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COPYRIGHT 1993 American Jewish Congress
Introduction
IN RECENT YEARS, THERE HAS ARISEN CONsiderable halakhically based controversy over women's participation in certain areas of Jewish life. These include women's prayer groups, women's advanced Torah study, and women's reading of the Torah. One area which involves little actual halakhic controversy in terms of permission to participate, is women's zimmun (the introductory invitation preceding Grace after Meals). Nevertheless, it is not widely practiced by women.(1) This summary article will attempt to elucidate some of the issues of zimmun and women. It will include an elaboration on those areas in which there is no controversy, such as the permissibility of women forming their own zimmun, as well as some discussion of the debated issues, such as women and men forming a joint zimmun. Some laws and concepts of zimmun, as they relate to women, will be discussed, then the relevant Talmudic sources will be cited. This will lead to a discussion of the medieval commentators' understanding of these sources, followed by the contemporary discussions and, finally, the contemporary halakhic view.
Zimmun
The first mishnah in the seventh chapter of Brakhot states: "Three who ate as one [together] are obligated(2) in zimmun." The definition of what this zimmun entails is presented in the third mishnah:
What is the formula for zimmun? If there are three, he [the leader] says: "Let us bless [for the food which we have eaten]." If there are three besides himself, he says: "Bless." If there are ten, he says: "Let us bless our God." ... If there are a hundred, he says: "Let us bless the Lord our God." ... If there are a thousand he says: "Let us bless the Lord our God, the God of Israel." ... If there are ten thousand....
These introductory blessings said before the Grace are clearly an old formulation, for they do not contain the standard formula for a blessing, which developed in the middle of the Talmudic period. In addition, it is unusual for the text of a blessing to depend on the size of the crowd. Normative halakhah is not quite like this section of the mishnah. Rather, we only have two texts, one for three to nine people and the other for ten or more. The one for ten or more includes a mention of God's name, while the other does not. Despite these oddities of the zimmun formula, it is nonetheless treated as comprising real, legitimate blessings.(3)
In explaining these mishnayot, the Talmud brings numerous textual sources for the obligation of zimmun.(4) Nonetheless, there is a debate among the commentators whether zimmun is of Biblical(5) or rabbinic origin.(6) There is even an opinion which suggests that a zimmun of three people is rabbinic, while a zimmun of ten is Biblical.(7)
The preferred format for zimmun, as stated by the rishonim (rabbinic scholars of the 11th-15th century), is that one person, the leader, invites everyone to participate in the Grace, and then he/she recites the entire Grace out loud. The others remain quiet and fulfill their obligation by listening to the leader and responding "amen."(8) Because it is difficult to concentrate on the entire Grace while someone else says it, the custom has arisen for everyone to say the full Grace quietly by himself, while attempting to hear at least the first blessing recited aloud by the leader.(9) The current practice, however, does not negate the essence of the zimmun, that one person fulfills the obligation of Grace for all the rest. Thus, in most situations where one cannot legally accomplish this objective for others in the group, that group may not form a zimmun together.(10) At the very least, the one who cannot fulfill the obligation of the others cannot be the leader. This may have important ramifications for women participating in or leading zimmun, as men and women may have different levels of obligation in saying the Grace (although women certainly have an obligation to say Grace, as stated explicitly in mishnah Brakhot 3:3(11)).
If zimmun is such a nice idea, a communal invitation to say Grace and praise God, then why should there ever be any hesitation? Let a group of any size or gender say zimmun! This question is even more pronounced when it is realized that, originally, the zimmun invitation was a single statement and response which, for fewer than ten people, did not contain any reference to God's name.(12) This issue is discussed by the commentators in the context of the Talmud's discussion (Brakhot 45a) of whether two men can say zimmun.(13) Two possible reasons are suggested by the commentators why a zimmun of two might be problematic. First, although the zimmun formula for fewer than ten people is not a davar she-b'kedusha (a liturgy or "matter" of holiness), it may be considered k'ein davar she-b'kedusha -- like such a ritual, which has certain minimal requirements,(14) such as at least three individuals. Second, it may simply be a problem of appearance; it looks like one is adding to the prescribed blessing -- two are obligated to start the Grace from the blessing after the zimmun invitation.(15) In either case, zimmun is treated as a real blessing.(16)
Talmudic Sources
There are two significant Babylonian Talmudic sources that address women's participation in zimmun -- the seventh chapter of Brakhot, expanding on the mishnayot quoted above, and the very beginning of Arukhin.
The seventh chapter of Brakhot is devoted principally to a discussion of the laws of zimmun and Grace. The first mishnah, which defines who may and may not participate in a zimmun, states:
Three who ate as one [together] are obligated in zimmun ... women,...
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