This is my first Yom Kippur as a married woman--I usually remove ALL of my jewelry, but I'm not sure about my wedding band (which conforms to halakha). Should I wear the wedding band but remove the ring my husband gave me as a gift, and which has stones in it? Or should I remove both?
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4Mazal tov! and welcome to Mi Yodeya, which makes no guarantee of validity, and does not offer professional (particularly rabbinic) advice: treat information from this site like it came from a crowd of your friends. Thanks for the interesting question, which would be stronger if you'd edit it to indicate why you remove your jewelry for Yom Kipur. Also, please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features.– msh210 ♦Sep 13, 2013 at 15:59
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3 Answers
In addition to the Mishna B'rura (cited in Sam's answer and based on the Matei Efrayim 610:9) that says "they should not adorn themselves with the jewelry that they wear on Shabbos and Yom Tov, due to the dread of the Day of Judgment," Rabbi Betzalel Stern (שו"ת בצל החכמה חלק ו סימן ג) explicitly says that a person may wear jewelry (such as a nice watch) on Yom Kippur if the person wears that jewelry throughout the week, as well.
As far as simple platinum rings, the metal usually does not contain any gold, so that should certainly not present the problem of wearing gold on Yom Kippur.
Again, please consult your local rabbi for a practical ruling, and/or ask other local women regarding the practice in your community.
The Mishna Brurah 610:16 writes women are noheg to also wear clean white clothes but not to wear jewelry that they wear for Shabbas and Yom tov for the greatness(fear) of the Yom hadin.
The Piskei Tshuvos brings Rabbi Akiva Eiger(hagoas) who writes that some places don't wear gold because of the egel ,but women did not participate in the egel.In Teivis Guma(Pri Megadim) since women receive support from their husbands we are noheg that no one wears gold.Also the Matteh Ephraim holds that the congregation is one as a whole.
However that was in reference to special type of clothing (white with gold around)but nowadays we don't have such clothing,jewelry would be ok as long as it is not worn specially for Shabbas and Yom Tov. See footnotes for many sources.
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It would therefore be ok to wear a platinum ring since it does not have the idolatrous connotations of gold?– JLRSep 13, 2013 at 18:15
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I'm not aware of a particular reason to avoid jewelry, so long as it's in good taste and not distracting (and if I'm not mistaken, there's a comment from Tosafot that at least in France 800 years ago, the women showed up on Yom Kippur with jewelry). I think I'd heard something as a little kid about gold being bad because of the Golden Calf, but that may have been a folk tale as I don't think I've seen it in any authoritative source. (Anyone else here want to help me with that?)
Have you looked around at what the other women in synagogue have done? If the other married women wear wedding bands and/or engagement rings, I can't think of why it would be a problem to do the same.
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@Sam thank you! So the Golden Calf thing is actually sourced to Rabbi Akiva Eiger. Thank you!– ShalomSep 13, 2013 at 17:24
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1did you mean Tosfos Megillah 31a Mincha koren ariyos?it says that women got dressed up(jewelry) for Yom tov and therefore we read on Yom Kippur at mincha about arayos so people are not nichsol.Regarding the gold thing, usually when everyone has heard of such a thing it usually is said by someone authoritative.np.– samSep 13, 2013 at 17:31
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And therefore ring which is not gold (platinum, for example) would bear no prohibition?– JLRSep 13, 2013 at 18:14
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"when everyone has heard of such a thing it usually is said by someone authoritative" for various understandings of "authoritative".– Double AA ♦Oct 6, 2014 at 8:47