The gemara in this week's amud makes mention of a halacha that is truly peripheral to the topics discussed on the amud , but is an extremely worthy matter to delve into. The gemara says, after asking a question on the wording used in the Torah to express the obligation to "pain one's self" on Yom Kippu r, that if one eats on the 9th day of Tishrei , the eve of Yom Kippur , it will be considered by Hashem as if he had fasted on both the ninth day of Tishrei and the tenth. Many of the commentators ask what is so significant about eating prior to the fast day of Yom Kippur ? Perhaps we should consider it a hechsher mitzvah because it prepares us and enables us to fast, but why is it to be considered as if we fasted?