Women and Zimun

There is a misconception that if three or more women eat a bread meal together there is no requirement of zimun. Further, many feel that those women that do zimun are a product of the 20th century feminist movement and have no basis in halacha.

 

The truth is that the Gemara in Brachos (45b) says that women may perform a zimun by themselves. The Rosh, in fact, rules that this gemara implies a requirement on women benching to also have a zimun. Tosfos and the Shulchan Aruch, however, learn that this is not a requirement  of women but merely an option. There is no one that says it is forbidden for women to have a zimun (obviously, as this would go against the gemara).

 

The Shulchan Aruch does rule that if there is already a zimun of men, women should join them and answer along. However, if there is only one or two men and three or more women, and the women decide to do a zimun, what should the men do?

 

Rav Shlomo Zalman (as quoted by his nephew in Halichos Beisah) rules that men should answer like they normally do.

 

Rav Dovid Feinstein Shlita, as quoted by Rav Dov Frimmer, rules that men can answer as outsiders and say "Barukh u-mevorach shmo tamid le-olam va'ed",which is what one answers to a zimmun if he didn't eat bread or cake (another Halacha very few people know, and we might discuss next week)

 

The concept that men should walk out and not answer at all, is attributed to a sefer Ha'Isha V'Hamitzvos and is unsupported.

 

So why don't the majority of women bench with a zimun now-a-days? Shouldn't they want to do it, even if merely optional?

 

Rav Moshe Feinstein, in discussing whether men have to wait for women when starting zimun, posits that since women are busy taking care of the the house and the children, they never really establish themselves as a permanent fixture in the meal. Thus, men should, however need not, wait for women for zimun. So too we can say that since women's eating is rushed, there is no requirement of zimun, for the requirement of zimun only sets in when having a permanence.

 

Rav Dovid Feinstein is of the opinion, (so I've heard) that since women used to not know the halachos of zimun nor could they read Hebrew, they never did it. And thus, it has become a minhag that women don't do zimun now-a-days, even though they can read Hebrew and be taught the halachos of zimun.

 

(Compiled with help from chaburas.org, Rav A. Zivotofsky, and Mail-Jewish)