What to do on Yom Kippur, in the order you need it: kaparos, mikvah and the mitzvah to eat erev Yom Kippur, the seuda hamafsekes, who must fast and who may eat pachos mi’keshiur (with the measures and the minutes between them), washing, anointing, leather shoes, and Havdala after the fast.
Open in the app →What it is. The idea behind kaparos is that the chickens or money is meant as a symbolic atonement.
OU guideMen and boys use roosters while women and girls use hens. Expecting women take two.
OU guideOne must be careful, when doing kaparos with chickens, not to do it in a way that will cause excessive pain.
OU guideMost Jews of Hungarian or Polish descent do kaparos on chickens, while Jews of German and Lithuanian origin either do it on money or not at all.
All adult men should dip. All adult men should dip in the mikvah. The prevalent minhag is to go after chatzos, but before the seuda hamafsekes.
OU guideThere is an issur for a son to see his father undressed.
OU guideAveilim go to the mikvah Erev Yom Kippur even during shiva.
There is a mitzvah to eat. There is a mitzvah to eat Erev Yom Kippur, and one may not fast on Erev Yom Kippur. One must eat at least the seudas hamafsekes.
OU guideThere is a largely accepted minhag to eat two seudos Erev Yom Kippur: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
OU guideOne should eat meat for the seudas hamafsekes.
Eating after the seuda. If one ate the seuda hamafsekes and then wishes to eat or drink more after the seuda, that person should make a stipulation to that effect.
Stopping before the fast. Although it is a mitzvah to eat Erev Yom Kippur, we must stop eating some time before the fast begins.
Star-K guide n.3Yom Kippur — like Tisha B’Av — begins at sunset.
Mincha comes first. Mincha occurs prior to the seuda hamafsekes. It is preferable that one daven Mincha in Yom Tov garb.
OU guideIt is brought down in the Shulchan Aruch that one should get tapped lightly (symbolic “lashes”) 39 times.
A lavish meal, eaten carefully. The seuda hamafsekes is eaten after Mincha, and should be a lavish Yom Tov style meal. All foods eaten during the seuda should be foods that are easy on the stomach.
OU guideOne should refrain from eating nuts at this seuda, particularly almonds.
OU guideWe don’t eat foods with garlic, nor do we eat dairy products.
Lighting, with its own bracha. We light candles as on Shabbos and we recite the bracha of lehadlik ner shel Yom HaKippurim. We are noheg to cover the table as on Shabbos, with Shabbos tablecloths.
OU guideWe are noheg to light a yartzeit-size candle for every married adult man, and a yartzeit candle for each deceased parent.
OU guideA yartzeit-size candle should be placed in the bedroom when a husband and wife will be sleeping in the same room.
Not the smallest amount. It is forbidden to eat or drink even the smallest amount; to eat more than a shiur is a chiyuv kareis.
One who may need to eat asks first. Someone who might need to eat or drink on Yom Kippur should discuss these exact measured amounts (shiurim) and time intervals with a competent Rov.
Where there is danger to life. If fasting poses a danger to one’s life, he must eat or drink as necessary. If such a person is able to eat or drink pachos mi’keshiur — less than the amount for which one is chayav kareis — and still avert the danger, he must only consume less than the shiur.
Star-K guide n.12 — if there is any safek whether one’s life is in danger and a halachic authority is not available, one must eat or drink as deemed necessary
Pachos mi’keshiur has two factors. Pachos mi’keshiur involves two factors — the volume of what is consumed and the amount of time it takes to consume it.
Star-K guide n.14 — Shulchan Aruch OC 618:7-8 · Mishnah Berurah 618:7
Star-K guide — pachos mi’keshiur is still prohibited for a healthy person
Food: less than a koseves. For food, pachos mi’keshiur is less than a koseves hagasa, a type of large date eaten within the span of time of kedei achilas pras.
Star-K guide n.16 · Star-K guide n.17A practical way to eat pachos mi’keshiur is to fill a schnapps cup that holds 1 fl. oz. (29 ml) with compacted bread (or another food item), and to consume it in its compacted form, waiting at least nine minutes before eating again.
Star-K guide n.16 — a koseves hagasa is larger than 1 fl. oz., but 1 oz. plastic schnapps cups are readily available
Star-K guide n.17 — on Yom Kippur we are machmir with the longest shiur of kedei achilas pras — nine minutes
Drink: less than a meloh lugmav. Regarding beverages, pachos mi’keshiur is less than a meloh lugmav, a cheekful of liquid every seven minutes.
