive him. No. Asking forgiveness on Erev Yom Kippur concerns the Jewish people as a whole. As the wording says, it is so that the hearts of all the Jewish people will be at peace with one another and there will be no opening for the Satan to accuse them. That is regarding asking forgiveness. The final meal before the fast: As we discussed, there is a special commandment to eat on Erev Yom Kippur. It applies throughout the day; eating at any point on Erev Yom Kippur is a mitzvah. The Rebbe related that his father was particular to eat with both hands at the final meal. During the rest of the year he ate with only one hand, but at this meal on Erev Yom Kippur, apparently because the mitzvah was so dear to him, the Rebbe’s father made a point of eating with both hands. The custom is to eat a proper meal, a festive meal, as we said. Since one cannot eat a festive meal on Yom Kippur, the custom is to hold on Erev Yom Kippur, at the final meal, the meal that would, so to speak, have been held on Yom Kippur itself. At this meal, the custom is not to eat foods that warm the body, or the foods listed in the Shulchan Aruch in this regard, such as garlic and eggs. Dairy foods and butter are not eaten then either. In the morning, though, it says they may be eaten, provided one eats foods that are easy to digest. Again, even in the morning,

42:40 Speaker 2 we do not eat foods that increase the production of seed, such as garlic and eggs. But dairy foods and butter, being easy to digest, may be eaten in the morning. Foods that are hard to digest, such as beef and the like, are not eaten even then. Instead, one eats foods such as chicken and fish. There is a particular custom, based on a Midrash, to eat fish at the final meal. The Midrash tells the well-known story of a tailor and a prominent governor competing to buy a fish. The custom is also to eat chicken and similar foods that are easy to digest. But if someone does not eat meat at the final meal and wants to eat dairy instead, the custom is not to eat dairy foods. This is not referring to a little milk in one’s coffee. The main concern is substantial dairy foods, which do warm the body; the custom is not to eat them at the final meal. Our custom is also to eat kreplach at the final meal. Kreplach are dumplings—little pockets of dough filled with some chicken. There are also reasons for this according to Kabbalah. Besides Erev Yom Kippur, our custom is to eat kreplach on Hoshana Rabbah and Purim, but the final meal on Erev Yom Kippur is also one of those occasions. After the final meal, it is advisable to state explicitly that one is not yet accepting the fast. The halachah is that if someone accepts the fast upon himself on Erev Yom Kippur, he must fast. And if he accepts Yom Kippur upon himself on Erev Yom Kippur—say, half an hour or an hour after plag haminchah—he is already bound by the fast and all

44:35 Speaker 2 the other five forms of abstention of Yom Kippur. The same applies if he accepts only the fast upon himself. Therefore, ideally, when he says Birchas Hamazon after the final meal, he should stipulate that he does not intend to begin the fast yet. Then, if he wants to drink water or the like after the meal, he can. In any case, even if someone forgot to make that stipulation at the final meal, said Birchas Hamazon, and now wants another drink or something else to eat, he may do so—unless he explicitly accepted upon himself that he was beginning the fast or beginning Yom Kippur. In that case, he may no longer eat or drink, and the other things prohibited on Yom Kippur are prohibited to him as well. In shul, the first prayer we say is Kol Nidrei. What is Kol Nidrei? Originally, its purpose was to release bans and excommunications imposed on certain members of the congregation. The idea is that even those people who are transgressors, whom we avoid praying with throughout the year, do pray with us on Rosh Hashanah. Similarly, the Sages say in the Gemara that any communal fast that does not include transgressors among the Jewish people is not a fast. In other words, for the fast—for Yom Kippur—to be complete, those people whom halachah and the Gemara call “transgressors among the Jewish people” must also be there. I mentioned once that these are the very people of whom it is said that they are as full of mitzvos as a pomegranate is of seeds. If they are not with us on Yom Kippur, our prayer is incomplete. The Gemara brings a proof from the ketores: one of its ingredients was chelbenah, which had an unpleasant smell, yet the Torah included it among the ingredients. In other words, for there truly to be a united community of the Jewish people whose prayer is fit

