The Ashdod Religious Council, backed by the city’s chief rabbi, has urgently warned worshippers not to immerse in the sea before Yom Kippur once lifeguards leave at 3:00 PM, citing both halachic prohibition and mortal danger.
In a powerful pre-Yom Kippur appeal, Ashdod’s Religious Council issued an emergency directive urging the public to refrain from immersing in the sea after 15:00 today — the hour when lifeguards complete their shifts and beaches are left unsupervised.
The official notice, signed by Chief Rabbi Chaim Shimon Pinto and Rabbi Ovadia Dahan, chairman of the Religious Council, stated:
“It has become an unacceptable custom in recent years for individuals to immerse in the sea on the eve of Yom Kippur after lifeguards have left. This practice is strictly forbidden by Jewish law and borders on mortal danger.”
The rabbis warned that the lack of supervision places lives at immediate risk, stressing that every year the Beaches Department reports multiple drownings and near-tragedies in Ashdod during this period.
“Whoever immerses without a lifeguard would have been better off not immersing at all,” the statement declared, placing preservation of life above ritual practice.
The Council reminded the public that immersion for spiritual purification must never come at the expense of pikuach nefesh (the sanctity of life) — a principle that overrides nearly all other commandments.
This urgent appeal comes as thousands prepare for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, when ritual immersion before the fast is considered by many a time-honored custom. The rabbis stressed that such customs must be observed only under safe and supervised conditions, not at the cost of human life.