Star-K guide n.18One can ascertain his or her exact meloh lugmav — before Yom Kippur — by filling his mouth completely with water, expelling it into a measuring cup or graduated cylinder and dividing the amount in half.
Star-K guide n.19 · Star-K guide n.20An alternative, while ensuring one is drinking less than a shiur, is to drink from a 1 oz. schnapps cup that is completely filled and to wait at least seven minutes before drinking again.
Star-K guideSome schnapps cups sold as “1 fluid ounce (29 ml)” may in actuality hold a volume greater than 1 fl. oz. Measure the cup before Yom Kippur to ascertain its exact size. If this is not possible, fill it only 3/4 of the way. This is especially necessary for individuals with a small mouth.
Star-K guide n.20 — one who requires water to swallow medicine that is critical should use 1 oz. of an unpleasant tasting liquid
Star-K guide n.18 — Rav Avraham Chaim Naeh, Sefer Shiurei Torah, siman 3 footnote 33
Star-K guide — the article’s own NOTE
Food and drink are counted separately. Food and drink shiurim are independent of one another and are not tallied as a single measurement, so one can simultaneously eat and drink pachos mi’keshiur of each.
OU guideDifferent types of foods can be combined to form a shiur, and so too different types of drinks; drinks and food, however, cannot be combined to form a shiur together.
OU guideAny type of food may be eaten or drunk when one is doing shiurim.
If drinking alone is enough. If drinking is enough to alleviate any sakana, one may only drink, and not eat even pachos mi’keshiur.
If one couldn’t ask. If one wasn’t planning on doing shiurim, or wasn’t able to ask a Rov, then one should try to wait nine minutes between each eating. Each drinking should be about a small shot glass (like the disposable kind), and each eating a similar volume.
No bracha acharona. No bracha acharona is recited on pachos mi’keshiur.
Not as shliach tzibur. One doing shiurim, or who ate or drank less than a shiur, shouldn’t be a shliach tzibur in any capacity.
No rinsing or brushing. On Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av one may not rinse his mouth or brush his teeth.
All adults. All adults above bar or bas mitzvah are obligated to fast. The halachos apply to males from the age of thirteen and females from the age of twelve.
Expecting and nursing mothers. Under normal conditions, a woman who is pregnant or nursing and in good health must fast on Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av.
Star-K guide n.25 — a woman who has given birth within the past 30 days is not required to fast on Tisha B’Av
After childbirth. Women within three days from birth shouldn’t fast. From three days after until seven days after birth, it is the new mother who is central in determining.
Where fasting is life-threatening. Obviously anybody for whom not eating on Yom Kippur is life-threatening should not fast. However if one can get away with shiurim then one should not eat in any other fashion.
Children. Minors over the age of eleven, whether boy or girl, are rabbinically obligated to fast the whole day. Children below age nine should not fast at all.
OU guideMinors over age nine should not eat on Yom Kippur night, and should put off their first eating to an hour or two later than their usual first meal — but should not delay eating by more than an hour or two.
Make fasting the focus. As fasting on Yom Kippur is the most integral part of the day, and the most important element in achieving atonement, it is important to make one’s ability to fast the main focus. Therefore lactating and expecting mothers, and likewise all sick or weak people, should stay in bed as much as they can — even at the expense of tefilla b’tzibur, or even davening altogether.
No washing at all. It is forbidden to wash oneself whatsoever. This includes washing any part of one’s body, whether in cold or hot water.
What washing is permitted. Netilas yadayim in the morning — until the knuckles. To wash one’s hands after touching a body part generally covered, or scratching one’s scalp. One should also wash hands after using the bathroom even if one’s hands remained clean.
OU guideIf any body part became dirty and one requires soap to wash off the dirt, one may use a watered-down liquid soap.
Leil tevila on Yom Kippur. Even if a woman’s leil tevila comes out on Yom Kippur she may not be tovel until after Yom Kippur.
No anointing for pleasure. One cannot anoint oneself whenever this is done for the sake of pleasure. This includes cosmetic or minor topical health issues. One can apply ointment to an infection.
