Intravenous feeding for Yom Kippur?

Hi,

It would be better for someone who is ill to eat on Yom Kippur rather than be hooked up to an intravenous line to feed him in advance of Yom Kippur.

(Rav Moshe Feinstein, Igrot Moshe Orach Chaim 4:101:3)

Gmar tov,
Mordechai

Taking pills to ease fasting for Yom Kippur

Hi,

There is a view that one should not do anything before Yom Kippur to ease the Yom Kippur fast. (Sdei Chemed, Maarechet Yom Kippur 1)

However, the great majority of authorities support taking medication in advance of Yom Kippur to ease the fast. They base themselves in part on Rashi's statement that the reason for the mitzvah of eating on Erev Yom Kippur is to make the fast itself more manageable. Also, some suggest that because Yom Kippur is a Yom Tov, we are not to make it more difficult than the Torah did.

(Rashi Rosh haShanah 9a כל האוכל, Rashi Yoma 81b כל האוכל, Chelkat Yaakov 2:58 (aka Orach Chaim 216), Tzitz Eliezer 7:32:4, Piskei Teshuvos 611 footnote 2)

Gmar tov,
Mordechai

Taking Medicine on Yom Kippur

Hello,

The issue of taking medicine on Yom Kippur can only be answered by first answering a few sub-questions:

1. How great is the need for the medicine? (life-saving, comfort, preventive care, for the health of a fetus, etc)

2. What type of medicine is it? (pill, chewable, liquid, with a bitter taste, etc)

3. Need the medicine be taken with food? Water? Could it be taken with water which has been made bitter?

Because of the complexity of this topic, it is beyond the scope of a daily email. I would strongly encourage those who may be in this situation to consult a competent rabbi well in advance of the fast.

Gmar chatimah tovah,
Mordechai