it is really a general shaaleh relating to the omud beys where the gemoro talks about viduy and tefillas minchoh erev yom kippur. my actual shaaleh is have you heard of a possible "alter sephardishe minhag" or an "alter yerushalmi minhag" of having 7 "seudos" or really 7 washing and benshing occasions on erev yom kippur as opposed to just being "marbeh achilah b,erev yom kippur stam" if so could you please point to an actual mekor in a sefer where this halachoh or minhag is brought down "shkoyach".
Boruch Kahan, london u.k.
Dear Baruch,
After checking in many seforim we found no source for eating seven meals on Erev Yom Kippur. Not in Taamei Minhagim, Minhag Yisroel, Torah and Nitei Gavriel.
Someone suggested perhaps a mix-up was made with the Minhag of going several times to Mikvah that day. However, we found a Minhag of going at most 5 different times going to the Mikvah, similar to the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur itself. The number seven is found with the Kohen Gadol being separated 7 days before Yom Kippur.
All the best
Reuven Weiner
It is also brought to do seven Tevilos on Erev Yom Kippur when one does go to the Mikvah.
We have a custom as Sephardic Moroccan Jews to eat seven times on erev YK
Shlomo Amar
Why do Moroccan Jews eat 7 Seudot on Erev Yom Kippur? What do the 7 meals represent?
David Kalb
We asked a number of distinguished Sephardic Rabbis about this custom. So far, the responses have all been negative:
Rav Tzror (Mekubal in Yerushalayim, from Egypt/Allepo) - never heard of it
Rav Yitzchak Almaliach (Dayan in Yerushalayim, from Morocco) - never heard of it.
Best wishes,
R. Weiner