Question: Are women supposed to count Sefirat HaOmer?
S. Feldman
Answer: This question was posed to us a number of years ago. Here is a modified version of our response at that time:
The Torah was given to us to study and fulfill. All Jews are equally responsible to fulfill it, although some people sometimes need not perform certain mitzvot for a variety of reasons. For example, a Yisrael does not perform any of the myriad mitzvot intended solely for Kohanim. As another example, a Jew outside Eretz Yisrael does not perform any of the mitzvot that apply specifically to the Jewish homeland, such as shmittah and yovel.
And then there are mitzvot that women are absolved from. As the Gemara (Kiddushin 29a) states: “Men, but not women, must fulfill time-based positive precepts. Both men and women, though, must fulfill all non-time-based positive precepts.”
The Gemara debates the source for this ruling, suggesting numerous possibilities. First it suggests that we compare all mitzvot to tefillin, which itself is compared to Talmud Torah, about which the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:7) states, “ve’shinantam l’vanecha – and you shall teach them to your sons” (but not necessarily your daughters). The Gemara also points to the mitzvah of going up to Jerusalem three times a year, about which the Torah (Exodus 23:17) states, “Shalosh pa’amim bashanah yeraeh kol zechurecha – Three times in the year all your males [but not necessarily females] shall be seen.”
In any event, the rule itself is clear: Women need not fulfill time-bound mitzvot. Kol Bo (siman 73) quotes the Ba’al HaMelamed (on Parashat Lech-Lecha) to explain why the Torah exempted women from fulfilling these mitzvot: Women are the helpmates of men (and in charge of the household); the Torah therefore exempted them from time-bound mitzvot so that they have time to fulfill their housework, which, if left undone, might be a source of friction between wives and husbands.
So, is Sefirat HaOmer one of these time-bound mitzvot? Rabbi Shlomo Wahrman, zt”l, late rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva of Nassau County, discusses this question in Orot HaPesach. We will highlight some of his in-depth discussion found in siman 79.
Rabbi Wahrman quotes the Rambam (Hilchot Temidin U’musafin 7:22-24): “It is a positive precept to count seven full weeks from the day the omer was first brought, as it says in Parshat Emor (Leviticus 23:15), ‘Usefartem lachem mimacharat haShabbat miyom haviachem et omer hatenufah sheva shabbatot temimot tihiyena – And you shall count from the morrow of the Sabbath from the day you bring the omer of waving; seven complete weeks shall they be.’ It is a mitzvah to count days with weeks, as it says, ‘Tisperu chamishim yom – You shall count 50 days’ … We count from the beginning of the day, i.e., the night of the 16th of Nissan. If a person forgot to count at night, he counts during the day. A person must count standing, but if he counted while sitting, he has nevertheless fulfilled his obligation. This mitzvah is incumbent on all Jewish males everywhere at any time. Women and slaves are exempt from its performance.”
The Kesef Mishneh writes that women are exempt because it is a time-bound positive precept.
The Chinuch, too (Mitzvah 306), writes that Sefirat HaOmer is a Biblical command incumbent only on men.
The Ramban (in his novella on Kiddushin 34a) states the following: “And regarding positive precepts that are not time-bound, many are still left such as]\ fearing [one’s parents], honoring [one’s parents], bikurim, chalah, kisuy hadam (covering the blood), reishit hagez (the first shearing), matanot (presents [one gives to Kohanim, Leviyim, and the destitute]), Sefirat HaOmer, prikah u’teinah (unloading and loading [the animal of one’s fellow]), etc.”
(To be continued)