The Order of Things to Be Done on The Day Before Yom Kippur (Erev Yom Kippur)
It is good that a person's immersion on the eve of Yom Kippur, according to the Kabbalah, should be nine immersions, and the order of their immersion shall be thus: in the first, he should intend to remove the filth and the impurity from upon himself by the power of the name EHYE, whose phonetic gematria (Aleph, Lamed, Pei, followed by Hei, Hei, followed by Yod, Vav, Dalet, followed by Hei, Hei) is equivalent in gematria to mikvah (151).
The Order of Things to Be Done on The Day Before Yom Kippur (Erev Yom Kippur)
28 Elul 5785 | Sept. 21 2025
a. It is a mitzvah to eat on the eve of Yom Kippur and to increase [eating] in the meal1. And the main part of the mitzvah is during the day and not at night, nevertheless it is good to make a meal with bread also at night2. And one who increases eating and drinking on the ninth day, through the intention of his eating and the blessings and the mitzvot that he performs through his physical eating and drinking, rectifies the aspect of the ninth [day] and the tenth [day]3; therefore he should increase eating and drinking to parallel two days4, and at least he should make two meals with bread in order that he will need to bless Hamotzi and Birkat Hamazon to rectify the external aspect through eating and drinking and the blessing, and in the morning meal he should intend to rectify the external aspect of the day, and in the separating meal (Seudah Hamafseket) he should intend to rectify the external aspect of tomorrow5. And a person should do all his actions for the sake of Heaven, and Hashem, blessed be He, will not withhold good from those who walk uprightly.
b. Women are also obligated in the mitzvot of eating and drinking on the eve of Yom Kippur6.
c. It is a mitzvah to eat fish on the eve of Yom Kippur specifically in the morning meal7, and there are those who are accustomed to eat sardine fish to hint at the removal of judgments (Sardinim, Sardines in Hebrew, broken into 2 words sounds like removal of judgements).
d. The custom of the Hasidim of "Bet El" on every eve of Yom Kippur after Tefilat Shacharit (morning prayer) is that they administer 4 times symbolic lashes to each person, and afterward they perform for him a symbolic four court-ordered deaths of a Beth Din. And so is the custom of our holy yeshiva, the holy congregation of Hasidim "Nahar Shalom", to perform the order of lashes and the four court deaths on every eve of Yom Kippur since the time of our Master, the man of G-d, Kabbalist Rabbi Mordechai Sharabi, may the memory of the tzaddik be for a blessing8.
e. Every person must be careful on the eve of Yom Kippur to bathe and purify himself and immerse in the water of a mikvah (ritual bath), and even one whose way is not to do so all year round, even so on this awesome day, he must immerse and cast off from himself all impurities and all foreign thoughts that clung to him on all days of the year9, and as our Sages of blessed memory said: "for on every festival and holiday a person is obligated to purify himself, all the more so on Yom Kippur" that a person needs to search after purity and holiness to stand before his L-rd, may he Be blessed, from what is in his hand, and he should not hurry to immerse until an hour before midday10.
f. It is good that a person's immersion on the eve of Yom Kippur, according to the Kabbalah, should be nine immersions, and the order of their immersion shall be thus: in the first, he should intend to remove the filth and the impurity from upon himself by the power of the name EHYE, whose phonetic gematria (Aleph, Lamed, Pei, followed by Hei, Hei, followed by Yod, Vav, Dalet, followed by Hei, Hei) is equivalent in gematria to mikvah (151).
g. And in the second immersion, he should intend for the rectification of anger, and he should intend to rectify anger (spelled Kaf, Aleph, Saamech) whose gematria value with an additional one for the total unit equals the Gematria for Mikvah and also the phonetic Gematria of EHYE (as explained above).
h. And in the third [immersion], to sweeten the strict judgments (dinim) and the severities (gevurot) with water, which are (representing) the kindnesses (chasadim).
And in the fourth, to rectify what he damaged in the Name of 72: YOD-VAV-DALET, HEI-YOD, VAV-YOD-VAV, HEI-YOD (the phonetic Gematria equaling 72).
And in the fifth, to rectify what he damaged in the Name of 63: YOD-VAV-DALET, HEI-YOD, VAV-ALEPH-VAV, HEI-YOD (the phonetic Gematria equaling 63, since the Vav here gets a phonetic value of 13 instead of 22).
