Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Saying haRav es Riveinu when leining for women

I think the common practice (at least as far as my wife has observed) is that if a second leining of megillah is done only for women, the ba'al koreh omits the bracha of HaRav es Riveinu. This is based on the psak of the Rama 692 that it is only recited when a minyan is present. I would argue that this is not necessarily correct. See the previous post that the halacha of minyan by megillah is not based on the chiyuv of tzibur for davar shebekedusha, but on the obligation to publicize the nes. Many achronim (e.g. R' RTzvi Pesach Frank, Mikrai Kodesh #35) write that for pirsumei nisa women count as well as a men toward the minyan for this purpose. My argument is that the Rama means "no minyan" to exclude a yachid, not a group of 10 women. (And for those who are doubtful, you can be metzaref the Aruch haShulchan who paskens against the Rama and holds there is no need for minyan at all).

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