One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
הִלְכוֹת שְׁבִיתַת עָשׂוֹר
Shevitat Asor · Chapter 3
Sefer Zemanim · The other afflictions: washing, anointing, shoes, and comfort
5
The afflictions (inuyim) of the day
Not a finger
No washing - not even one finger
Leather
The only footwear banned
Illness
Bends every rule here
Part 1The washing ban
- No washing at all. Hot or cold, the whole body or even a single finger dipped in water. (3:1)
- Bride and king. A bride may wash her face so she is not unattractive to her husband, and a king so he appears in his splendor. (3:1)
- Real dirt is different. Actual filth or mud may be rinsed off normally, and required ritual immersions proceed as usual. (3:2)
- For a mitzvah, wade. To reach a teacher, a parent, or the house of study - or to guard one's produce - one may cross even neck-high water. (3:6)
RememberNo water touches the body - not even a finger - unless it is real dirt or a real mitzvah.
Part 2Shoes, oil, and comfort
- No leather. No leather shoe or sandal, even on one foot; reed sandals or cloth wound on the feet are fine, since the ground is still felt. (3:7)
- No anointing. No oiling the skin - whole body or a part, for pleasure or merely to clean. (3:9)
- No cooling tricks. One may not cool off with a water-filled vessel (it seeps through); a cloth soaked and wrung out before the day may wipe the face. (3:4-5)
- Safety exceptions. Sandals are allowed against scorpions, for a new mother, for the sick, or on very muddy streets. (3:8)
RememberOff the body all day: washing, oil, and leather - the ordinary comforts the fast strips away.
Part 3Illness, children, and modesty
- Illness bends every rule. One who is ill may wash and anoint in the normal way, even when the illness is not dangerous. (3:2, 3:9)
- Children are trained, not afflicted. Children may eat, wash, and anoint freely, but are kept from leather shoes as training. (3:7)
- The candle custom. Communities differ on lighting a Yom Kippur candle - some to guard modesty between husband and wife, some to refrain for the same reason. (3:10)
- On Shabbat. When Yom Kippur falls on the Sabbath, lighting the candle is an obligation for all. (3:10)
RememberEvery affliction yields to real illness, and a child is trained toward the day, never harmed by it.