Friday 1 November 2013

Sheetat Rambam re: Birchot Sh'ma for Women

הלכות קרית שמע פרק ד

א  נשים ועבדים וקטנים, פטורין מקרית שמע; ומלמדין את הקטנים לקרות אותה בעונתה, ומברכין לפניה ולאחריה, כדי לחנכן במצוות. 

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The Rambam says that women, slaves, and children are all exempt from Sh'ma; AND that we teach children to say the B'rachot for Hinuch purposes.

Mashma - the Rambam would not allow Nashim va'Avadim to do the same.

With regard to Tzitzit, the Rambam claims that women may not say the b'rachah, apparently due to the lack of "V'tzivanu".

If V'tzivanu is the ONLY issue, then Birkot Sh'ma may differ.

OTOH:

His P'sak here seems to match that of Birkat Tzitzit.

I'm still seeking more information from commentaries or articles

Kol Tuv,
RRW

1 comment:

Chaim B. said...

R' Ovadya Yosef holds that acc to shitas haRambam women may not say a bracha on any mitzvas aseh which is zman gerama irrespective of whether the word vitzivanu is used (like in birchas hamitzvos) or not (like birchos k"s). Take a look in Yabi'a Omer I think in vol 2. He strongly opposed sefardic girls studying in beis ya'akov's being taught to say birchos k"s.