Q&A: Women's Obligation in Reciting Shema / Reciting Shema Without the Amidah Prayer
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This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Women's Obligation in Reciting Shema / Reciting Shema Without the Amidah Prayer
Question
Hello Rabbi,
- Are women obligated on a Torah level, or rabbinically, or at all, to recite Shema twice a day like men?
- In a pressing situation, when it is clear that it will not be possible to pray the Amidah as well, may one say only Shema—the three paragraphs? Is the law here different for women and men?
Thank you!
Answer
- In the Mishnah, Berakhot 20a, it says that women are exempt, and that is what all the halakhic decisors wrote as well. However, the author of Ohel Moed wrote that they are obligated to recite the first verse, in order to accept the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven. The Beit Yosef in section 70 cited this, but it is a lone opinion. And in the Shulchan Arukh there he wrote that, as a matter of Jewish law, they are exempt, but it is proper for them to recite the first verse. Simply put, this is not an obligation, but something proper to do.
- I did not understand the question. If you cannot pray, why shouldn't you recite Shema?