Women
Women and Mayim Acharonim
Question
Hello, honored rabbi, is one required to wash mayim acharonim? Are Ashkenazim also required? Are Sephardi women required? Are Ashkenazi women required? After mayim acharonim, is it permitted to speak? Is there a difference between Ashkenazim and Sephardim?
Thank you very much, rabbi
Answer
Wishing you blessings on the festival,
1. There is an obligation to wash mayim acharonim, both for Sephardim and for Ashkenazim (see Shulchan Aruch, siman 181, seifim 1, 10; Mishnah Berurah, seif katan 22; and Halichot Olam, part 2, page 44).
2. Women as well - both Sephardi and Ashkenazi - are also obligated to wash mayim acharonim (Responsa Shelat Chaim, siman 119; Halichot Bat Yisrael, chapter 3, note 11, in the name of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt"l; and Ashrei Haish, part 1, chapter 34, section 1, in the name of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt"l. This is also the view of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, zt"l, in the book Halichot Olam there, pages 44-45).
3. Ideally, one should be careful not to speak between mayim acharonim and Birkat Hamazon, even words of Torah (see Mishnah Berurah, siman 179, seif katan 1, and siman 181, seif katan 24), and there is no difference in this matter between Sephardim and Ashkenazim.
With blessings,
Hillel Meirs
