Q:
Why is it a mitzvah to eat on Erev Yom Kippur?
A:
The Gemara says if you eat erev Yom Kippur it’s like you fasted two days. Not only one day, Yom Kippur; it’s like fasting two days.
Now, Rabbeinu Yonah explains in his Shaarei Teshuva, why it’s so, why it’s a big mitzvah to eat on erev Yom Kippur. Now pay attention. He gives three reasons. On erev Yom Kippur keep in mind the three reasons.
One reason is, he says, Yom Kippur is a yontif. You have to eat l’kavod yontif, but you can’t do it on Yom Kippur, so erev Yom Kippur we eat l’kavod yontif. It’s one reason. He’s a Rishon, not a darshan. A Rishon. Very important words.
The second reason is because you have to show you’re happy; it’s the יום מחילת עוונות. On Yom Kippur you’re getting a bargain. You say chatasi and Hashem cancels it out. It’s a big bargain. You should be happy. You have to show that you’re happy with mechilas avonos. So we eat erev Yom Kippur to celebrate that tomorrow we’re getting rid of such a big burden.
Let’s say a man was very sick. And he hears now that tomorrow he’s going to a great specialist who will do something for him and he’ll be healed. So today is a yontif because to get that specialist to give him an appointment was a very big success. He got an appointment with that specialist and he knows that specialist will heal. Of course it doesn’t always happen that way but suppose he knows the specialist will heal him, so he makes a yontif erev the visit because he’s so happy.
And the third reason Rabeinu Yonah says is you need koach to do teshuvah. If you wouldn’t eat erev Yom Kippur — let’s say you want to fast two days; you want to be a frummeh and you’ll make hachanah on erev Yom Kippur by not eating. So Yom Kippur you’re washed out. You don’t have any koach. You need koach to do teshuvah. What does teshuvah mean? Stam to stand and hit your chest with your fist? You have to think and to be mechadesh ways how to change yourself: “What can I do? Maybe I have to move out of my neighborhood?” You hear that? “Maybe I have to move to a better neighborhood? Oh yes, maybe I have to move to a better neighborhood. Maybe I have to do other things, extreme things. Maybe I have to change my way of life.”
You need koach, you need energy to do that, and therefore you have to have food inside of you on Yom Kippur to help you do teshuvah. Don’t think that food is nothing. Food is very important. You need energy to do teshuvah. You need koach to be a ba’al teshuvah.
It’s a big chiddush. Anybody who is weak, anybody who is discouraged physically, it’s very difficult for him to change himself. He’s meyuash. He gives up hope. You have to have koach and enthusiasm in you, and that comes from food. That’s also an important reason for eating erev Yom Kippur.
October 1984