46:37 Speaker 2 to be accepted, everyone must be together, including those who are not the greatest tzaddikim. So the chazzan and the people standing with him are considered a beis din that grants permission to pray together. That is why we begin, “With the consent of the Omnipresent and with the consent of the congregation, we permit praying with transgressors.” That is the first part. Then comes Kol Nidrei, which is a declaration nullifying the oaths and vows we may make during the year without realizing it. At the outset, we make a kind of advance declaration: we announce that we are not accepting these vows upon ourselves and nullify them in advance, so that a person will not make a vow during the year and fail to fulfill it. At the same time, of course, if a person makes a vow during the year, he does need to fulfill it. And if, when making the vow, he expressly remembered that he had said Kol Nidrei and made it anyway, he certainly has to fulfill it; there is no question about that. In any case, that is the wording of Kol Nidrei. One needs to pay attention to what one is saying and understand it. We are, in effect, expressing regret in advance for all the vows and oaths we may make during the coming year. That is the meaning of “denidarna”—“that we will vow,” not vows we have already made. This is not the annulment of vows we perform on Erev Rosh Hashanah. On Erev Rosh Hashanah, it concerns past vows. In Kol Nidrei on Erev Yom Kippur, we are expressing regret in advance for future vows. Although the Shulchan Aruch says that the custom is to begin Kol Nidrei while it is still daylight, in practice it seems the custom is not to be particular about that: even if the sun has already set, we still say Kol Nidrei. Afterward, of course, the rest of the prayers begin, as printed in the machzorim. We will not go over them, because the whole day is laid out in order in the machzorim, though the Shulchan Aruch discusses at length the reasons for and order of what should be said.

48:35 Speaker 2 In any case, the point is that the Alter Rebbe writes that a person should not depart from the local custom, even in the piyutim or the melodies sung there, so as not to confuse the congregation. In other words, even according to the revealed dimension of Torah, it is clear that the piyutim and melodies should not be changed, so as not to confuse people. Particularly according to Kabbalah and Chassidus, we know that every word, every sentence and every detail corresponds very precisely to many things. So we really have to be very careful to say all the prayers in their proper order, and all the piyutim in the order that appears in the machzor and siddurim. On Yom Kippur, the custom is to say “Boruch shem kevod malchuso” aloud during Shema. Why do we say it aloud? Throughout the year, we say it quietly. There are other reasons the Alter Rebbe gives in the laws of prayer, but in the laws of Yom Kippur he explains that we say it in a whisper because when Moshe Rabbeinu ascended on high, he heard the ministering angels praising Hakadosh Boruch Hu with these words, “Boruch shem kevod.” When he came down, he had, so to speak, taken those words from there, and he instructed the Jewish people to say them too. The analogy given is of a man who stole a beautiful object from a king’s palace and gave it to his wife. He stole a piece of jewelry from the treasury, and he tells her, “Be careful that no one sees it.” Likewise, Moshe Rabbeinu, so to speak, took these words from Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s treasury, so we do not want the ministering angels, so to speak, to see this—or, as it were, for it to be seen in relation to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But on Yom Kippur, when we are like angels,

