Women and Succah (and Havdalah)
Q: I have a question concerning Sukkot and those who are allowed to attend and enter the Sukkah. Mishnah Sukkah 2:8 says, “Women, slaves, and minors are exempt from the mitzva of sukkah.”
But Deuteronomy 16:13-14 says, “After the ingathering from your threshing floor and your vat, you shall hold the Feast of Booths for seven days. You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the family of the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities.”
Did the Rabbis and Sages decide to exempt those people mentioned from observing the mitzvah of being in the Sukkah? Thanks for your understanding and your time.
A: Thanks for your question. Generally speaking, women are not obligated in positive, time-bound mitzvos. This includes such things as sitting in a succah and waving the lulav and esrog. When we say that women are exempt from these mitzvos, that doesn't mean they're prohibited, just that they're not obligated to do so. So women are allowed to sit in the succah, they just don't have to. (This is all at the Biblical level; the Rabbis couldn't exempt them if the Torah obligated them.)
The obligation to rejoice on the holiday, however, is a completely separate mitzvah. Everyone should rejoice on the holiday, including women, children and servants (in the time when there were servants), even though these people don't have to eat in a succah if they don't want to.
I hope this helps!
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Q. I am a divorced woman. What is the correct way for me to observe Havdallah? I have been told that women are not obligated to light the Havdallah candle. Is this true?
A. Thanks for your question. There are opinions that women are not obligated in havdalah generally or in the candle specifically, but we don't act according to those opinions. If a woman (or women) live alone, they should recite havdalah for themselves, the same as a man would. You can read more about that here.
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