Women and Kiddush Levana

Sanhedrin 42a says that the practice in E”Y then to say Baruch Mehadesh Hodashim is proper for women (Maharsha says women don’t remember the long braha, and the Einei Shmuel says women don’t bless with HaShem’s name.

The Gemara’s implication is that women ought to say something, if even the shorter version. This is Meiri’s peshat in the Gemara, and Hakham Ovadia Yosef paskens like this le ma’aseh (Yabia Omer OC 5:36).

Teshuvot Ktav Sofer (OC #34) says that women make some kind of braha, but not the one men say.

The Salmat Haim gives the reason “kol kevuda bat melech penima” (1:259). Others say that women are patur because Hava caused the pegam halevana (Shelah Sha’ar haOsiyot Kuf).

Maharam Shik (OC 90) says that when to say kiddush levana is based upon figuring out the calendar, and this was a skill performed only by men.

In a similar fashion, the Yeshu’ot Ya’akov (OC 426:1) writes that the beracha of kiddush levana is related to “haskalah and Torah She ba’al peh,” things in which women are not involved.

The overwhelming score of Ashkenazic poskim say a woman is patur.

I wonder what he’d say about whether a woman is obligated in birkat ha hammah.

Here is the Shelah inside:

The reason goes back to two ideas that have been linked: one being the legend that explains why the moon is smaller than the sun, and the other being the discussion of the consequences for women of Eve’s sin.

In the future the defect of the moon will pass away, and the

light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. . . . . It appears to me that for this reason women distance themselves from this commandment, even though they fulfill many positive time-bound commandments, such as shofar-blowing and [taking] the lulav [on Sukkot]. We have never seen women performing Kiddush Levanah, even if they are careful with all the prayers, because the first woman caused the defect of the moon, that is the sin of Eve, and they distance themselves because of the shame (bushah), even though a tikkun (repair) was found for them after this, in that they did not sin in the matter of the (golden) calf, and they did not listen to the first snake, who is the Satan, who is the Evil Inclination,

and therefore Rosh Hodesh was given to women that they should keep it more than the men. In any case the woman is the first cause (sibah rishonah) by which the seducer entered the world, and afterwards the men strengthened him with the (sin of the) calf, and we are still not purified.”

Either they are Mevatel a Chiyuv Brachah every month or they make Brachos Levatalah every 28 years.

It’s a reshus. No stirah.

DY: It’s very difficult to call a B’rachah a R’shus. Why is it different than any other Birchas R’iyah? (I really, really don’t hear the answer that because this one Brachah is called being “Mekabel the Sh’chinah” that it’s a special P’tur for women. EIther they’re Chayav or they’re not. You can’t volunteer a Brachah like that.)

So women cannot attend outdoor gatherings such as barbecues, block parties, and outdoor weddings?

Whatever you call it, it just doesn’t make sense. So let’s say the minhag is for women not to participate in kiddush levana because of a geder of tznius. Fine. In that case you have to say that kal v’chomer, the geder of tznius would also lead to a minhag of women not participating in any public gathering which is longer than kiddush levana, such as the examples I mentioned above.

I don’t know any woman whose minhag is to avoid barbecues because of a geder of tznius. As far as I know, this is simply not a practice that anyone follows. So why do we follow the minhag when it comes to kiddush levana, but not to other outdoor gatherings?

So why do we follow the minhag when it comes to kiddush levana, but not to other outdoor gatherings?

Maybe we should.

Sam, they are yotzei with their husbands rather than being mekayem ner l’chol echad.

The point is that they would light on their own, except that since they would light outside in a common chatzer, it would be a tzniyus issue.

http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=19920&st=&pgnum=16

Kooljew, they could have lit by the doorway to the house also. The point is that the minhag was to do the mitzvah a particular way, and since tzniyus proscribed women from performing the mitzvah that way, they didn’t adopt a different way, since they weren’t obligated to.

Then I won’t be able to find the thread.

Kol Kevudah Bas Melech Penima is far more compromised when a woman has to go to work to support her family, than by a once a month ceremony.

Not really, because it depends what the need is. For a woman to go out and support her husband in learning is a great need, and can counterbalance large needs. For a woman to go mumble kiddush levana is not a very great need, and does not counterbalance much.

When I was in preschool I remember the teachers telling us about kiddush levana and they decided it was some sort of male conspiracy and thats why they weren’t allowed to do it. They weren’t even 100% sure what guys did by kiddush levana.

I saw another explanation as to why women shouldn’t say kiddush levanah (which I reject):

The Magen Avraham paskens according to the view of the Shela I gave above; the fact that women don’t make the brakha because of Hava’s sin amounts to the klal of Ein Kateigar Na’aseh Saneigar.”

The Debretziner Rav (Be’er Moshe 6:135) says that women light candles on Erev Shabbat to be metaken Hava’s sin. Why would women be metaken one sin they caused, and not be metaken another sin (by reciting kiddush levana)?

After offering an excursus on Ein Kateigar Na’aseh Saneigar, he says that since kiddush levana involves making a Bracha on the actual moon that Hava caused harm to, it is not proper for women to make a bracha. However the candle only symbolizes the Neshama and is not the Neshama itself therefore the Klal of Ein Kateigar Na’aseh Saneigar does not apply and by lighting the candles it rectifies their mistake.

I remain steadfast in my position that women ought to make some form of kiddush levana, as every opposing answer I see is mystical and not legal in nature.

kooljew,

See Shulchan Aruch 73:1 and Rambam Hilchos Ishus 13:11. Both pasken that a woman shouldn’t go outside much (in general) and both give the reason as Kol Kevudah. It stems from the Gemara in Kesubos.

DY & KJ: If you read the Chasam Sofer inside, he does not bring “Kol Kevodah”. What he specifically says it is not the Kavod of Jewish Women “to go outside in public at the beginning of the night amongst men”. Logically, this is because there are groups of women (from the guild of Seamstresses) that do go out in the early evening amongst men, and no Jewish woman would want to be thought as one of those.

Once the “Minhag” became that women don’t light, it went forward from there even though the reason no longer exists.

It’s Halacha. As said, its in Shulchan Aruch and Rambam. See my first comment above.