לעילוי נשמת

יואל אפרים בן אברהם עוזיאל זלצמן ז”ל

Question: I unfortunately must eat basically regularly on Yom Kippur. Which of the mitzvah elements of a Yom Tov meal (kiddush, Hamotzi, Birkat Hamazon additions) should I do?

Answer: One can look at the religious perspective of a meal on Yom Kippur in two ways: 1. Yom Kippur is a Yom Tov—in which a proper meal could have been a mitzvah if not for the greater importance of fasting—so that when one must eat, the mitzvot of a meal apply. 2. Since the broad rule is that we are forbidden to eat, the mitzvot associated with eating were not instituted at all.

Now, we will see sources: The Tur (Orach Chayim 618; see Shut Maharam Rutenberg 71) says that one who cannot fast on Yom Kippur recites Ya’aleh V’yavo in Birkat Hamazon. The Taz (Orach Chayim 618:10) disagrees with the Tur—inferring from a Gemara (Shabbat 24b) that we do not mention a special day in brachot/tefillot if the day’s connection to what we are saying is coincidental. As you raised, there are other issues that depend on the correct approach (although each has unique factors also).

The Magen Avraham (618:10) rules that there is no kiddush at a meal (regarding kiddush in davening, see Har Tzvi, Orach Chayim I:155) on Yom Kippur and cites a Shibolei Haleket saying that the prohibition to eat makes the day like a weekday, thus precluding kiddush and Ya’aleh V’yavo.

Another issue in the poskim is whether to have lechem mishneh. The Magen Avraham (ibid.) cites a Knesset Hagedola who says that since the manna did not fall on Yom Kippur, one who needs a meal should use lechem mishneh. The Magen Avraham disagrees, arguing that lechem mishneh was not instituted for Yom Kippur and that we do not want to make a sick person trouble himself with lechem mishneh. The Machatzit Hashekel raises another issue—Did a double portion of manna fall on Erev Yom Kippur?

There is not significant discussion in the poskim on whether, if lechem mishneh is not needed, one should eat bread in order to have a proper meal. Discussions (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 618:10) of what to say in bentching do imply that people are eating bread. However, this does not prove one is required to have bread, because classically bread was a natural staple of meals. In any case, we would add the following. While those who are unable to limit themselves to minimal, slow eating, are not instructed to be particularly careful to not eat more than absolutely necessary, it is halachically counter-productive to eat bread if it is less dietarily productive than other foods one could be eating.

Regarding halacha lemaaseh conclusions, most poskim treat this matter as some level of safek as to which general approach is correct (see Mateh Efraim 618:17; Mishna Berura 618:29). Therefore, on the matter of Ya’aleh V’yavo, the approach is that the pros of doing them outweigh any cons. (Ya’aleh V’yavo—even if not called for—does not create a problematic enough break to endanger Birkat Hamazon’s validity—see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 108:12; Machatzit Hashekel ibid.) In contrast, one should not do a full kiddush—which is said in the day if it was not done at night (Rama, Orach Chayim 271:8)—because of the risk of a bracha levatala. Lechem mishneh is not required, and it is unclear whether to prefer it (see Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchata 39:31; Dirshu 618:54).

This year, there is a wrinkle in the matter. Since Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat, even if these mitzvot do not apply at all on Yom Kippur, they would seem to apply because it is Shabbat. Therefore, Rabbi Akiva Eiger (to Magen Avraham ibid.) believes it is likely that all should agree to make kiddush this year. However, the Ohr Sameach (Avodat Yom HaKippurim 4:1) posits that Yom Kippur takes over the nature of Shabbat, so there is no mitzvah to eat or make kiddush even from the perspective of such a Shabbat. The silence of earlier poskim and the statements of recent Acharonim (see Har Tzvi, ibid; Igrot Moshe, Choshen Mishpat I, 39; Yaskil Avdi VIII, Orach Chayim 20.34) indicate that Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s thesis is not widely accepted.

Rabbi Mann is a dayan for Eretz Hemdah and a staff member of Yeshiva University’s Gruss Kollel in Israel. He is a senior member of the Eretz Hemdah responder staff, editor of Hemdat Yamim and the author of “Living the Halachic Process, Volumes 1 and 2” and “A Glimpse of Greatness.”