עברית
Women
Why Do Women Not Bless the Blessing of the Moon in Order To Rectify the Sin?
Question
Hello,
According to the view that the blessing over the moon is considered a blessing over enjoyment, and that women are not obligated in it because they caused the moon to diminish (the sin of Chava), why are they not obligated specifically for that reason, namely, in order to rectify the sin?
With blessings and thanks
Answer
Hello,
Indeed, this is a wonderful question regarding the words of the Magen Avraham (beginning of siman 426) in the name of the Shelah, that women are exempt from Kiddush Levanah because it is a positive mitzvah dependent on time, and although they observe all positive mitzvot such as sukkah, nevertheless they do not observe this mitzvah because they caused the blemish of the moon. See there. And apparently, on the contrary, they should recite it in order to repair the blemish, in the sense of (Sanhedrin 70b), with the very matter through which they transgressed, they are rectified.
One may further strengthen the question from what we find in the Shulchan Aruch (siman 263, seif 3) regarding the Shabbat candles, in which women are more strictly cautioned, because they are found in the home and busy themselves with the needs of the household. And the Mishnah Berurah (seif katan 12) wrote another reason, because she extinguished the light of the world, which caused Adam HaRishon to die. See there. If so, here as well, on the contrary, they should recite the blessing over the moon in order to repair the blemish.
This was asked of the gaon of Debrecen, Rabbi Moshe Stern zt"l (died in 1997), in his responsa Be'er Moshe, part 6 (siman 135), and he wrote that it is indeed a beautiful observation. After expanding on the principle that the prosecutor does not become the defense attorney, he wrote: Now let us ascend by the path to understand the words of the Sages and their riddles, the words of the Magen Avraham. For the moon is itself the very same moon that diminished because of the woman’s sin. True, it was not she who sinned, but in any event she is coming to bless over that same moon that diminished because of the first woman. Therefore the Magen Avraham rightly said that she should not bless over it, since the woman caused the moon that now stands before us to diminish. This is unlike the Shabbat candles, where the sin is not present before us at all; there, certainly, we say: light it in order to repair the sin that she extinguished the light of the world. See there.
With blessings,
Hillel Meirs
