Three Mitzvot I

Usually, when a mitzva applies to both men and women, either of them can perform it. For example, either can affix the family’s mezuza or separate tithes from produce. However, there are three mitzvot that apply to men and women, where Halacha gives priority to a woman’s performance over a man’s: challa, separating the first portion of the dough; hadlakat ha-ner, lighting Shabbat and Yom Tov candles; and, in a slightly different way, nidda, observing the laws of family purity.

If a woman is on hand, she separates challa or lights Shabbat candles, even if a man would like to perform the mitzva himself.¹ While couples observe the strictures of nidda in cooperation, a woman fulfills the active observances of nidda, such as counting clean days and immersing in a mikveh, on her own.

Are these three mitzvot significant as a unit?

A mishna in Tractate Shabbat groups them together, to make an arresting point.

The mishna establishes that, together, these mitzvot are critically important, but it does so in very stark terms.

A More Positive Take

Not all references to these mitzvot frame them negatively.² The Talmud teaches that the biblical Chana³ reframes them positively. When she prays at Shilo for a son,⁴ she refers to herself as God’s “maidservant” three times, inviting the following midrashic interpretation:

Chana acknowledges the idea we saw in the mishna, that failure to fulfill these mitzvot can be fatal. Chana argues the reverse, that a woman fulfilling them should merit bringing life into the world. If transgressing these mitzvot can bring on extreme punishment, then performing them should bring on exceptional reward.

Why do these three specific mitzvot form a group?

We will explore two main explanations that appear in halachic sources. The first connects them to the Bereishit story, and the second relates to a woman’s customary domestic role.

In the Garden of Eden story, the snake sins by inciting Chava to eat the forbidden fruit, Chava sins by eating it and convincing Adam to do the same, and Adam sins by eating the fruit himself. God then curses all three of them. This narrative has inspired many different interpretations.

A midrash in Bereshit Rabba holds Chava responsible for Adam’s sin and says her culpability explains why women have priority in these mitzvot.

This midrash uses very strong imagery to describe how Chava caused Adam to become mortal when she served him the fruit – she “spilled Adam’s blood,” “degraded” him, and “snuffed out” his soul. Each of the three mitzvot can serve as a tikkun (rectification) for these interpretations of the events in Eden. Nidda concerns blood. Separating challa reminds us of how God formed Adam from a mix of earth and water and distinguished him from the rest of creation. Lighting a candle is the opposite of snuffing one out. When a woman performs each of them,she symbolically rights Chava’s wrong.⁵

Rambam takes a more practical approach to explaining women’s precedence in these mitzvot. In his discussion of candle-lighting, he writes:

For Rambam, halachot with symbolic meaning sometimes have practical origins. Each Jewish home must have candles lit for Shabbat. Women have priority performing the mitzva because women have traditionally been the ones “occupied with housework.”

Rav Hai Gaon makes a similar observation about challa.

According to Rav Hai, women’s priority in challa derives from “common custom” for women to do the baking at home.

As a group, the three mitzvot thus reflect a woman’s traditional domestic responsibilities, and at the same time form a redemptive unit for women for whom Chava is an archetype.

Each of the three mitzvot also has great independent significance. In part II of this series we take a look at each and then reconsider the group as a whole.