Daf Yomi

Caring for the Sick on Yom Kippur

“His Gullet Has Derived Enjoyment…”

(Chulin 103b)

Our daf is discussing the matter of the minimum measure of ingestion to establish culpability for eating forbidden foods. Our Sages (see Avodah Zara 67a) have established that measure as an olive’s measure – a k’zayis. The question remains at what point in the eating process is one liable. Is it when the food enters the gullet or when the food enters the stomach?

Resh Lakish asserts that the critical factor with regard to lashes (malkos) culpability for eating a forbidden food is the satisfaction one receives from digestion – ha’na’as mei’av. Therefore, if one swallows a half-k’zayis of forbidden food, expels it, and then swallows it again, according to Resh Lakish it would appear that this individual would be exempt from malkos, for all he digested was half a measure.

R. Yochanan, on the other hand, is of the view that the critical factor to consider is ha’na’as grono – the pleasure of tasting the food. Therefore, if one swallowed a half-measure and then expelled it and subsequently re-swallowed it, he would be liable for malkos, as his throat had the pleasure of tasting a full measure (we add the two half-measures of swallowing to constitute a full measure). Our Gemara concludes that the halacha is as stated by R. Yochanan. Rambam (Hilchos Ma’achalos Asuros chap. 14:3) codifies this as the halacha.

Eating on Yom Kippur

Chasam Sofer (Orach Chayyim, Responsa 127) differentiates between eating forbidden foods, where the critical factor is the pleasure the gullet derives when tasting, and the prohibition of eating on Yom Kippur. The Mishna (Yoma 73b) states that the minimum one must eat to incur malkos on Yom Kippur is k’koseves hagasa – food equaling the volume of a large date. The Gemara (infra 79a) explains that the reason one must eat k’koseves hagasa (rather than the standard olive’s measure) is because that is the minimum that will offer one satiation. This indicates that insofar as the prohibition against eating on Yom Kippur is concerned, satiation (including the digestion of the food) to the degree of a date’s measure is required, and not the mere pleasure of tasting when it passes the gullet.

Intravenous on Yom Kippur

Rabbi Chaim Oizer Grodzenski (Responsa Achiezer vol 3:61) was asked whether ingesting food via an intravenous feeding tube on Yom Kippur is tantamount to eating by mouth. If the critical factor in eating on Yom Kippur is satiation (in the stomach) as Chasam Sofer asserts, then a feeding tube offers that same satiation, and as such should constitute a Yom Kippur violation. Thus, it should be prohibited save for where a threat to life (pikuach nefesh) is involved. Although ingesting food in this manner does not involve pleasure to the throat, he reasons that it still provides satiation in that it satisfies one’s hunger.

A Day’s Atonement

Ultimately, Rabbi Grodzenski concludes that eating on Yom Kippur requires ha’na’as grono – the pleasure of taste (when the food is swallowed) – similar to what is experienced when ingesting prohibited foods. He proves this from the following Gemara (Shavuos 13b): Rebbi states that the day of Yom Kippur, in and of itself, atones for most of one’s sins, even without repentance. Rava thus questions the Torah’s penalty of kares, since according to Rebbi, one who desecrates the day of Yom Kippur is automatically atoned for due to the holiness of the day. The Gemara responds that the penalty is relevant in the case of one who dies while he is choking on his food. In such a circumstance, when one is actively engaged in sinning, the day’s sanctity does not provide atonement. Thus, the Gemara implies, according to Rabbi Grodzenski, that even where the person choked and died before the food entered his stomach, he is nevertheless in violation.

Consequently, he permits a sick individual to ingest food or liquid via a feeding tube on Yom Kippur without incurring any violation. Rabbi Grodzenski suggests as well that Chasam Sofer, who normally states that ha’na’as mei’av – the stomach’s satiation – is required, does not mean that satiation alone is required, but rather that ha’na’as grono – the pleasure of tasting the food as it passes through the throat – is also required. And lacking that, there will be no violation. Therefore, he too would agree that intravenous feeding is not subject to malkos on Yom Kippur.