Thursday, December 14, 2006

Daf Yomi - Rosh Hashana 9 - EATING ON THE NINTH

Rabbi Akiva, who derived the principle of adding from the ordinary onto the holy from a different verse, uses the verse “And you shall afflict yourself on the ninth” to teach that anyone who eat and drinks on the ninth, it is considered as if he fasted on the ninth and the tenth.

Rashi in Yoma 81 explains that by eating on the ninth, one will be able to fast better on the tenth. In Shibolei Haleket it is written exactly the opposite logic. Eating a lot the day before a fast makes you fell the withdrawal from eating even more the second day, and so the hunger pangs are increased, making your fast equivalent to a two day fast. Rabbeinu Yonah (shaar daled) writes that it would be proper to have a meal on Yom Kippur since it is also a Yom Tov and since that isn’t possible; there is an obligation to eat on the day prior to Yom Kippur. There are other reasons mentioned in the Rishonim.

The Ksav Sofer (O”C 112) wonders regarding one who is sick and will not be fasting, if he has an obligation to eat on the ninth. The Netziv learns from the language of the Sheiltos that eating on the ninth is a component of the mitzva of afflicting oneself on Yom Kippur and therefore one who is not required to fast does not have a mitzva to eat on the ninth.

Reb Akiva Eiger (16) speculates if women will be included in this mitzva. Do we say that it is a positive commandment governed by time and therefore women will be exempt from this obligation? Or perhaps since the mitzva is learned from the possuk which teaches the requirement of affliction on Yom Kippur and women are included in that mitzva, they would be obligated to eat on the ninth as well.

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