50:24 Speaker 2 we do say “Boruch shem kevod malchuso” aloud. Interestingly, a response from the Rebbe was published to a child who was troubled that we would say “Boruch shem kevod malchuso,” the angels would hear it, and after Yom Kippur they would report it on high. In his response, which I believe was handwritten, the Rebbe wrote that there is actually another reason we say it quietly, as explained in the laws of prayer. Before Yaakov Avinu passed away, his sons said to him, “Shema Yisroel”—Yisroel meaning Yaakov Avinu—“Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad.” In other words, they all affirmed their faith. He then said, “Boruch shem.” That is why it was instituted that we say it. But since it is not written explicitly in the Torah, they did not want to put it on the same level as Shema, which is written explicitly in the Torah, so they instituted that it be said in a whisper. That is another reason given there. The Rebbe’s response calls for a little discussion: What exactly did the Rebbe mean by directing the child there? What is the answer to the child’s question? In any case, returning to our subject: throughout the Yom Kippur prayers, whenever we say “Boruch shem,” we say it aloud. So in Shema before going to sleep, too, we do not say “Boruch shem” in a whisper; the same applies in Shacharis and at the end of the fast. Every time we say it, we say it aloud, because on Yom Kippur we are like the ministering angels. There is a custom mentioned by the halachic authorities not to sleep on Yom Kippur night. But the Alter Rebbe writes that if not sleeping properly will prevent a person from praying properly on Yom Kippur, it is certainly better for him to sleep. This applies throughout the year as well: the Rebbe writes that if staying awake and not sleeping

52:08 Speaker 2 before prayer will prevent a person from praying properly, it is better for him to sleep before prayer. Certainly that is true of Yom Kippur night: a person should go to sleep so that he can pray properly the next day. Of course, there are the chapters of Tehillim listed in the siddur to be said before going to sleep, before Kol Nidrei, and so on, and we should pay attention to that. As for the order of the day’s prayers, we say the morning blessings as they appear in the machzor, except for the blessing “She’asah li kol tzorki.” That blessing was instituted for putting on shoes, and on Yom Kippur wearing leather shoes is forbidden. Although we do wear other, non-leather shoes, we do not say “She’asah li kol tzorki.” Nor do we say it after Yom Kippur, when we put our shoes back on. We say it only the next morning. After that, the entire prayer service follows exactly the text in the machzor and siddur. At the end of Musaf, we have the—usually, each time, we say “Ein Keilokeinu” and so on, followed by Pitum Haketores. Here we do not say them; we say them later, at Ne’ilah. Regarding the Torah reading, there is something worth noting. The laws of prayer state that we are obligated to say one hundred blessings every day. This is derived from the verse, “And now, Yisroel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you?”—do not read “what,” but “one hundred.” The halachic authorities have laid out the full calculation of how a person reaches one hundred blessings each day through the prayers of Shacharis, Minchah and Maariv, the meals one eats, and so on. But on Yom Kippur, since eating and drinking are forbidden both at night and during the day, a person is missing many blessings. He can make some of them up with fragrant spices, which is why it is customary to say the blessing “Borei minei

53:56 Speaker 2 vesamim” during Yom Kippur. I’ll mention briefly—this is not the subject of today’s class—two important halachos connected with this. First, you cannot say “Borei minei vesamim” every minute or two. There has to be a lapse of attention between one blessing and the next. If someone said the blessing and smelled the fragrance, then stopped thinking about smelling it again, and later wants to smell it again, he may say the blessing. But you cannot keep saying “Borei minei vesamim” anew; that would be a blessing in vain. A second point that needs to be raised: one cannot say “Borei minei vesamim” over most of the snuff and fragrances available today, because they have no scent of their own. You can say the blessing only over something with its own fragrance. Tobacco leaves, and likewise these fragrances, generally have no scent of their own. There are tobacco leaves to which a scent is added using chemicals, or even non-chemical substances, but the primary fragrance is not from the leaves themselves, so one cannot say “Borei minei vesamim” over them. Generally, one can say “Borei minei vesamim” specifically over herbs [unclear] and similar things that have a pleasant fragrance. There is also “Borei atzei vesamim” and the other blessings customary for fragrances. But back to our subject: even after saying “Borei minei vesamim,” it seems that several blessings are still missing. One can therefore have in mind the blessings said at the Torah reading and the haftorah, listening to the person called to the Torah and the person called for maftir. By listening to their blessings, answering amen, and intending to fulfill the obligation, a person can count them toward the one hundred blessings he must say each day. That is regarding the Torah reading. After Musaf, the custom is to take a short break before Minchah. Then we begin Minchah,

