Are women obligated in Parshat Zachor? |
This Shabbat, the Shabbat before Purim, we read Parshat Zachor from Dvarim 25:17-19, “Remember what Amalek perpetrated against you on the way when you were going out of Egypt…do not forget.” According to Sefer HaChinuch,
Mitzvah 603, women are exempt from the mitzvah of Zachor and do not need to
listen to Parshat Zachor: “This mitzvah applies only to men and not to women
since men and not women must wage war and take vengeance from the enemy.” In Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot,
Positive Mitzvah 189, there is no specific exemption for women from Parshat
Zachor which leads us to believe that women are obligated. The Minchat Chinuch teaches that the
mitzvah of Zachor, “remember” is not a positive precept dependent on time
(especially since it also includes the negative commandment to “not forget”)
and therefore women are not exempt. As well, in an obligatory war, all go out
to fight including a bride from her bridal chamber (Mishna Sotah 8). Therefore
all Israelites are obligated. In the Responsa, Binyan Tzion 8, we
learn that according to the Gaon Natan Adler, women are obligated to hear
Parshat Zachor, in fact he insisted that his maidservant hear it as well. It is
not a positive precept dependent on a set time for there is no insistence on a
specified time, only that it be read once a year, therefore women are
obligated. Rosh, Brachot 7:20 states that the public
reading of Parshat Zachor is DeOraita (a mitzvah from the Torah). Therefore
women should hear Parshat Zachor in synagogue. According to Magen Avraham,
remembering the blotting out of Amalek is fulfilled by hearing about the
incident with Amalek, “And Amalek came” (Shmot 17:8) which is the Torah reading
on Purim morning. Mishna Brura disagrees since the incident in Shmot does not
mention the blotting out of Amalek and therefore requires the reading from
Dvarim. We see from here that according to
many opinions, women are obligated in hearing Parshat Zachor. Many synagogues
read Zachor again at the end of the service as well, just in case not everyone
was there during Torah reading including parents of young children. |