Rabbi Dov Kramer on the Parsha

Taking A Closer Look (Rabbi Dov Kramer)

“Even those that do not refrain [from eating] bread baked by non-Jews [all year long] must refrain [from eating it] during the Ten Days of Repentance.” Rabbi Yosef Cairo included only two laws regarding the Ten Days of Repentance in the Shulchan Aruch (O”C 6:02-603), this being the second one. (The first is that we say additional prayers and supplications during these days; Rama adds additional details and laws.) The notion that we should do things (or refrain from things) during these days of judgment even if we have no intent of continuing after Yom Kippur seems rather strange. Are we trying to fool G-d? Doesn’t He know that we intend on reverting to our old behavior shortly after Yom Kippur ends? What’s the point of keeping a law temporarily if it does not bring about any permanent change?

Additionally, why is this particular law (or “chumra”) the one chosen, as opposed to any other? Why not “Cholov Yisrael” or “Chudush/Yushun?” If I get hungry at work next week, and would have considered buying Entenmanns’s rich frosted donuts, there are three possible reasons why I shouldn’t (four if you count the requirement to be healthy): (1) It has non-Cholov Yisroel ingredients, and eating it may violate the rabbinic decree against ingesting milk that did not have Jewish supervision from the time it was milked; (2) Since wheat harvested last month has already entered the market in fresh-baked products, there is a real possibility that it contains grains that are biblically forbidden to be eaten until after Pesach; and (3) it falls under the category of “Pas Palter,” a rabbinic decree against eating baked goods that were not baked by Jews. Yet, the reason the Shulchan Aruch tells me not to eat it is the latter issue, not the other two. There are “heterim” (leniencies) for all three aspects (see Shu”T Chasam Sofer Y”D II 107 and Shu”t Igros Moshe Y”D I 47-49 regarding Cholov Yisroel, Aruch HaShulchan Y”D 293 1-28 and Mishneh Berurah/Bayur Halacha on O”C 489:10 regarding Chudush/Yushun, and Y”D 112 regarding Pas Palter), yet Pas Akum is the one the Halachic Decisors focus on. Why?

Pas Palter is unique among the three in that despite the rabbinic decree, it was never universally accepted. Those places that did accept it follow the restrictions all year long, but the places that never accepted it when it was first introduced are not required to keep it now either. It is these places that the Shulchan Aruch says must keep this restriction during the Ten Days of Repentance; the other places must already do so all year long. Aruch Hashulchan says that this is precisely why this halacha was chosen, as if there was a real reason to keep it the rest of the year, doing so during these ten days would create an obligation to do so even after Yom Kippur. Therefore, a halacha such as Chudush/Yushun is not recommended to be kept just for these ten days, because once started, it would need to be kept all year. According to Aruch HaShulchan, it is the lack of a real reason to keep it the rest of the year (for those that don’t) that allows it to be kept for this short time. The question remains, though, what the point of keeping it temporarily is.

Levush doesn’t position avoiding Pas Akum/Palter as a requirement, but as a custom. The reason for this custom is “so that a person will conduct himself in purity during these days, and remember that they (these days) are different in that they are on a higher level than the rest of the days of the year.” This is consistent with the source of the custom/law (see Tur); Rebbe Chiya having instructed Rav to eat everything in purity (even “chulin,” which can be eaten if ritually impure) during this week. If the goal is “purity” and Pas Akum affects this, it is understandable why Pas Akum (and Pas Palter) should be avoided during this “pure” week, even if it is permitted the rest of the year. Other halachic issues, which do not affect “purity,” are therefore not included in this law/custom. [This fits very nicely with how the Torah describes Yom Kippur: “For on this day G-d will bring atonement upon you, to purify you, from all your sins before G-d, you will be purified” (Vayikra 16:30). If “purification” is a major theme of Yom Kippur, it makes sense for us to engage in acts of purification, and avoid things that negatively affect it, in the days leading up to it.]