55:40 Speaker 2 So our custom is not to begin with Ashrei and Uva Letziyon; we begin immediately with the Torah reading. At Minchah, the custom is to read the passage about forbidden relationships in Parshas Acharei Mos. One reason is that these are sins a person may crave and feel a strong temptation toward. We read the prohibitions so that anyone who, G-d forbid, is involved in such a sin will turn away from it. By the way, there is a sicha in which the Rebbe once pointed out that we read Acharei on Yom Kippur. There is a hint in that name: a person needs to remember what will happen after Yom Kippur. Generally, when we are close to Neilah, in the midst of Yom Kippur, a person feels uplifted and spiritually elevated. But even then, he must think about after Yom Kippur—not just where he stands now, on the fast day, but what will happen afterward. How will he take the strength and the lofty things he is experiencing now and carry them forward after Yom Kippur? That, at any rate, is an allusion. After Minchah, we begin Neilah. Neilah is close to sunset. This is the only day of the year on which we actually daven five prayers. Neilah literally means that the gates are about to close, as we say at the beginning of the prayer: “Open the gate for us at the time the gate is closing.” In other words, as long as the gates of the heavenly sanctuary are open—and Yom Kippur is the holiest time of the year—a person can pray, connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and receive the acceptance of his prayers and the forgiveness of Yom Kippur. There is, of course, the Chassidic interpretation: Neilah is the time when a person and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are secluded together. That is why this prayer is loftier than even the other prayers of Yom Kippur, because at this time

57:38 Speaker 2 in this prayer, a person is alone with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and they are in complete unity. We begin the prayer while it is still day, and it continues afterward—it may even continue after nightfall. If a person is still davening after sunset, he may continue Neilah. The Shulchan Aruch says that the liturgical poem in Neilah containing the words “for the day has turned” should be said before sunset. In practice, as stated in Sefer Haminhagim, the custom is for the congregation to continue saying that poem, including “the day will turn,” even if the sun has already set. After that, we continue Neilah in the order printed in the machzorim. The custom is that at the end of the prayer, during Kaddish, the entire congregation sings Napoleon’s March. On a simple level, singing Napoleon’s March expresses our absolute confidence that Hakadosh Boruch Hu accepts our prayers and seals us for a good year. After that, one blast of the shofar is sounded. Although, strictly speaking, it would be possible to sound it during twilight, in practice the custom is to sound it only after nightfall. We need to be very careful about this. There are places—many places, certainly Chabad Houses and the like—where, as soon as the person sounding the shofar sounds the blast, everyone goes home, does work, eats, and so on. So we must be very careful to sound it only when Yom Kippur has ended, when it is indeed permitted to do work and go eat. After the shofar blast, and after completing Neilah with the Tehillim printed in the machzor, we daven Maariv. The custom is to take the tallis off the head. Generally, we do not wear a tallis at night. Although we do wear one on the night of Yom Kippur, we no longer do so after Yom Kippur. Therefore,

59:45 Speaker 2 the custom, as the Rebbe does, is to take the tallis off the head, and the Rebbe davens Maariv wearing a hat. Yom Kippur: the Torah prohibits five things on Yom Kippur. These include doing work—just as on Shabbos and Yom Tov, when work such as lighting a fire or using electricity is forbidden. Everything forbidden on Shabbos is also forbidden on Yom Kippur, with all the associated laws. Besides that, the prohibitions of Yom Kippur are eating, drinking, washing, applying oils or creams, wearing leather footwear, and marital relations. So, again, we have five forms of affliction: work; eating and drinking; washing and applying oils; wearing leather footwear; and marital relations. In practice, the penalty of kareis applies specifically to eating and drinking or to doing work. The other things do not carry that penalty, but they are still prohibited by the Torah. All these prohibitions are from the Torah. So, as we said, the first prohibition of Yom Kippur that we will discuss is work. Anything forbidden on Shabbos is also forbidden on Yom Kippur. No work may be done on Yom Kippur, and in this respect Yom Kippur is like Shabbos, not Yom Tov. On Yom Tov, certain things are permitted for the sake of preparing food, such as transferring a flame from one fire to another. But since eating and food preparation are not permitted on Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur—a “Shabbos of complete rest”—prohibits work just like an ordinary Shabbos. Therefore, things permitted on Yom Tov are forbidden on Yom Kippur. The central prohibition of Yom Kippur that we are familiar with is eating and drinking. The Torah forbids eating on Yom Kippur: “For any person who does not afflict himself on that very day shall be cut off.” As we mentioned earlier, on Erev Yom Kippur there is a mitzvah

