A Bride and Groom On Their Wedding Day
‘Except for the Day after Yom Kippur’
(Kereisos 25a)
A mishnah on our daf records a pious custom practiced by Bava ben Buta. He would buy and offer an asham talui every day in case he committed a transgression. The only day he didn’t offer this sacrifice was the 11th of Tishrei, as he assumed he did not commit a transgression the day following Yom Kippur.
The 11th of Tishrei
The Shulchan Aruch states (1:5): “It’s good to say the parashah of the Akeidah, the manna, and the Ten Commandments and the parashah of the olah, minchah, shelamim, chatas, and asham. Afterwards one says, ‘Yehi Ratzon… – May it be His will as though I sacrificed….’” Shav Yaakov states (I, 2) that on the 11th of Tishrei, one shouldn’t say this Yehi Ratzon after saying the verses of the asham taluy because we do not suspect a person of sinning within a day after Yom Kippur (Shaarei Teshuva, ibid os 10).
To Fast or Not to Fast?
A couple marrying on the eve of the 12th of Tishrei asked Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, an interesting sheilah (Responsa Igros Moshe, Orach Chyaim 1:167). Couples customarily fast on the day of their chuppah to atone for their transgressions. But since the day before was Yom Kippur, did they need to fast? As noted above, we do not suspect a person of having sinned within a day of Yom Kippur’s conclusion.
The Efficacy of a Fast
Rabbi Feinstein replied that they must fast. Indeed, he said they would have to fast even if they married on the eve of the 11th of Tishrei (see Magen Avraham 573:1). It’s true that we (like Bava ben Buta) do not have to worry about unintentional sins on the first day after Yom Kippur. However, the fast of the bride and groom also atones for intentional sins, and for those it is fitting to fast even after Yom Kippur.