Q&A: Women’s Obligation in Ma’ariv and Prayer with a Minyan
Women’s Obligation in Ma’ariv and Prayer with a Minyan
Question
Hello Rabbi,
According to those who hold that women are obligated in prayer:
A. Are they also obligated in Ma’ariv? I tried to find sources that discuss this, but the earliest source I found is the statement of the Magen Avraham in siman 299, סעיף 10:
Nevertheless, most of them did not have the practice of praying on Saturday night, and it is possible to say that since the Ma’ariv prayer is optional, and only became like an obligation because people accepted it upon themselves, women did not accept it upon themselves on Saturday night.
But I did not find any reason to think this, as if he determined it on his own.
B. Regarding the obligation of praying with a minyan: are they obligated like men? I have seen those who hold (to the best of my memory, contemporary rabbis) that the Sages instituted prayer with a minyan only for men, but here too I did not find any reason to think this. If their obligation in prayer is like that of men, why should there be a distinction regarding the obligation of praying with a minyan?
Answer
A. I did not understand the question. What source are you expecting to find? After all, Ma’ariv is optional, and the reason we pray it is because we accepted it upon ourselves. So this is a factual question: did women also accept it upon themselves or not? The Magen Avraham writes that factually we see that they did not accept it upon themselves, and that is that.
B. Even regarding men, it is not clear whether there is an obligation to pray with a minyan. Simply reading the Talmud and the medieval authorities, it appears that this is only an enhancement (as is known, the Shulchan Arukh itself does not mention it, though in one place there is a hint as if it is in fact an obligation). There is no reason to assume that women do not share in this enhancement. But as an obligation, it seems there is none even for men.
Discussion on Answer
A. Why do you need an earlier source? Everyone knows that women do not pray it, and that’s it. The Magen Avraham only wrote what everyone knows.
The fact that they did not pray all the prayers neither adds nor subtracts anything. Even if they really were negligent regarding Shacharit and Minchah, still, in practice, if they did not pray Ma’ariv then clearly they did not accept Ma’ariv upon themselves, and therefore they are exempt from it as a matter of law.
My question is at what stage they stopped (or never started) praying Ma’ariv. The fact that they were “negligent” regarding Shacharit and Minchah shows that there was a break from the original ruling, so it is not impossible that they did in fact accept Ma’ariv upon themselves, but were not praying Ma’ariv in the time of the Magen Avraham because they were “negligent.”
In other words, if it is so obvious, why is the Magen Avraham the first one to say it?
We’ve exhausted the point.
A. A parallel source showing that men did accept it upon themselves (the Talmud, I assume). That is, if this is indeed a factual question, then I would have expected earlier testimony than the Magen Avraham. I do not think the testimony of the Magen Avraham can be accepted as conclusive, since from his words it appears that in his time they did not really pray the other prayers either (and that contradicts the halakhic ruling, at least as I understand it. If so, then why should that not also contradict the obligation of Ma’ariv?).
Thank you.