OU guideAlthough some maintain that it is permissible to put on aerosol deodorants on Yom Kippur, one should avoid doing so.
OU guideOne cannot apply perfume or cologne on Yom Kippur, even according to poskim who may allow it on Shabbos. Likewise no form of makeup may be applied.
Any non-leather shoe. According to the Shulchan Aruch and the traditional poskim all non-leather shoes may be worn, no matter the comfort or style. This includes non-leather sneakers and crocs.
OU guideOriginally some poskim were opposed to synthetic leather shoes for reasons of maras ayin; since nowadays people are used to the fact that there are many shoes made of synthetic leathers, it seems that it is permissible to wear such shoes.
OU guideIf one only has leather shoes and needs to walk somewhere that would require wearing them, he may do so on his way there but must remove them immediately upon arrival.
OU guideYoung children who are old enough to realize that Yom Kippur is a unique day should not wear leather shoes.
The harchakos apply. The prohibition of intimacy on Yom Kippur extends even to touching one’s wife or sleeping in the same bed. This includes other harchakos as well.
Avinu Malkeinu. Avinu Malkeinu is recited at Shacharis and Mincha of fast days, unless there is no Tachanun — so it is not said on a Shabbos Yom Kippur, except that it is recited at Neilah.
Star-K guide n.32 — Avinu Malkeinu can be recited without a minyan; Selichos can also be recited without a minyan
Aneinu at Mincha. Only one who is fasting — even if he knows he will break his fast later — recites Aneinu at Mincha in Shema Koleinu.
Sim Shalom at Mincha. At Mincha, Sim Shalom is recited instead of Shalom Rav.
These minhagim are midas chasidus and are not halacha — one is not required to do any of them.
Staying up at night. There is a minhag to stay up all night Yom Kippur. As for most people this would make the fast considerably harder, it is not advisable to do so.
Not sleeping during the day. There are those who are careful, even if they sleep at night, not to go to sleep during the entire day — this is more important than not sleeping at night. Therefore if by not sleeping at night someone will need to take a nap during the day, it is far better to sleep at night and to stay awake all day.
Tehilim. There is a minhag to finish the entire sefer Tehilim on Yom Kippur.
Standing. There is a minhag to stand the whole day; there is yet a slightly more prevalent minhag to stand throughout the entire davening.
When the fast ends. All fasts end at tzeis hakochavim.
Star-K guide n.8 — refer to your shul or local luach for exact times
Havdala. On motzaei Yom Kippur we make Havdala on a cup of wine (or grape juice, beer etc.) and we make a bracha of aish. We do not use besamim.
OU guideWhen Yom Kippur falls out on Shabbos there are those who do use besamim. One should not change their minhag either way: if one’s minhag is to use besamim they should continue to do so, and if one’s minhag is not to, they should not start.
The flame for the bracha. The fire should be from a flame that existed before Yom Kippur, or that was lit from a candle that was lit before Yom Kippur.
OU guideOne who doesn’t have such a flame — some of the gedolei Acharonim say one can make it on an electric light, on an incandescent light bulb that was lit from before Yom Kippur. It is questionable whether one can use fluorescent light bulbs.
The candles. On motzaei Yom Kippur we do not extinguish any candles lit before Yom Kippur; it is fine to turn off all types of electric lights. If a yahrtzeit candle blew out during Yom Kippur one should rekindle it after Yom Kippur and allow it to burn out.
Straight on to the next mitzvah. Right after Yom Kippur we are noheg to do something towards building the succah — since the purpose of this is to go straight from Yom Kippur to busying ourselves with mitzvos. Some people busy themselves with arba minim. Many are noheg to make a seuda on motzaei Yom Kippur.
Compiled from Rabbi Y. Dov Krakowski’s “Hilchos Uminhagei Yom Kippur” on the OU’s site (OU guide) and Rabbi Dovid Heber’s “The Halachos of the Fast Days” in Star-K’s Kashrus Kurrents (Star-K guide). Nothing here is our own psak — every entry notes which guide it appears in and the sources that guide cites. Shiurim for one who must eat, and any question of fasting with an illness or in pregnancy, are exactly the cases the guides send to a Rov: ask yours.
Published guides quoted: Hilchos Uminhagei Yom Kippur — Rabbi Y. Dov Krakowski (OU) · The Halachos of the Fast Days — Rabbi Dovid Heber (Star-K)