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Women As Shelihot Tzibur for Hallel on Rosh Hodesh

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Women As Shelihot Tzibur for Hallel on Rosh Hodesh MilinHavivinEng1 7/5/05 11:48 AM Page 84 William Friedman is a first-year student at YCT Rabbinical School. WOMEN AS SHELIHOT TZIBBUR FOR HALLEL ON ROSH HODESH* William Friedman I. INTRODUCTION Contemporary sifrei halakhah which address the issue of women’s obligation to recite hallel on Rosh Hodesh are unanimous—they are entirely exempt (peturot).1 The basis given by most2 of them is that hallel is a positive time-bound com- mandment (mitzvat aseh shehazman gramah), based on Sukkah 3:10 and Tosafot.3 That Mishnah states: “One for whom a slave, a woman, or a child read it (hallel)—he must answer after them what they said, and a curse will come to him.”4 Tosafot comment: “The inference (mashma) here is that a woman is exempt from the hallel of Sukkot, and likewise that of Shavuot, and the reason is that it is a positive time-bound commandment.” Rosh Hodesh, however, is not mentioned in the list of exemptions. * The scope of this article is limited to the technical halakhic issues involved in the spe- cific area of women’s obligation to recite hallel on Rosh Hodesh as it compares to that of men. Issues such as changing minhag, kol isha, areivut, and the proper role of women in Jewish life are beyond that scope. 1 R. Imanu’el ben Hayim Bashari, Bat Melekh (Bnei Brak, 1999), 28:1 (82); Eliyakim Getsel Ellinson, haIsha vehaMitzvot Sefer Rishon—Bein haIsha leYotzrah (Jerusalem, 1977), 113, 10:2 (116-117); R. David ben Avraham Dov Auerbakh, Halikhot Beitah (Jerusalem, 1982), 8:6-7 (58-59); R. Yitzchak Yaakov Fuchs, Halikhot Bat Yisrael (Jerusalem, 1983), 2:22 (50) and note 58 there, 16:6 (238); R. Yitzchak Yaakov Fuchs, Tefillah keHilkhatah (Jerusalem, 1989), 22:19 (388); R. Menachem Nissel, Rigshei Lev (Southfield, MI, 2001), 6:1 (162). 2 Rigshei Lev, op. cit., Halikhot Bat Yisrael, 50 note 57, and haIsha vehaMitzvot, op. cit., cite these sources explicitly. The other citations will be addressed below, pp. 3ff. 3 Sukkah 38a, s.v. mi shehaya. 4 This is the version of the Mishnah that appears in our printed editions. I will not address here the textual variants nor their implications, nor will I dispute the underlying assumption of the cited sifrei halakhah that the position of the Tosafot, namely, that reciting hallel on certain occasions is undisputably a mitzvah shehazman gramah from which women are exempt, is the correct explanation of the mishna. For more on this, see my forthcoming article “Women and Hallel: A Comprehensive Halakhic Analysis.” 84 MilinHavivinEng1 7/5/05 11:48 AM Page 85 William Friedman 85 II. THE STATUS OF HALLEL ON ROSH HODESH One can only be exempted from something which is obligatory. Tosefta (Sukkah 3:2) brings the list of obligatory recitations of hallel: “On eighteen days of the year and one evening one reads the hallel, and they are: the eight days of Sukkot, and eight days of Hanukah, and the first day of Pesah and its evening and the festival of Shavuot.” This list is brought in slightly modified form and augment- ed for the Diaspora in two places in the Gemara (Ta`anit 28b and Arakhin 10a): “Rebbi Yohanan said in the name of Rebbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak: Eighteen days that the individual completes on them the hallel: the eight days of Sukkot, and eight days of Hanukah, and the first day of Pesah, and [the first] day of Shavuot; and in the Diaspora twenty-one days: the nine days of Sukkot, and eight days of Hanukah, and two days of Pesah, and two days of Shavuot.” Notably absent is Rosh Hodesh. Arakhin 10a addresses the issue of days not listed in this beraita: What is the difference between on Sukkot that we say [hallel] every day and on Pesah that we don’t say it every day? Sukkot is differentiat- ed through its sacrifices (halukin be-korbanoteihen), [whereas] Pesah is not differentiated through its sacrifices. [On] Shabbat, which is dif- ferentiated through its sacrifices, one should say it! [One does not, because] it is not called an appointed time (mo’ed). [On] Rosh Hodesh, which is called an appointed time, one should say it! [One does not, because] it is not sanctified through [refraining from] doing work (asiyat melakhah), as it says (Is. 30:29), ‘For you, there shall be singing as on a night when a festival is hallowed’—a night which is hallowed for a festival requires singing, and one which is not hallowed for a festival does not require singing. The Talmud here clearly posits the possibility that Rosh Hodesh would require recitation of hallel, and rejects that possibility. So far, we have seen no indication that there exists any obligation to say hallel on Rosh Hodesh. Ta’anit 28b brings the first evidence of the recitation of hallel on Rosh Hodesh: The Mishnah should also have taught the first of Nissan [in addition to the first of Tevet] as a day on which there was no ma`amad because there is hallel, and musaf, and the wood offering. Rava said: ‘This says that the hallel of Rosh Hodesh is not Biblical’ (lav de’oraita hi) as Rebbi Yehoshua said in the name of Rebbe Shim`on ben Yehotzadak [our beraita from above is quoted] . Rav came to Bavel. He saw them reciting hallel on Rosh Hodesh and contemplated stopping them. When he saw that they were skipping he said: ‘Learn from this [that] the cus- tom of their ancestors is in their hands.’ A Tanna taught: ‘An individ- ual does not begin and if he began, he should finish.’” MilinHavivinEng1 7/5/05 11:48 AM Page 86 86 Milin Havivin Three important rulings regarding hallel on Rosh Hodesh are learned from this sugya: 1) Hallel on Rosh Hodesh is not a Biblical commandment such that it would override the ma`amad; 2) Rav was ready to stop a community from recit- ing hallel on Rosh Hodesh, and only desisted because of changes evidencing the existence of an ancient custom; and 3) An individual has no obligation to recite hallel on Rosh Hodesh. Rava’s conclusion regarding the status of hallel is uncertain. It is entirely pos- sible that he considers the hallel of Hanukah to be biblical in origin such that it pushes off the ma`amad, but would accept the idea that reciting hallel on Rosh Hodesh is a rabbinic enactment.5 Rashi6 rejects this possibility by linking Rava’s statement to Rav’s story, in which the hallel recited on Rosh Hodesh in Bavel is identified as minhag avoteihem beyadeihem and says that the hallel of Hanukah is similar to a Biblical commandment.7 The beraita brought at the end of the sugyah in Taanit is also open to multi- ple interpretations.8 Is it forbidden for an individual (as opposed to the commu- nity) to recite hallel on Rosh Hodesh,9 or merely optional? Is this referring to the blessing(s), or to the psalms of hallel themselves? Is it referring to the full hallel or the partial hallel? For the purposes of our investigation, we need to know whether the force of the minhag devolves upon the individual to recite hallel on Rosh Hodesh, or on the community as a whole. Tosafot10 provide an answer to this question: “And it appears that the individual is not obligated to read the hallel; nevertheless, if he wants to obligate himself, he may (hareshut beyado).” Similarly, Rashi11 says: “He does not need (eino tzarikh) to begin on Rosh Hodesh.” For the individual, reciting hallel on Rosh Hodesh is a completely non- obligatory act, although a permissible one. Tosafot, Arakhin 10a, s.v. y”h yamim 5 This could be the case if the criteria for reciting hallel on any given occasion were Biblically-determined, and if those conditions were met later in time by a new day, then the obligation to recite hallel on that day would be Biblical. (See, e.g., Pesahim 117a.) This would not contradict the Gemara in Arakhin if we assume that Gemara to be defin- ing Biblical criteria for the recitation of hallel. Tosafot, Arakhin 10a, s.v. y”h yamim explicitly reject this possibility. See also R. Yehudah Heshil Levenberg, Sefer Imrei Hen (Lakewood, NJ, 1992), 10 (64-65). 6 ad. loc., s.v. zot omeret. 7 There is a wide range of opinion as to whether hallel on the occasions listed in the tosefta and baraita is a Biblical or Rabbinic enactment. For an overview, see, e.g., Encyclopedia Talmudit, s.v. Hallel. 8 For a short summary of the ways this baraita has been interpreted, see Sinai Adler, Sefer haHodayah: Be’urim uBeirurim beInyanei Hodayah laHashem baHalakhah ubaTefillah (Jerusalem, 1997), 125-26. 9 Perhaps in violation of the injunction not to recite hallel every day, which, according to Rashi, means superfluously. See Shabbat 118b and Rashi there, s.v. harei zeh mehareif umegadeif. 10 ad. loc., s.v. amar. 11 ad. loc., s.v. lo yathil. MilinHavivinEng1 7/5/05 11:48 AM Page 87 William Friedman 87 conclude: “The inference [from this beraita] is that the community (tzibbur) is obligated from the general custom (meminhag be’alma).” Tur, Orah Hayim 422, and Beit Yosef, ad. loc., bring the various halakhic opinions and their sources in the Rishonim, respectively. III. WOMEN AND THE CUSTOM TO RECITE HALLEL ON ROSH HODESH Regarding the relationship of women to this custom, Magen Avraham12 says: Women are exempt from every hallel (mekol hallel) because it is a pos- itive time-bound commandment and therefore they cannot exempt others’ obligation unless he answers after them each word, and a curse will come to him because he did not learn, and if he did learn, he offends his creator by making agents such as these.
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