When Jews fast on Yom Kippur, they abstain not only from food but also from drink. Does that rule apply when taking an oath not to eat? According to today’s daf, it does:
Rabbi Hiyya bar Avin quotes Shmuel, who says: If one said, “On my oath I will not eat,” and then they drank, they are liable.
In case this is not sufficient proof that drinking is a subset of eating, the Gemara offers two additional supporting arguments, one from logic and one from scripture:
It is clear that drinking is included in eating from the fact that a person will say to another, “Let’s have a taste of something,” and they go in and eat and drink.
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And as Reish Lakish says: From where is it derived that drinking is included in eating? It is derived from that which is stated: And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place that He shall choose to cause His name to dwell there, the tithe of your grain, of your tirosh. (Deuteronomy 14:23) And tirosh means wine about which it is written,“and you shall eat.”
Both in modern common parlance and biblical language, drinking is a part of eating, as now evidenced by the fact that wine is included in the list of things that one consumes in Jerusalem as part of the second tithe.
Rava builds on this argument, explaining that we can actually conclude the same from the mishnah. On yesterday’s daf, he points out, the mishnah taught that if one says, “On my oath I will not eat,” and then they ate and drank, they are liable to bring only one offering. This formulation only makes sense if eating and drinking are considered to be the same violation. The language of the mishnah makes clear that by drinking, the oath-breaker increases neither the number of offenses nor the number of sacrifices that he must bring. This is further proof, says Rava, that drinking is subsumed into the category of eating.
So the answer is, from a Jewish legal standpoint, unequivocal: Drinking is eating. It does make one wonder how Yom Kippur might have been different if drinking were not considered an act of eating, and one were permitted to hydrate (or even drink wine!) throughout the day. This may have instead led to complex legal discussions on whether a smoothie counts as a drink or a food (in the era of blenders, at least). But that’s not the route the tradition took so we need to discuss it no further. All this writing has made me hungry, so I’m off to have a snack (which may or may not include a beverage).
Read all of Shevuot 23 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on May 24, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
