Save
Copy
Add to Collection
Export to Google Docs
Share(ז) כָּל מִצְוֹת הַבֵּן עַל הָאָב, אֲנָשִׁים חַיָּבִין וְנָשִׁים פְּטוּרוֹת. וְכָל מִצְוֹת הָאָב עַל הַבֵּן, אֶחָד אֲנָשִׁים וְאֶחָד נָשִׁים חַיָּבִין. וְכָל מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה שֶׁהַזְּמָן גְּרָמָהּ, אֲנָשִׁים חַיָּבִין וְנָשִׁים פְּטוּרוֹת. וְכָל מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה שֶׁלֹּא הַזְּמָן גְּרָמָהּ, אֶחָד אֲנָשִׁים וְאֶחָד נָשִׁים חַיָּבִין. וְכָל מִצְוַת לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה, בֵּין שֶׁהַזְּמָן גְּרָמָהּ בֵּין שֶׁלֹּא הַזְּמָן גְּרָמָהּ, אֶחָד אֲנָשִׁים וְאֶחָד נָשִׁים חַיָּבִין, חוּץ מִבַּל תַּשְׁחִית וּבַל תַּקִּיף וּבַל תִּטַּמָּא לְמֵתִים:
(7) With regard to all mitzvot of a son with regard to his father, men are obligated to perform them and women are exempt. And with regard to all mitzvot of a father with regard to his son, both men and women are obligated to perform them. The mishna notes an additional difference between the obligations of men and women in the performance of mitzvot: With regard to all positive, time-bound mitzvot, i.e., those which must be performed at specific times, men are obligated to perform them and women are exempt. And with regard to all positive mitzvot that are not time bound, both men and women are obligated to perform them. And with regard to all prohibitions, whether they are time-bound or whether they are not time-bound, both men and women are obligated to observe them, except for the prohibitions of: Do not round the corners of your head, and: Do not destroy the corners of your beard, which are derived from the verse: “You shall not round the corners of your head and you shall not destroy the corners of your beard” (Leviticus 19:27), and a prohibition that concerns only priests: Do not contract ritual impurity from a corpse (see Leviticus 21:1). These mitzvot apply only to men, not women, despite the fact that they are prohibitions.
The Gemara asks: Which of them is derived from the verse and which is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai and merely supported by a verse? And furthermore, why do I need the verse and why do I need the halakha? Isn’t sukka a positive, time-bound mitzva, and the principle is that women are exempt from all positive, time-bound mitzvot? There is no need for a special derivation to exempt women from the mitzva of sukka.
Rav S. R. Hirsch, Commentary to Vayikra 23:43 (Judaica Press translation)
The Torah did not impose these mitzvot on women because it did not consider them necessary to be demanded from women. All time-bound mitzvot are meant, by symbolic procedures, to bring certain facts, principles, ideas and resolutions afresh to our minds from time to time to fortify us to realize them to keep them. God’s Torah takes it for granted that our women have greater fervor and more faithful enthusiasm for their God-serving calling [than men], and that this calling runs less danger in their case than in that of men from the temptations which occur in the course of business and professional life. Accordingly it does not find it necessary to give women these repeated spurring reminders to remain true to their calling…
(א) מי הם הפטורים מישיבת סוכה ובו י סעיפים
נשים ועבדים וקטנים פטורים מן הסוכה טומטום ואנדרוגינוס חייבים מספק וכן מי שחציו עבד וחציו בן חורין חייב:
(1) 1. Who is exempt from dwelling in the Sukkah, and in it is 10 paragraphs. Women, slaves, minors are exempt from the (mitzvah of) Sukkah. A tumtum (one has genitalia that are covered, unable to be recognized) or an androgynous is obligated out of doubt (perhaps they are male). And similarly one who is a half slave, half free person is obligated.
(א) נָּשִׁים וַעֲבָדִים וּקְטַנִּים פְּטוּרִים מִן הַסֻּכָּה. טֻמְטוּם וְאַנְדְּרוֹגִינוּס חַיָּבִים מִסָּפֵק. וְכֵן מִי שֶׁחֶצְיוֹ עֶבֶד וְחֶצְיוֹ בֶּן חוֹרִין חַיָּב. קָטָן שֶׁאֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לְאִמּוֹ שֶׁהוּא [כְּבֶן חָמֵשׁ] כְּבֶן שֵׁשׁ חַיָּב בְּסֻכָּה מִדִּבְרֵי סוֹפְרִים כְּדֵי לְחַנְּכוֹ בְּמִצְוֹת:
(1) Women, slaves and minors are exempt from the [commandment of dwelling in a] sukkah. One whose genitalia are covered by a layer of skin (and, so, undetermined) and one who has genitalia of both sexes are obligated based on the doubt [about their sex]. And likewise is one who is half a slave and half a free person obligated. A minor who does not [still] require his mother — which is [like a five-year old] like a six-year old — is obligated in the [commandment of dwelling in a] sukkah by the words of the Scribes (rabbinically), in order to educate them in the commandments.
חידושי רמב"ן על קידושין ל״א א
והא אמרינן בירושלמי כל העושה דבר שאינו מצווה בו נקרא הדיוט התם שעושה דבר שאינו מצווה מן התורה כלל שהוא כמוסיף על התורה אבל מי שעושה מצות התורה כתקנן אף על פי שלא נצטוה הוא בהם כגון נשים מקבלים עליהן שכר שכל דרכיה דרכי נועם
Chiddushei Ramban on Kiddushin 31a
Behold, we say in the Yerushalmi, ‘Anyone who performs something in which he is not commanded is called a simpleton!’ That refers to a person who does something that is not commanded from the Torah at all, where it is as if he adds to the Torah. But someone who does the mitzvot of the Torah as enacted even though he was not commanded in them, like women or a non-Jew, receives reward for them, for all of her [the Torah’s] paths are paths of pleasantness.