Do Women Have the Obligation to Hear the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah?

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Rosh Hashanah marks the new year and the day of judgment for the whole world. In the Chumash, the entire day is summarized as “a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts”¹. Notably, the key feature of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, considered a Torah commandment for men. For women, however, hearing the shofar is not m’dOraita, a Torah obligation, in fact it is a custom that the Jewish women took upon themselves generations ago and, as such, has become binding. Even as a binding custom, however, considerations are made regarding how hard a woman has to try to hear the shofar, if she should recite a bracha over it, and whether or not a woman may blow the shofar for other women.

The Mishna in Kiddushin² says that women are exempt from positive, time-bound mitzvot and the Gemara³ specifies that one of these mitzvot is hearing the shofar. With that said, it is clear from Chazal that women have been active voluntary participants in this mitzvah for centuries. The Maharil⁴, a Rav active in 14th-century Mainz, writes that the women of his community have obligated themselves in hearing shofar, and as such should go to great lengths to ensure that their children are taken care of at home and other domestic needs are dealt with before or after shofar, so that women can attend uninterrupted. The Ben Ish Chai⁵, a Sephardi Rav active in late 19th-century Iraq, even goes so far as to say that a woman requires hatarat nedarim if she will not be able to hear shofar.

By the time of the Shulchan Aruch, it was clear that women were accustomed to hearing shofar, and there is a machloket between Rav Yosef Caro and the Rema as to whether women should recite the bracha for shofar. The Shulchan Aruch⁶ rules that women should not recite the bracha, and even that a man should not recite it on a women’s behalf. His reasoning is that women are not obligated in shofar, so while they are welcome to fulfill it voluntarily, and even to blow shofar for themselves if they wish, they should not recite a bracha. The Rema⁷ rules that it is common practice for women to recite brachot on mitzvot that they are fulfilling voluntarily (for instance, lulav), and thus they may recite a bracha on shofar.

The ideal solution to the above disagreement is that a man blows shofar in order to fulfill his own obligation, or that there is a man present among the women who needs to hear shofar, and he can recite the bracha. Without this setup, however, the common practice is to go like the Rema and have a woman recite the bracha.

The reason we may hear shofar is because the mitzvah for men is from the Torah, and a Torah commandment supersedes a rabbinic one. However, women do not have a Torah obligation in shofar, so it stands to reason that they should not be allowed to blow shofar on Yom Tov in compliance with the rabbinic prohibition.

When it comes to women blowing shofar either for themselves or for other women, there is an interesting halachic discussion, albeit with relatively straightforward rulings. The question is based on the fact that it is rabbinically prohibited to blow shofar on a Yom Tov, as it can be considered a melacha, as well as other considerations like carrying in the public domain. The reason we may hear shofar is because the mitzvah for men is from the Torah, and a Torah commandment supersedes a rabbinic one. However, women do not have a Torah obligation in shofar, so it stands to reason that they should not be allowed to blow shofar on Yom Tov in compliance with the rabbinic prohibition. This opinion is upheld by the Sha’agat Aryeh⁸.

However, it is clear from the Gemara⁹ that, in practice, women may still blow shofar. The Shulchan Aruch¹⁰ also rules that women may blow shofar even though the practice is voluntary. The criteria for discharging a mitzvah for others is “one who is not himself obligated in the matter cannot discharge the obligation of the masses…”¹¹. Thus, the blower can only fulfill the mitzvah for the hearer if the hearer has an equal or lesser obligation in the mitzvah. As such, women may blow for other women and themselves, but not for men (whose obligation is stronger).

An interesting pattern throughout the halachic discourse of women and shofar is the extent to which the rabbis (and communities) have gone to ensure that women may participate. There is no source that maintains that since women voluntarily fulfill the mitzvah that the responsibility is solely theirs to maintain that commitment. Poskim have discussed how a new mother or sick woman may fulfill shofar as best as possible, how important it is that baalei tokea go to multiple homes to allow women to hear shofar, and what the best and fairest course of action is for women who will not be able to fulfill shofar in a given year, in a way that compromises neither the gravity of the commitment, nor the dignity of the woman.

As we hear the shofar this year, may we merit a year of good and favorable judgment, and only revealed good for the year ahead!