Holidays
Shabbat or Yom Kippur: Which Is More Important?
Shabbat or Yom Kippur: Which Is More Important?
Question
Hello,
I wanted to know which is more important, or which has greater importance: Shabbat or Yom Kippur? And if Shabbat is more important, why is Yom Kippur not postponed when it falls on Shabbat?
Thank you very much.
Answer
Hello and blessings
The punishment for desecrating Shabbat is more severe than the punishment for desecrating Yom Kippur. From this, the commentators infer that desecrating Shabbat is more severe than desecrating Yom Kippur for all the laws of the Torah. However, according to what is explained in the books of Kabbalah, this does not mean that Shabbat is more severe than Yom Kippur, but rather that on Yom Kippur mercy prevails to such an extent that the punishment is not so severe.
In any case, there is no reason to postpone Yom Kippur because of Shabbat, since there is no prohibited labor that becomes permitted when Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat. The prohibition of eating is only a cancellation of the mitzvah of Shabbat pleasure, which, according to most opinions, is from the prophets.
Even one who holds that the mitzvah of Shabbat pleasure is from the Torah cannot allow the mitzvah of Shabbat pleasure to override Yom Kippur, since on Yom Kippur there is both a positive commandment and a negative commandment, and a negative commandment carrying karet, which is not overridden by a positive commandment of Shabbat pleasure, whose nonobservance carries no punishment at all.
With blessings,
Benyamin Shmueli