Chayei Udum (143:1), after describing how we should prepare for our judgment on Yom Kippur - by repenting and being involved in more mitzvos, good deeds, Torah study and charity than the rest of the year - adds, “and therefore it is appropriate for a person to conduct himself during the Ten Days of Repentance with [additional] manners and stringencies, even if he does not keep them all year, for the Holy One, Blessed is He, also acts with extra benevolence with His creations. And those who eat Pas Palter all year, during these days it is appropriate not to eat anything but Pas Yisroel, and so it is with all matters.” The two things I found relevant to our discussion are that the notion of doing something extra is not necessarily limited to Pas Palter, and that taking this extra stringency temporarily is a means of remembering to do more in other, more primary areas (good deeds, mitzvos, Torah study and charity). If the purpose is to help us remember to do more during these days, it is understandable that the prescribed way to do so is through baked goods, a staple of the human diet.

The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (130:2) focusing on the last part of the Chayei Udum’s formulation, writes: “During these days it is appropriate for a person to keep even stringencies that he doesn’t keep the rest of the year, for we are also asking G-d to act with us with benevolence. And one who eats Pas Palter all year should not eat, during these days, anything but Pas Yisroel, and so to with things similar to this.” Again, Pas Palter is not seen as the only halacha that fits into this category of “things to keep only during the Ten Days of Repentance. However, whereas the Chayai Udum puts these extra stringencies in the same category as doing other extra things and adds a comparison to G-d doing extra for us during this time, the Kitzur says that the reason to keep extra stringencies is to make our request that G-d do more for us more reasonable.

The High Holiday season is of primary importance because it causes us to examine our lives, reassess where we are, what we should be doing and where we should be headed, and it focuses our attention on correcting what needs to be corrected. This “forced” introspection can have varying levels of success. It can slow a process of descent, it can recalibrate those who may have started to veer off course, it can reverse a trend by redirecting the ebb and flow of spiritual growth back towards G-d, or it can help increase the rate of that growth. There are always ups and downs in life, but one of the keys to long-term success is making sure things are generally moving in an upward direction, so that the “lows” are not as low as they once were (and may even be the equivalent of previous highs) and the “highs” exceed previous highs. Along with reassessing how we’ve handled our day-to-day (and moment-to-moment) battles (and figuring out how to do better the next time a similar battle is upon us), it is important to examine the long term prospective as well. Where are we this year compared to last year? Are we trending upwards, or are we at the same basic place we were last year at this time (and two years ago, and three years ago)?

Being judged on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur forces us to take a closer look at how we did on a micro level (how we did at each point of confrontation between good and bad, between truth and falsehood) as well as on a macro level. Minimizing a move away from G-d (chas v’shalom) is an important accomplishment of this process, as is helping stay the course (from a year-to-year perspective) rather than ending up further away than had there been no process. Ideally, though, we should come away from the process in a better position than we were after last year’s process, growing from year to year so that we can accomplish that much more in our lifetime.

Assessing our lives on a macro level takes more than just looking backwards, seeing where we are now compared to where we were in past years at this time. It also means looking forwards, to what we hope to accomplish in the future, whether it be this coming year or in the years after that. However, it is very difficult to look forward and recognize where we should be in the future (distant or otherwise) while not being there yet. If I know I should be doing something a year from now, even if am not ready to do it just yet, how can I accept not doing it right now? For the most part, we can only know about things we can and should be doing once those things are “within range.” Nevertheless, “looking forward” means recognizing that there are things I am not ready to do to at this point in time, that I will, with G-d’s help, be ready to do at some future time. What those “things” are may be impossible to know ahead of time (as once we become aware of what we should be doing it is usually within reach), but it is important to recognize that there are things I am not doing now that I will hopefully be doing at some point down the line.

Perhaps this is why we avoid Pas Palter (or similar things) during the Ten Days of Repentance even though we have no intent of continuing after Yom Kippur. Sure there are things that I should have done, or should have avoided, that the “wake up call” of the Shofar reminded me to start or stop doing (and to try to maintain throughout the year). But there are also things that I will hopefully be ready for in the future that I am not ready for just yet. By taking upon myself an extra “stringency” temporarily, I am reminded that the introspection taking place this week is not limited to individual courses of action, things that I must be doing (or avoiding) right away, but includes making sure that I am heading in the right direction and working towards reaching those new levels that I cannot yet (permanently) commit to.