Halakhah From Women

There is famous Magen Avraham (263:12) in which he cites R. Yehoshua Falk in his Derishah who quotes his mother as an halakhic source. The question is whether one should light holiday candles after reciting the blessing or before. His mother said that the blessing comes first and then the candle lighting. The Magen Avraham disagrees with this and subsequent commentators debate the subject at length. This is a most fascinating example of the use of a woman in the transmission of halakhah.

Another rabbinic authority who inquired from women about practice was R. Yitzhak of Dampierre, the famous Ri Ha-Zaken, Ri Ba'al Ha-Tosafos. He was a devoted student and nephew of Rabbeinu Tam. After they parted ways and moved to different cities, the Ri would frequently write to and visit Rabbeinu Tam to learn from him. He also asked the women who had lived in Rabbeinu Tam's house how he had ruled on certain matters. Interestingly, Ri would expend all of this effort to find out Rabbeinu Tam's position and would still sometimes disagree with him on those very rulings.

For example, Tosafos (Shabbos 111b) records that Ri "heard from the women" that Rabbeinu Tam allowed a woman upon whom a baby urinated to wash her hands and then dry them on her clothes, thereby cleaning them a little (Ri dissented, however).

Teshuvos Maimoniyos (printed in the back of Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Ma'akhalos Assuros, no. 5) relates that the Ri asked Rabbeinu Tam's widow how she used to bake in her house and he understood that as being Rabbeinu Tam's ruling on the matter.

It is certainly important that these were all cases of practice and the women were only testifying to what they did. Nevertheless, it is still interesting.