Is there any problem with wearing a nicotine patch on Yom Kippur or any other fast day? (sources please)
asked Sep 21, 2011 at 1:42
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On Yom Kippur it can be an issur hotzaah if there’s no eruv. (Carrying in a public domain)– LN6595Commented Sep 29, 2019 at 1:23
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1 Answer
According to Aish.com you may, because its not eating
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2What?!? I mean, yes, Aish says that there, but their source, Rav Sternbuch, seems to be saying it's forbidden on YK! (Unless maybe I'm reading him wrong?)– msh210 ♦Commented Sep 21, 2011 at 3:49
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1@msh210: he's talking about "feeding through the veins" - i.e., intravenous nourishment. That's not necessarily the same thing as nicotine, which is not normally taken into the body as food.– AlexCommented Sep 21, 2011 at 3:59
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1@Alex, I'll certainly grant it's not the strongest possible support for forbidding a nicotine patch, but if it's support for anything, it's for forbidding, no?– msh210 ♦Commented Sep 21, 2011 at 4:17
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1@Menachem: not really. It's that it's "ochel nefesh," but that includes other things that are commonly used for bodily comfort, like bathing.– AlexCommented Sep 22, 2011 at 3:06
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3@msh210: if I'm understanding R. Sternbuch correctly, his objection to intravenous feeding is that even though it's not "eating," it interferes with the "affliction" one should feel by abstaining from food (צער מניעת אכילה). Well, since the nicotine patch is not replacing food, then that consideration shouldn't apply; the only concern would be whether taking substances into the body non-orally is considered "eating," and having established that it is not, then there's no reason left to prohibit it.– AlexCommented Sep 22, 2011 at 3:10