Page 20 - Chayei Adam LAYOUT sivan 5782

Chayei Adam - K’lal 139 - The Laws of Rosh Hashana Night & Rosh Hashana Tefilos

]1[ On the night of Rosh Hashana one should enter the shul full of fear and
trepidation, for they are already preparing the seats of judgment in Heaven. Even
one who is not usually particular to daven Maariv after nightfall throughout the
year, should be careful to do so during these ten days from Rosh Hashana until
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Yom Kippur. This applies to other things which a person is not particular to be
careful with the rest of the year, even though he doesn’t intend to continue this
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conduct thereafter. Nevertheless, he should be stringent during these ten days
which are times of teshuva and Divine mercy, for just like Hashem acts with us
benevolently, so too should we go beyond our basic obligations as much as

possible. One should daven with a lot of concentration and devotion, and
certainly, he should make sure not to forget to add the additions Chazal
instituted such as ‘zachreinu,’ ‘mi chamocha,’ to end [the third] beracha ‘HaMelech
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HaKadosh’ and ‘ha’melech ha’mishpat’ during the week. Some have the custom

םדו רשב

1. There is no actual source for this per 7 days to refer to the entire 10 days of
se. Rather, the Chayei Adam seems to be repentance spanning from Rosh Hashana until
basing himself on the words of Shulchan Yom Kippur. Since one is supposed to
Aruch 503, where he rules that one should be maintain a state of purity on yom tov anyway,
careful to eat only Jewish baked bread during only the 7 days in between Rosh Hashana and
the aseres yemei teshuva, as below. The Yom Kippur are singled out (Tur). Although
Chayei Adam extrapolates this to include we no longer observe laws of purity, the
adhering to other stringencies in halacha Ashkenazi custom became to avoid eating
such as davening maariv after nightfall (and bread baked by non-Jews (see below) during
not even during twilight). The widespread the aseres yemei teshuva. (Rosh, Mordechai).
א
custom is not to adopt this particular It is important to note that bread baked by
stringency although many are careful to avoid a non-Jew for his own private use is
other leniencies in kashrus or other areas of considered non-kosher and may not be eaten
halacha during the aseres yemei teshuva. even if all the ingredients are kosher and so
The source for this concept is the Talmud were the utensils and oven used in its
Yerushalmi (Shabbos 1:3) which relates that R’ production. Here we refer to bread baked by
Chiya instructed Rav to try to be careful to eat non-Jewish bakeries for commercial sale.
food in a state of purity all year long and that While there are different approaches in
if he couldn’t he should try to be careful for understanding when such bread is permitted
seven days. The Avi HaEzri understands these (the subject of which is beyond the scope of

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