And in the sixth, to rectify what he damaged in the Name of 45: YOD-VAV-DALET HEI-ALEPH VAV-ALEPH-VAV HEI-ALEPH YOD (the phonetic Gematria equaling 45, since the Vav here gets a phonetic value of 13 and the two letters of Hei in the tetragrammaton, get a combined phonetic value of 12 instead 30).
And in the seventh, to rectify what he damaged in the Name of 52: YOD-VAV-DALET HEI-HEI VAV-VAV HEI-HEI (Here the phonetic value of the 2nd and fourth letters of the tetragrammaton equals 10 + 10 and the phonetic value of the third letter of the tetragrammaton here is given a value of 12, thus yielding together with the phonetic gematria of YOD-VAV-DALET a total of 52).
And in the eighth, to strip off from himself the weekday garments. And he should also intend "that a year and its curses end."
And in the ninth, to receive upon himself the illumination of the holiness of Yom Kippur.
And if Yom Kippur falls on the Sabbath Eve, he should intend in the Sabbath immersions, that just as at that hour he intends to receive the illumination of the Sabbath, he should also intend to receive the illumination of Yom Kippur. And all this is besides the intentions mentioned in the words of the Ari and the Rashash (zya"a), as is known to those who know secret wisdom11.
The early scholars wrote that through immersion in a mikvah, purity of heart and holiness of thought are drawn to a person, and it will be a great assistance for him to cleave to the Creator of the World12. And through it, a person becomes sanctified and becomes as a new creation13.
If a person is prevented by a situation which he cannot control and cannot immerse, he should pour nine kavim of water over his body while standing naked, and another person shall come and pour the water over him from his head to his feet; and these nine kavim, consists of a kav of 432 dirhams, for each kav is four login (plural for log), and each log is 108 dirhams. And if he does not have one vessel that can hold nine kavim, he may divide them into two or three vessels, but more than three vessels do not combine; and he must be careful to pour the second before the end of the first, and likewise he shall do with the third14.
i. And if he is not able to do this either, such as if he is sick or has another prevention, he shall wash his hands forty times, and this is the order: he shall pour first on the right hand one time and intend for the first letter of the Name of 72, and so one time on the left hand and intend also for the first letter of the Name of 72, and again he shall pour 2 times on the right hand and intend for the second letter of the Name 72, and so too, 2 times on the left hand and intend for the second letter, and so too in this manner up to ten times. And he shall repeat and pour ten times one after the other on the right hand and intend each time in one letter of the ten letters of the Name of 72, and he shall pour afterward ten times one after the other on the left and intend in them for the ten letters of the Name of 72 according to the order; it comes out in total forty times15.
j. On Erev Yom Kippur, even though he eats according to his mitzvah, the fear of Heaven shall hover over him. And he should be careful to study the explanation of the order of the Avodah (Temple Service) that he will say on Yom Kippur so that he understands the words he brings out of his mouth. And he should immerse with great submissiveness in any case16.
k. Every person should kiss the hands of his father and his mother on the eve of Yom Kippur before he goes to the synagogue, and request forgiveness from them. And this thing is a great obligation upon every person, and one who does not do so is called a sinner and treats the honor of his father and mother lightly. For if [regarding matters] between a person and his fellow, our Sages of blessed memory obligated him to request forgiveness before Yom Kippur, all the more so from his father and mother, for no person is saved from sinning against them every day. And if the son is foolish and did not request, they should grant him forgiveness by saying with their mouth: "I forgive my son [so-and-so] for everything that he sinned against me with a complete forgiveness." And likewise, (the husband) should give forgiveness to his wife for having wasted from the house against his will. And likewise, every student who has a rabbi in the city should go to him before Yom Kippur and request forgiveness from him17.
l. It is customary to perform annulment of vows on the eve of Yom Kippur, and the custom of Jerusalem is to say the order of annulments of curses (Hatarat Kelalot), and so is the custom of our holy yeshiva, and if possible, ten judges should sit so that the annulment will also be effective for the ban (Nidui)18.
m. One should make an effort to give ransom for his soul (kofer nafsho) by giving charity to those who toil in Torah with a generous eye, and it is a mitzvah to give publicly so that others will see and also do, that every man will give as much as he can afford19.