1:01:48 Speaker 2 to eat. The obligation to eat on Erev Yom Kippur is derived from the verse, “You shall afflict yourselves on the ninth of the month.” We eat so that a person can prepare himself for the fast in the best possible way. A person can indeed prepare as well as possible for the fast; he can take pills and the like, if they help him. But during the fast itself, of course, taking anything is prohibited, including medication, unless there is a concern of danger to life or the like. We will not go into the laws concerning someone who is ill now. The laws concerning someone who is ill, a pregnant woman, or a woman who has given birth are subjects in their own right. Obviously, if a person, in consultation with a doctor, is instructed to eat, he certainly must eat. His mitzvah on Yom Kippur is specifically to eat. Of course, one must not try to be clever about this. It is written, “But your blood, for your lives, I will demand.” If someone is, G-d forbid, in danger, and the doctor instructs him to eat—with a rabbi’s ruling, of course, to establish that he truly meets the conditions under which eating and drinking are permitted—then that person certainly must not try to be clever. At the same time, it is clear that someone who is not in danger has an absolute obligation to fast. Even eating a small amount, less than the prescribed measure, is forbidden by the Torah; half the prescribed measure is forbidden by the Torah. So a person should certainly make every effort in advance to be able to fast properly. But if there is danger or the like, he must not try to be clever. “He shall surely heal”—from this we learn that a doctor has been given permission to heal. One must do what is necessary to safeguard oneself: “You shall take great care of your lives.” Furthermore, because eating and drinking are forbidden on Yom Kippur, handling food to prepare it is also forbidden. The Sages did not prohibit touching food, though on Pesach, for example, one may not touch chametz, because we are concerned that one might, G-d forbid, come to eat it. Yom Kippur

1:03:48 Speaker 2 Since he is not eating at all, we do not think he will come to eat. But when he handles food to prepare it, we are concerned that he might, G-d forbid, come to eat. So there is no problem with touching food. One may bring food to children and the like, or move food from place to place for some reason. There is no problem with touching food on Yom Kippur. But preparing food—cutting it and the like, such as cutting a salad or slicing bread—is forbidden unless the child needs it. In other words, if a young child needs his father or mother to cut up vegetables or fruit for him, they may certainly do so, because it is for the child’s needs. But any handling of food that is not necessary for the child is different. If, for example, the child can cut the food himself, he should cut it himself. Touching food to feed a young child is also permitted, even if he can eat on his own. But preparing the food is permitted only if the child truly needs it—if he cannot eat without his father or mother preparing it for him. As for children fasting, let us start with this: although the age of chinuch actually begins younger than nine, before age nine there is no instruction or obligation for children to fast. From age nine, they begin fasting for a number of hours. That is, we begin training children to delay eating. If a child usually eats in the evening, he does not eat then but eats the next morning. Or if he goes to sleep earlier and is used to eating something as soon as he gets up, he eats an hour later, and so on. But of course

