“On Women Joining in a Zimmun” by Yonatan Gershon

Responses: “Does Cultural Change Necessarily Entail Halakhic Change? A Reaction to Women Joining a Zimmun” by Ya’akov Medan

“ ‘My Women Friends, Let Us Bless’: A Response to the Question of Women Joining in a Zimmun Within the Family Circle” by Mikhal Tikochinksy

Published in the Meorot Journal (Tishrei 5772/2011), A publication of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (Translated from Aqdamot, Nisan 5771, Beit Morasha)

Yonatan Gershon has written and published an article in the Meorot journal (Tishrei 5772/2011) that investigates the question of whether women are permitted to join with men to form a zimmun (group of three required to say Birkat HaMazon together), with a focus on family context. Gershon examines the rabbinic sources that discuss the degree to which women are obligated to recite Birkat HaMazon, and includes specific examples where Rabbis’ wives and daughters’ joined with men in a zimmun. Gershon concludes that women have traditionally been excluded from the zimmun for social and cultural, rather than halakhic reasons, and questions whether these concerns are still relevant today. Gershon suggests that women should be permitted, and perhaps, encouraged, to participate in a zimmun within a family context, but that it is up to individuals and communities on the ground to change this custom and invite women into the zimmun.

Gershon’s respondents—Ya’akov Medan and Mikhal Tikochinksy—respond by questioning what the impact would be of breaking from tradition and developing a new custom. Medan is concerned about breaking from the traditions of modesty and separation of sexes that our ancestors practiced, but he is also concerned about the growing gap between women’s roles in secular and religious realms. Tikochinsky offers an insider perspective on the issue, as she explains the polarization of the female religious community around expanding women’s ritual roles. “At one end are those women who have no interest in taking on additional obligations and would feel odd participating in a zimmun; at the other are those who want to be included in a zimmun as people with equal rights.” She reminds us that “there are many women who are seriously troubled by the matter. They are marked not by defiance but by a sincere, piously motivated desire to participate.”(pg.21)

It is always challenging to reexamine our traditions and our roles in society, but this collection of articles gives women and men the opportunity to investigate the sources on zimmun for themselves and to arrive at an informed decision about their own family practices. The wealth of textual references, as well as the nuances concerning the tension between innovation and tradition, provide a wonderful springboard for dinner-table discussions on women’s roles in the zimmun. Each of the three articles puts the power for change in the hands of individual families and communities, and we encourage you to read the article and examine the resources on our websites to determine what decisions are right for you.

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