Melava Malka - Women

QUESTION: Are women obligated to eat Melava Malka?

ANSWER: In discussing the halachos of Melava Malka, the Magen Avrohom (300:1) makes a cryptic statement to look at what he wrote at the end of Siman 291. There, the Magen Avrohom writes that in all matters of Shabbos, men and women have the same obligations. The Machatzis Hashekel therefore interprets the Magen Avrohom to be saying that women are obligated in Melava Malka as well. However, the Pri Megadim understood that the Magen Avrohom was saying that women are not obligated in Melava Malka. Only in matters of Shabbos do men and women have the same halachos, but since Melava Malka is eaten after Shabbos, only men are obligated. Still, the Pri Megadim writes that it is proper for women to eat Melava Malka, since it has great spiritual and Kabbalistic value. The Taz writes that there is a limb in the body that is only nourished from what we eat at a Melava Malka, and it is from this limb that our bodies will regenerate at the end of days.

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