Afflicting the Soul: A Day When Even Children Must Fast

For a discussion of the Rabbinic Jewish concept of chinnuch and its details, see Encyclopedia Talmudit vol. 16, “Chinnuch” [Hebrew].

See, for example, discussion in R. Joseph Karo, Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 343:1.

In my English translation of the Torah, I use the word “humble” for Lev 23:27 and 23:29 and “torture” in 16:31 and 23:32. Here I will use the term “afflict” since this is the common translation and will allow us to focus on the essential point.

^{ויקרא טז:לא} שבת שבתון הוא לכם ועניתם נפשתיכם חקת עולם.

^{Lev 16:31} It is to be a Sabbath of rest for you, that you should afflict your souls. It is a permanent statute.

^{ויקרא כג:כז} …אך בעשור לחדש השביעי הזה יום כפורים הוא מקרא קדש יהיה לכם ועניתם את נפשתיכם…

^{Lev 23:27} On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month isa day of atonement. It shall be a holy reading for you.And you shall afflict your souls…

^כג:כט כי כל הנפש אשר לא תענה בעצם היום הזה ונכרתה מעמיה.

^23:29 For any soul who will not afflict himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people.

^כג:לב שבת שבתון הוא לכם ועניתם את נפשתיכם…

^23:32 It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you. And you shall afflict your souls…

All quotes are from the Samaritan Pentateuch, which has minor variations from the MT in some of the verses. Translations comes from, Benyamim Tsedaka, The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah: First English Translation Compared with the Masoretic Version(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), with some adjustments.

B. Shabbat 89b

The Ṭabbākh lists four meanings for nefesh, each with a prooftext:

1. The soul (Deut 4:9)

2. The body (Num 9:7)

3. People who are under obligation (Num 15:28)

4. People who are not under obligation (Num 19:22).

Cf. Gen 46:26-27

Simeon Lowy summarizes the argument as follows:

The Ṭabbākh disputing with the Jews their leniency towards the (fasting) of children on the Day of Atonement, supports his contention for the Samaritan practice of making children fast by a wide discussion on the meaning of the Hebrew word נפש… Since “soul” is evidently an expression which depends on the interpretation deemed appropriate to any of the aforesaid meanings, and none of these meanings can claim any real preference over any other, it is therefore the duty of the person under religious obligation not to deviate therefrom by opting for a lenient interpretation, which would lead to desecration.

See Simeon Lowy, The Principles of Samaritan Bible Exegesis, Studia Post-Biblica (Leiden: Brill, 1977), 356. Lowy adds the following observation:

We see from this discussion that the strict enforcement of fasting upon children is not in any way decided by semantic considerations, but rather by relying entirely on traditional practice.

This is an overstatement. The traditional Samaritan practice is in conversation with the ambiguity of the term, and linked to the seriousness with which the Torah takes the violation, including the fear that the punishment of excision could happen to the child who violates the law.

This is also true of nursing or pregnant women, the elderly, and the sick. Even in particularly serious cases, when a doctor has ordered his or her patient not to fast, Samaritans often fast anyway.

The epistle was published with an English translation in Appendix 1 of Moses Gaster, The Samaritans: Their History, Doctrine, and Literature: The Schweich Lectures, 1923 (British Academy: London, 1925), 165-170.

Much of what follows appears is available in Hebrew from, Danchu Arnon, The Samaritans – Recipes, Traditions, and Customs (Rosh Yarok Press, 1999), 130-132.

Editor’s note: For a detailed discussion of Samaritan Yom Kippur practices, including a comparison with Jewish practices, see József Zsengellér, “The Day of Atonement of the Samaritans,” in The Day of Atonement: Its Interpretations in Early Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed., Thomas Hieke and Tobias Nicklas, Themes in Biblical Narrative 15 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 139-161.

We use this method on a number of occasions and it is standard for the reading of Torah passages during prayer, but not for the Shabbat Torah reading, which is read aloud, passage by passage, by each reader.

See Robert T. Anderson and Terry Giles, Tradition Kept: The Literature of the Samaritans (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2005), 11-17, 151-152.

See Alan D. Crown, “Abisha Scroll” in A Companion to Samaritan Studies (eds. Alan David Crown, Reinhard Pummer, and Abraham Tal; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1993), 4-6; also, Alan D. Crown, “The Abisha Scroll—3,000 Years Old?” Bible Review 7.5 (1991)

See F. Pérez Castro, Séfer Abisha (Madrid: C.S.I.C., 1959); Alan D. Crown, “The Abisha Scroll of the Samaritans,” BJRL 58 (1975): 36-55.

For more on Israelite-Samaritan Sukkot, including how we build our “fruity sukkahs,” see my, “A Fruity Sukkah Made from the Four Species,” TheTorah (2014).