Kiddush Levana

Kiddush levana is at its core a beracha, which opens in praise of God’s creation and the workings of the natural world and concludes with a paean to renewal, as signified by the moon. We recite it when the moon is visible, ideally outdoors, in the first half of the Jewish month– at least three days after the new moon. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 42a) likens reciting it in its time to receiving the Divine presence (Shechina), and notes that the women of Bavel would recite the concluding line of the beracha “Baruch ata Hashem, mechadesh chodashim” “Blessed are You, God, Who renews the months.”

In his comments to that passage, Meiri (13th-14th c. Provence) notes that women who cannot recite the full beracha recite only that last line. The implication is that women otherwise recite the full beracha as men do.

By the 16th century in Poland, however, Shelah (Ot Kuf) teaches that women do not recite kiddush levana out of embarrassment, because of a kabbalistic idea that Chava caused the diminishing of the moon. Minchat Yitzchak (8:15) explains that though the moon was diminished on the fourth day of creation and Chava did not exist until the sixth day, God’s awareness of the future sin played a part in the diminishing. On the other hand, Beni Ish Chai (Rav Pe'alim OC 4:34) writes that, according to his understanding of kabbala, Shelah's rationale does not prevent women from reciting kiddush levana.

In the 17th century, Magen Avraham (426 beginning; 296:11) cites Shelah. He also suggests that kiddush levana is a positive time-bound commandment from which women are exempt, and that women do not perform positive time-bound commandments voluntarily when there is no mitzva action other than reciting the beracha.

Aruch Ha-shulchan (426:14) agrees that kiddush levana is time-bound, and that women do not typically say it, but he raises no objection to women reciting it voluntarily.

Rav Shlomo Kluger (Ha-elef Lecha Shlomo 193) suggests that kiddush levana is not entirely time bound, because the timing depends primarily on a natural phenomenon rather than on a specific date. He writes that specifically the final line, the one that women of Talmudic times recited, is not time bound.

Where does this leave us? Women generally rely on the longstanding custom not to recite kiddush levana. Even a woman following the widespread view that kiddush levana is time bound–a has grounds to recite the final beracha. If a woman does not have a specific custom not to say it and she generally does recite berachot on voluntary mitzva observance, then there is a strong halachic basis to allow for her reciting the full beracha.

As above, the essential part of kiddush levana is the beracha, though there are additional statements and verses as printed in the siddur. A woman choosing to recite kiddush levana, in part or in full, might find it easiest to do so on her own, or in the company of family members or of other women. How a woman who has attended minyan would recite kiddush levana depends on the context and is best discussed with the minyan's halachic authority. Generally speaking, in this type of situation, a mechitza is not obligatory, just a little distance from the men. A woman may skip the individual greetings or direct them to other women, depending on the situation.

Chodesh tov!

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