The gemara discusses the women taking the lulav. According to Shulchan Aruch women should not say a brocha on it. Yet the Rama says in 589:6 OC that Ashkenazim do so. This is based on a Rabbeinu Tam in Kidushin 31a. Please advise. Why can women say the brocha when they were not commanded? I looked in Shulchan Aruch Harav and I did not fully undestand his answer. Please advise.
Zvi Shapiro, Long Beach, CA
The Shulchan Aruch ha'Rav gives two reasons why women can say the Berachah. The first is based on the Rema (OC 46:8) who says that we can say all of Birchas ha'Shachar even if we did not personally benefit from that thing which the Berachah is said over, eg. we didn't here a rooster crow that morning, we can still say the first Berachah. The reason being that our Kavanah is that these things are enjoyed by the world as a whole. Similarly, a woman's Kavanah when she says the Berachah on a Mitzvah that she was not commanded in, has the intention that we the Jewish nation were commanded to do this Mitzvah. The second reason is that since they receive some reward for performing the Mitzvah, albeit not as much a man, it is possible to say that it is a quasi-Mitzvah for them.
Kol Tuv,
Yonasan Sigler
This is not a Psak Halachah.