An introduction to the five categories of prohibitions on Yom Kippur TB Yoma 74

Tosefot points out on yesterday’s daf TB Yoma 73b that our massekhet follows a logical progression. It begins with the seclusion of the High Priest seven days before Yom Kippur, continues how the High Priest spent the night before Yom Kippur, and through the seventh chapter the Gemara discusses the ins and outs of the Yom Kippur Avodah, service, attaining atonement for all of Israel. The eighth and final chapter of our massekhet deals with what is forbidden and permitted on Yom Kippur for all of Israel.

The Torah commands that we afflict ourselves in five different sentences on Yom Kippur in three places.

“And it shall be a statute forever unto you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no manner of work, the home-born or the stranger that sojourns among you. For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins shall you be clean before the Lord. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest (Shabbat Shabbaton) for you, and you shall afflict your souls; it is a statute forever.” Leviticus 23: (Leviticus 16:19-31)

“On the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; there shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict your souls; and you shall bring an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And you shall do no manner of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatever soul that shall not be afflicted on that same day shall be cut off from his people. And whatever soul that does any manner of work on that same day, that soul will I destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work; it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a Sabbath of solemn rest (Shabbat Shabbaton), and you shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening unto evening shall you keep your Sabbath.” (Leviticus 23:27-32) 

“And on the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation and you shall afflict your souls; you shall do no manner of work.” (Numbers 29:7) 

Each “affliction” connotes a different prohibition. The Mishnah TB Yoma 73b enumerates what these five prohibitions are. “On Yom Kippur, the day on which there is a mitzva by Torah law to afflict oneself, it is prohibited to engage in eating and in drinking, and in bathing, and in smearing oil on one’s body, and in wearing shoes, and in conjugal relations.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Tosefot Yeshanim holds that only eating and drinking (which is considered one category of affliction) are forbidden with the punishment of karet by the Torah because of explicit verses in the Torah. The other four prohibitions are only forbidden by the rabbis. How could the Mishnah continue to provide the following exceptions: “the king, in deference to his eminence, and a new bride within thirty days of her marriage, who wishes to look especially attractive at the beginning of her relationship with her husband, may wash their faces on Yom Kippur.  A woman after childbirth, who is suffering, may wear shoes because going barefoot causes her pain.” (Sefaria.org translation) if they were prohibited by the Torah? If the last four afflictions were prohibited by the Torah, there could be no exceptions to the rule! Rambam disagrees and holds that all five prohibitions are forbidden in the Torah, but only eating and drinking have the penalty of karet.

Near the conclusion of today’s daf TB Yoma 74, the Gemara investigates other places where the word affliction appears in the Torah. The last example on the page deals with mana that God fed the Israelites in the desert.

“Apropos the verse: “And he afflicted you and caused you to hunger, and fed you with manna” (Deuteronomy 8:3), the Gemara expounds related verses. The Torah states: “Who feeds you manna in the desert which your fathers did not know, in order to afflict you” (Deuteronomy 8:16). What affliction was there in eating the manna? Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi disagreed on the matter. One said: There is no comparison between one who has bread in his basket and one who does not have bread in his basket. The affliction in eating the manna lay in there being no leftover food for the next day. Each day the people worried that they might not have any food to eat the next day. And one said: There is no comparison between one who sees the food and eats it and one who does not see the food and eats it. Though the manna could taste like anything, it always looked the same and did not look as it tasted. Being unable to see the food that they tasted was an affliction.” (Sefaria.org translation)

I’ve learned from all my cooking magazines and all the cooking shows I watched on TV that presentation of the food is an important aspect of eating. When preparing a meal, I try to have foods of different color to excite the pallet. I don’t want anybody when he/she is served to say “Today’s meal has been brought to you by the color brown.”