Maḥzor Vitry: On the Eve of Yom Kippur

The custom of our ancestors constitutes Torah, and the following is in the Pesikta:

On the eve of Yom Kippur, we bring chickens, males for male persons, females for female persons. The head of the family takes one chicken for each member of his household. Before he slaughters it, he recites one of five verses three times. They are:

And after he finishes these five verses, he takes the chicken, twirls it around his head, and says, “May it be Your will, O living God, that you be mindful of me and remember me for a good life. Let this chicken replace this [person’s life] and be the substitute and exchange for it. Let this chicken go to death and may this [person] enter to a good and long life. Let its slaughter serve as his atonement and as ransom for his soul. May he be spared from all trouble and distress, from all anguish and sighing, and may he experience repose, gladness, and rejoicing. Amen, Amen, Selah for all eternity!”

Each time that he recites these verses, he twirls the chicken around his head and says, “This is in my stead, this is in exchange and a substitute for me. May there be peace.” He should send [the fowl] to the poor of the city. His atonement will be akin to the atonement of the dispatched he-goat that would atone for all Israel. Thus they were accustomed to do in Provence and Narbonne. [ . . . ]

On the eve of Yom Kippur, a man should ritually immerse at the sixth or eighth hour, enter the synagogue, recite the eighteen benedictions as usual, and confess before his meal, as is taught in a baraita: “The obligation to confess on the eve of Yom Kippur [is to do so] when it turns dark,” but the sages said that one should confess before he eats lest he becomes distraught during the meal, unable to confess. Even if he confessed before eating, he should confess before eating and drinking. And even if he confessed during the evening prayer, he should confess during the morning prayer; [and even if he confessed] in the morning prayer, he should confess during the additional prayer and the afternoon prayer. When does he recite it? At the end of his prayer, but the cantor recites it in the middle of the prayer.

What does one say? Rav said: “You know the secrets of the universe.” Although many amoraim argue with him, we adopt the view of Rav. Therefore, everybody must recite the shorter confession after his prayer on the eve of Yom Kippur. The longer confession is: “We are guilty, we acted treacherously” . . . “And for the sin” . . . “And for the sins.” [ . . . ]

I found in the prayer book of R. ‘Amram that the cantor recites the confession in the presence of the congregation in order to fulfill their obligation. He [then] says “Our Father, our King,” the full Kaddish. [ . . . ] They go and feast at the meal prior to the fast in order to fulfill [the verse]: you shall afflict your souls on the ninth day in the evening (Leviticus 23:27). They should eat while it is still day and fast in the evening.

In the afternoon service of the eve of Yom Kippur, one recites the eighteen benedictions and after saying “He Who makes peace,” one commences the confession: “Our God, and God of our fathers, may our prayer come before You” until “And besides You, we have no king who pardons and forgives except You,” [continuing with] “My God, before I was formed” until “my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalms 19:15). The cantor does not confess, but after the eighteen benedictions, he says: “Our Father, our King” and the Kaddish. They do not fall on their faces [to recite the supplicatory prayers].

The people are accustomed to receiving lashes. It is taught in a mishnah concerning those whom the court punishes with lashes: How many lashes does he receive? Forty less one, as it says: In accordance with his wickedness, by number; forty shall he strike him (Deuteronomy 25:2–3). [ . . . ] He is lashed neither standing nor seated, but bent over, as it says: and he [the judge] shall lie him down (Deuteronomy 25:2). The one administering the lashes strikes with one hand, with his full force, and with a strap of calf[skin] in his hand with one thong folded over into two, and then the two thongs folded over into four. [ . . . ] The handle of the strap is one handbreadth long and one handbreadth wide. The one who recites reads: If you will not observe to do [all the words of this law] . . . Then the Lord will make wondrous [blows] (Deuteronomy 28:58–59). [ . . . ] On the eve of Yom Kippur, the person being lashed confesses, and the one who strikes him recites: And He forgives iniquity (Psalms 78:38). This verse contains thirteen words. He recites it three times and counts the number of lashes by the number of words, which total thirty-nine.