1:05:41 Speaker 2 it goes without saying that a child cannot, and must not, fast on Yom Kippur. A child needs to protect his health and must not begin fasting before he has reached an age when he can fast. So, as we said, at age nine—or age ten if he is weaker—he begins delaying his meals. The Shulchan Aruch then mentions the practice of a boy or girl from age eleven, or a boy from age twelve, fasting. In practice, however, the custom is that until they reach bar or bas mitzvah, they are not obligated to fast. Only then are they actually obligated. Before that, because they are weak—and particularly since, as some writings say, weakness has increased in the world from generation to generation—the custom is that they do not fast. But when a boy turns thirteen or a girl turns twelve, they are obligated to fast. Here we need to remember something important: from age thirteen for a boy and twelve for a girl, fasting is a Torah obligation, so every effort must be made to enable them to fast. This applies not only to children but also to an adult. If someone knows that going out of the house might, G-d forbid, put him in danger so that he would have to break his fast, but that he could complete the fast by staying in bed at home, somewhere with air conditioning and the like, then he certainly must stay home. The mitzvah to fast is a Torah obligation. That is different from attending prayers and so on: for all their importance, they are not a Torah obligation in the same way. A person therefore needs to make every effort to fast properly on Yom Kippur. Of course, again, we are

1:07:29 Speaker 2 not speaking, G-d forbid, about a situation in which a doctor or a rabbi instructs someone to eat. That is a separate matter. The other prohibitions on Yom Kippur are washing, applying oils or lotions, wearing shoes, and marital relations. We will discuss them briefly. The Torah prohibition against washing applies to washing for pleasure. If someone washes himself for pleasure, that is a Torah prohibition. If dirt has stuck to his hand—he accidentally touched something dirty—and he washes the dirty area, that washing is permitted because it is not for pleasure. But other washing, such as washing one’s face or hands, is forbidden by the Torah. So when washing our hands in the morning and the like, we are careful to wash only what halachah requires. Since there are two opinions in halachah about how far up the hands one must wash, on Yom Kippur our practice is to wash only up to the joint—not up the arm, but only up to the joint. There is an interesting point the Rebbe brings: the reason we wash our hands every morning is that, as it is written, during sleep the impurity withdraws from a person’s body and remains on his hands. But the Rebbe says that on Yom Kippur, because of the intense holiness present within a Jew—Yom Kippur is known to be connected with yechidah, the essence of the soul—the impurity has less power to spread through the body. So there is no need to wash the entire hand; it is enough to wash up to where the fingers meet the palm. Similarly, if someone has been to the bathroom and now wants to daven, he washes his hands up to where the fingers meet the

1:09:28 Speaker 2 palm. We should also remember that washing one’s hands in the morning, before davening, and the like is permitted because of the mitzvah, “Prepare to meet your G-d, O Israel.” Since that mitzvah applies, he may wash his hands as an act required for a mitzvah, but only to the extent required by halachah. Regarding washing, it is written that the restrictions are less stringent for children when not washing would cause them discomfort. So if a child is distressed because he needs to wash a hand or his face, strictly speaking he may wash. Nevertheless, the Alter Rebbe writes that since children generally do not really need to wash—it is not such a great necessity—it is appropriate for them not to wash either, even young children who are not yet fasting on Yom Kippur. As for the prohibition against wearing shoes, it applies specifically to leather footwear. Although the Alter Rebbe cites various opinions that call for stringency with other kinds of footwear as well, in practice the established custom is to avoid specifically leather shoes. Shoes made of other materials, where the body of the shoe is not leather, may be worn on Yom Kippur. So there is no problem wearing rubber shoes and the like, wooden shoes, or any shoes that are not leather. Halachah says that a woman who has recently given birth and others in similar circumstances may wear leather shoes. But nowadays, when there are good alternatives made of other materials, there is certainly no reason to be lenient. She should wear nonleather shoes on Yom Kippur, even if she is not fasting. The same applies to a sick person who is not fasting: when it comes to footwear, he can easily

