Women are obligated to observe oneg Shabbos – despite the fact that Shabbos is a time-bound mitzvah, occurring only once a week – because the Sages paired the words “zachor” and “shamor,” which Hashem said simultaneously, teaching us that anyone who is obligated to observe “shamor” (as women are) must also observe “zachor.” But is the same true of Yom Tov?
Are Women Exempt from Kiddush on Yom Tov ?
R’ Akiva Eiger, Teshuvos 1, writes that women are exempt from oneg and kiddush on Yom Tov, just as they are exempt from all other positive time-bound mitzvos. Only on Shabbos are the positive and prohibitive mitzvos are intertwined. Not so on Yom Tov. Therefore, women are exempt from the positive mitzvos of Yom Tov.
The Rishonim debate whether women are obligated to observe the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov. Devarim 14:26 states: “You and your family shall rejoice.” Some Rishonim interpret this verse as requiring everyone to rejoice, including women. Others interpret this verse as requiring fathers to bring joy to their wives and children.
Even if we concede that women are obligated to observe simchas Yom Tov, this does not necessarily mean they are obligated to observe oneg Yom Tov as well. Simcha is fulfilled through meat and wine, while oneg is fulfilled by eating a bread meal. On Chol HaMoed, for example, there is a mitzvah of simcha, but there is no obligation to eat a bread meal (see Mishnah Berurah 530:1).
Ya’aleh V’Yavoh
True to his position, R’ Akiva Eiger rules that if a woman forgot to recite Ya’aleh V’Yavoh during Birchas HaMazon on Yom Tov, she should not repeat Birchas HaMazon since she wasn’t obligated to eat the bread meal to begin with. (Only an obligatory meal requires the recitation of Ya’aleh V’Yavoh. That’s why on Rosh Chodesh and Chol HaMoed, when eating bread meals are not obligatory, one should not repeat Birchas HaMazon if one forgot Ya’aleh V’Yavoh.)
Even according to R’ Akiva Eiger, though, a woman may recite kiddush on Yom Tov if she sodesires just like she may recite the berachos over the mitzvos of sukkah and lulav, which she is also not obligated to keep as they are time-bound positive mitzvos. She may also, for the same reason, recite a berachah over candle lighting on Yom Tov since she is allowed to voluntarily fulfill the mitzvah of oneg.
However, the Sephardic custom is for women not to recite a berachah over positive time-bound mitzvos that they perform voluntarily (as the Beis Yosef rules). Therefore, if R’ Akiva Eiger is right that women are not obligated to observe oneg Yom Tov, Sephardic women should not recite a berachah over candle lighting on Yom Tov nor recite kiddush.
Many poskim, however, reject R’ Akiva Eiger’s position and rule that women are in fact obligated to observe oneg Yom Tov and recite Kiddush on Yom Tov (see Shulchan Aruch HaRav O.C. 271:5; Ben Ish Chai, Second Year: Bereishis, 11; Igros Moshe O.C. 4:100; Shemiras Shabbos K’Hilchoso ch. 47, note 26). They maintain that the laws of Yom Tov parallel the laws of Shabbos, and women are obligated to observe the positive commandments of both (even though Kiddush on Yom Tov is only a rabbinic requirement – see Maggid Mishna, Shabbos 29:18). Women, therefore, should recite a berachah over Yom Tov candles.