Rabbi Naftali Halperin: "I Tell People Required to Eat on Yom Kippur: You Should Be Happy About It, It's a Privilege"

The moment a Jewish person reaches Yom Kippur and realizes they might not be able to observe all the commandments of the holiest day of the year, for various reasons, is often very difficult for them.<\/p>

It might be a woman who gave birth on Yom Kippur eve, wondering for the first time in her life if she's allowed to eat during the fast, or a patient whose doctors have warned him that not eating could endanger his life, or even a weak individual who wants to pray with the congregation at the synagogue but cannot due to his frail state.<\/p>

Rabbi Naftali Halperin delivering a lecture to volunteers at branches

The questions are numerous, each more charged than the last, and behind every one lies a whole life story. To address these questions and provide answers to confused individuals, the 'United Hatzalah' halachic hotline was set up in recent years in collaboration with the Leumit Health Fund.<\/p>

Rabbi Naftali Halperin, National Halacha Coordinator at United Hatzalah, oversees this topic, and when we speak with him, he emphasizes firstly: "The halachot in these matters vary greatly from person to person, and there's no way to apply one case to another. For every question, one should consult their rabbi. What I'm here to tell is just to raise awareness and to prompt points for consideration."<\/p>

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"Rabbi, have I fasted in vain for twenty years?"<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

For several years now, the halachic hotline has been operating on Yom Kippur eve, and the questions it receives are very diverse: there are complex questions from patients who have undergone surgeries or invasive treatments, simple questions from those who have broken a leg or are bedridden with tonsillitis or the flu, and there are also basic questions concerning every pregnant or nursing woman.<\/p>

But Rabbi Halperin wants to emphasize: "Regarding the specific questions related to the medical or physical condition of each person – we have no way to decide without examining the exact medical record. This means that anyone wanting to consult about their health condition must first approach a doctor who knows them, preferably an observant one, to hear their exact opinion. With the medical opinion, they can approach our halachic hotline to hear what halacha says about their condition. Sometimes people come to us with thick medical files, and we sit with them for a long time trying to understand their medical condition accurately to know the correct and exact ruling for them."<\/p>

And the differences between cases, according to Rabbi Halperin, can be vast and significant. "Last year," he recalls, "a Jewish man who had diabetes discovered only a few months before Yom Kippur came to us. He started taking insulin, and there was concern that because of the fast, he wouldn't be stable. After hearing all the details and examining them closely, we ruled that he must not fast and should eat normally. The man left, and a few minutes later, his father came in, exclaiming: 'I also have diabetes, and for twenty years I've been fasting on Yom Kippur. Is it possible that all these years have been for nothing? Will I have to eat this year?' In his case, we told him that he must, indeed, fast, because he is stable and his body can endure the fast, despite the seemingly similar circumstances."<\/p>

National conference for Halacha coordinators and branch heads

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Regarding the law of a woman who just gave birth, Rabbi Halperin notes that two women who recently gave birth might show up. "Seemingly, the halachic ruling states that starting from seven days after birth, the woman has no permission to refrain from fasting, yet there are cases where we will instruct the postpartum woman that she can eat, and other cases where it would be forbidden, because circumstances can change greatly, and we can never hear a ruling given to a friend and apply it to our own situation."<\/p>

Rabbi Halperin also stresses: "Even someone who received a certain instruction in previous years about fasting must check things anew each year, even if it seems to them their condition has not changed, because sometimes there are tiny details that can alter the instruction directed at them."<\/p>

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Should one recite Kiddush? Should hands be washed?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

But alongside those specific questions, as Rabbi Halperin notes, there are also general questions, concerning anyone who has already received a rabbi's ruling that they may eat or drink on Yom Kippur. Regarding these questions, he is ready to detail and provides us with general guidelines: "People required to eat on Yom Kippur ask if they need to recite Kiddush before eating or not, and the answer is there is no need for Kiddush, even when Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat; they should eat without Kiddush. There's also the matter of hand washing – should one wash up to the knuckles or the entire hand? And the answer is, they can wash normally, as this is not a pleasurable washing."<\/p>

There are also many more questions: "What about Mayim Achronim (for those who always do it, they can do it on Yom Kippur too)? And do several patients eating together need a Zimun? (Avoid being in a situation where a Zimun is required.) Should one say 'Ya'aleh V'yavo' in Birkat Hamazon? (Yes.) And what if one forgets? (If he forgot and remembered after concluding the blessing of 'Boneh Yerushalayim,' he does not go back.) And so on.<\/p>

"There are so many details," says Rabbi Halperin, "and the questions we receive are not only about the fast itself but also about other topics, such as what a person should do if they can't wear fabric shoes because they might catch a cold and feel chilly, or what someone who wants to go to the mikveh, as is customary in all Communities of Israel on Yom Kippur eve, but is weak and cannot stand should do? And so on.<\/p>

"In general," he adds, "there's the constant question – if a person who was instructed to eat on Yom Kippur, should they do so via regular eating or through infusion? "Usually, one can eat normally, but there are specific cases where we'll clarify that sustenance is only allowed through infusion," stresses the rabbi.<\/p>

Annual conference on halachot of medicine and rescue

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As Rabbi Halperin notes, leading the hotline and managing the questions is not easy. "Firstly, it's an enormous responsibility. But beyond that – I've seen up close cases of people who arrived to us literally with tears in their eyes. They felt so bad about the mere thought of sitting at the table and eating, and then the door suddenly opens and their family returns from prayer, dressed in kittel<\/em> and tallit<\/em>... there are no words to describe the shame they could feel, and this causes some to be stricter with themselves and fast despite the prohibition." Here, Rabbi Halperin emphasizes, "It's crucial to state that it is written that one who is strict with matters of life-threatening situations is exhibiting foolish piety, and not only that, but it is an absolute sin, as it is stated: 'But your blood of your lives will I require.' These are very serious matters."<\/p>

Personally, Rabbi Halperin recounts that he has had the occasion several times to speak with patients who insisted that they were not ready to eat on Yom Kippur. "Each time I explained to them anew: 'Dear Jews, Hashem has given you a great privilege that not everyone in Israel receives. You are about to fulfill a more significant mitzvah than fasting on Yom Kippur, you are about to eat on Yom Kippur. This is your privilege now, and it is a greater privilege than fasting on Yom Kippur."<\/p>

UNITED HATZALAH Rabbinical Assembly

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Here, Rabbi Halperin quotes a special prayer he found in an ancient machzor for someone required to eat on Yom Kippur. He should say: "I am prepared and ready to fulfill the commandment of eating and drinking on Yom Kippur, as you have written in your Torah: 'And you shall keep My statutes and My laws, which man shall do and live by them, I am Hashem.' In the merit of fulfilling this mitzvah, may You inscribe and seal me and all the sick of Your people Israel for complete recovery, and may I, next Yom Kippur, merit again to afflict my soul. So may it be, Amen."<\/strong><\/p>

"May it be," he concludes, "that our fasts and afflictions will be accepted, and so too the fasts and afflictions of those required to eat or drink on Yom Kippur. May we all be inscribed for a good completion and a year filled with all that is good."<\/p>

Reception and phone response at United Hatzalah center<\/strong> Today (Sunday) Z Tishrei (10/9) at the court Rabbi Shach St. 46 Bnei Brak between 19:00-22:00<\/p>

Phone response<\/strong>: Tomorrow (Monday) H Tishrei (10/10) between 19:00-22:00<\/p>

Phone number to receive detailed Halacha leaflet in Hebrew, English, or French, via fax or email: 03-6001411<\/strong><\/em><\/p>