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Falling on Face for Nefilas Apayim

Is it assur to actually fall on one’s face (prostrate) for nefilas apayim rather than do the custom of sitting with your head on your arm if one places a cloth or something under the head like on Yom Kippur?

Answer:

No, it is not forbidden, though it is not customary.

This is clear from the Shulchan Aruch 131:8 (and see also Biur Halacha), which writes that an adam chashuv should not prostrate himself entirely.

Best wishes.

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1 Comment

  1. Reading TaNaKh one can see plenty of places where as men as women fell on their nose as before different kings as before the Allmighty as when the Temple was as when it was destroyed. I really don’t understand why now there is no any custom to do Nefilat-Panim one’s nose to the ground (on cloth or wood)?

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