1:11:20 Speaker 2 He should wear sandals or shoes that are permitted on Yom Kippur. The final prohibition on Yom Kippur is, of course, marital relations. Moreover, it says that all the restrictions observed during a time of ritual impurity must also be observed on Yom Kippur, both by day and by night. We need to be careful about this; people don’t always pay attention to it. Those restrictions apply both day and night. That covers the prohibitions observed on Yom Kippur itself. We should also mention that all preparations for the meal after Yom Kippur may not be done on Yom Kippur itself. One may not prepare on Shabbos for a weekday. Yom Kippur is considered Shabbos; it is considered a Yom Tov and a festival, and one may not prepare on a festival for a weekday. So even in places where they want to bring out food and the like, they must be very careful not to handle or bring out the food before nightfall. Where there is a great need—because otherwise the whole congregation will leave, for example—it may be possible to bring out the food a few hours earlier for the children, so that some children can eat it, and then cover it. After the fast, the covering can be removed. But preparing food for adults during the festival itself is forbidden. One may not prepare on Shabbos for a weekday when the work is apparent, and certainly not if it involves preparing food, such as cutting a salad. It is absolutely forbidden to engage in food preparation on Yom Kippur, as we discussed earlier in connection with the prohibition against eating and drinking on Yom Kippur. After the davening, before eating, of course, one must make Havdalah. At the end of Yom Kippur, the custom is to make the blessings over wine and the flame. The blessing over spices, however, was instituted specifically for the end of Shabbos. So if

1:13:18 Speaker 2 Yom Kippur did not fall on Shabbos, we do not make the blessing over spices after Yom Kippur. But we do make the blessing over the flame, because kindling a fire was forbidden on Yom Kippur. This differs from an ordinary Yom Tov, when one may transfer a flame from an existing fire, so the custom is not to say Borei Me’orei Ha’eish at the end of Yom Tov. On Yom Kippur, one may neither transfer a flame nor, of course, kindle a new fire, so the custom is to say Borei Me’orei Ha’eish. The halachah is that the blessing may be made only over a flame that remained alight throughout Yom Kippur. In other words, the Havdalah candle must be lit from a flame, such as a yahrzeit candle, that burned throughout Yom Kippur. If, for some reason, a person has no flame that burned throughout Yom Kippur, he does not say Borei Me’orei Ha’eish; he makes Havdalah without that blessing. It says that the evening after Yom Kippur is also a Yom Tov: we eat and rejoice. It says that a Heavenly voice calls out after Yom Kippur, “Go, eat with joy.” The custom is to begin building the sukkah immediately after Yom Kippur. The Rebbe once said that, in practice, the custom is not necessarily to start building, but to begin talking about the work of building the sukkah. After Yom Kippur, the custom is also to say Kiddush Levanah, after putting on leather shoes. The day after Yom Kippur is called by Hashem’s Name. Regarding Sukkos, the verse says, “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day.” The Midrash explains that it is the first day for the counting of sins, because until Sukkos people have no time to commit sins. So, in fact, this day

1:15:13 Speaker 2 after Yom Kippur is a time when, as it says in the Shulchan Aruch and as is our custom, we daven a little earlier. On the day after Yom Kippur, we rise early to go to shul, because from Yom Kippur onward, we approach all the mitzvos and everything else in an entirely different way. The four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkos correspond to the four letters of Hashem’s Name. That is why the following day is called by the Name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the translation. It also says that the following day, immediately after leaving shul, it is a mitzvah to prepare the sukkah and build it in its entirety: “When a mitzvah comes your way, do not delay it.” So, with Hashem’s help, may Hakadosh Boruch Hu seal everyone for a good and sweet year, a year of Geulah with the revelation of the Rebbe, immediately. May Yom Kippur already be in the Beis Hamikdash. It will be an entirely different order, not the one we are used to, with the Machzor and so on—not telling how the Kohen Gadol performed the service in the Beis Hamikdash, but seeing it all with our own eyes, immediately.