In general, women are exempt from a mitzvas asei she’hazman grama, time-sensitive mitzvos. However, the Shulchan Aruch (O”C 472:14), tells us that this rule does not apply to the mitzvos that are performed on the night of the seder, and women are obligated to fulfill all of these mitzvos. Why are these mitzvos different from all other time-sensitive mitzvos, from which they are exempt?
We will try to go through each mitzvah and clarify the source and the reason for their obligation to perform it.
Matza and Drinking the Four Cups of Wine
As far as the obligation to eat matza, the Gemara (Pesachim 43b) tells us that we learn it from a hekesh, the juxtaposition of the issur to eat chometz and the mitzva to eat matza. Since the Torah placed these two mitzvos together, anyone commanded to abstain from eating chometz (i.e., both men and women – as it is a negative commandment), is also obligated in the mitzvah to eat matza.
When it comes to drinking the four cups of wine, the Gemara (Pesachim 43b) tells us that women are included in this mitzvah, based on the principle: “af hein hayu b’oso haneis – they were also part of the miracle.” It would seem that women are obligated to eat matza because it is compared to chometz and drinking the four cups of wine, since they were also part of the miracle. This is indeed how the Shulchan Aruch Harav spells it out.
However, the Beis Yosef, as well as the Gra, write that the reason for both the requirement to eat matza, and to drink the four cups of wine is based on the principle: “af hein hayu b’oso haneis.” This seems to be different from the source of the Gemara. And this is not just a different source, but it may even have halachic ramifications. If their obligation to eat matza is because of a hekesh, then it is a mitzvah min haTorah. On the other hand, if it is only based on the principle, “af hein hayu b’oso haneis,” it may only be required midrabanan.
Indeed, whether “af hein hayu boso haneis,” makes women required to perform a mitzvah min haTorah or midrabanan seems to be a machlokes in Tosfos.
Tosfos in Megillah asks the following question: Why does the Gemara need to learn that women are required to eat matza from a hekesh, and not simply from the rule of “af hein hayu boso haneis”? Tosfos offers two answers to this question. Firstly, that would only obligate them from a rabbinic standpoint, and the hekesh creates a Torah mandate. Secondly, if not for the hekesh, we may have compared it to sitting in a sukkah, from which women are exempt.
According to the first explanation, “af hein hayu boso haneis” only makes them obligated midrabanan. However, the second answer of Tosfos seems to hold that it would even make them obligated as a Torah mandate. That being the case, we need to understand why the Beis Yosef and the Gra quoted a reason of “af hein hayu boso haneis,” which may only create an obligation midrabanan.
Are women obligated in Sippur Yetzias Mitzrayim?
The Sefer Hachinuch (21) writes that the mitzvah in the Torah of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim – relating the story of the Exodus – is a mitzvah in which women are also obligated. The Minchas Chinuch wonders why that should be, since it is a mitzvas asei she’hazman grama, a time-sensitive mitzvah, from which women are usually exempt, and the hekesh is only for matza and not for other mitzvos. At most, he writes, they may be required midrabanan, based on the rule of “af hein hayu b’oso haneis.”
In truth, this should depend on the aforementioned machlokes between the two answers of Tosfos, if “af hein hayu b’oso haneis” only makes them obligated midrabanan, or even makes them obligated as a Torah mandate.
It is also important to point out that if they are not obligated to perform the mitzvah min haTorah – because it is a time-sensitive mitzvah – then it is possible that the chachamim did not obligate them to perform the mitzvah either. This is spelled out by Tosfos in Pesachim (108b). Tosfos wonders why women are totally exempt from sitting in the sukkah. Didn’t they also enjoy the huts or the clouds of glory in the desert? If that is the case, let them at least be obligated midrabanan, because of “af hein hayu boso haneis”?
Tosfos answers that if the Torah did not require them to perform the mitzvah – because it is a time-sensitive mitzvah – then the chachamim did not obligate them to perform the mitzvah either. The same should be true for the mitzvah of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim. If they are not required to perform the mitzvah min haTorah, then they will not be obligated to do the mitzvah at all.
Requirement of Sippur for Drinking the Wine
In fact, the Chayei Adam brings up this very question. According to Tosfos in Pesachim, whenever women are not obligated to perform a mitzvah min haTorah – because it is a time-sensitive mitzvah – then the chachamim did not require them to perform that mitzvah either. If so, they should be exempt from the mitzvah of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim.
He answers that this cannot be the case. The Shulchan Aruch rules that one cannot just drink the four cups; rather they must be drunk at the correct places in the haggadah. The Magen Avraham and the Mishna Berura spell out clearly that this means that one must read the haggadah and then drink the second cup. Thus, even though women may not have been given the mitzvah of sippur per se, they may still be required to read the haggadah in order to fulfill the mitzvah of drinking the four cups.
This can come up often, as people get tired later on during the night. The Biur Halacha points out that it will not suffice for the women to just drink both the 3rd and 4th cup after birkat hamazon and head to bed. Rather, each cup has to be drunk after its specific mitzvah, and they must first recite hallel, and only then drink the 4th cup.
Maror
The Aruch Hashulchan writes that women are required to eat maror for two reasons. Besides the obvious reason that they have to fulfill the mitzvos because of “af hein hayu b’oso haneis,” they are also obligated to eat maror because of their obligation to eat matza. This is just like men, who have a mitzvah to eat maror, together with the korban pesach, and although there is no korban pesach today, we have a mitzvah midrabanan to eat the maror. Maror is not just a new mitzvah midrabanan, like the four cups, rather it is meant to be similar to the mitzvah of the Torah. This same concept applies to women as well.
Leaning
The Gemara in Pesachim tells us that a woman is not required to lean when she is with her husband, unless she is a prominent woman. The Rashbam offers one explanation that this is because a married woman is somewhat subservient to her husband. He then quotes the Baal HaShe’iltos who maintains that all women are exempt from leaning. The Rosh says that the difference between the two is in regards to a woman who is not married. The Shulchan Aruch rules that women are exempt from leaning. The Rama adds that although our women are all prestigious and should be obligated to lean, they rely on the Ravya, who rules that today we are not required to lean at all.
Summary – Women’s Obligations on Night of the Seder
- Matza – Torah mandate
- Four cups – Rabbinical mandate
- Sippur – Machlokes if a Torah mandate or a rabbinical one (or maybe exempt)
- Maror – an extension of the Torah mandate
- Leaning – exempt
