From the Mikdash Mailbag - Women and the Korban Pesach Every spring Jews of both genders, and not only members of the fair sex, ask me about women and their connection to the Korban Pesach and the Chavurot. Though we have touched on this subject before, it merits being considered again. This is in reply to Judy from Har Nof, Rae, Zahava from NY, and Moshe from Beit Shemesh. Pesach was the family festival par excellence; wives joined their husbands and daughters their fathers and brothers. Winding their way through the verdant flower-covered hills to the Holy City, the entire family ascended to Yerushalayim together. "The rejoicing (during the Shalosh Regalim) applied both to men and women" (Chagigah 6b). Once they were in a state of purity and reposing "not distant" from Jerusalem, all circumcised Jewish males above the age of 13 and all women and girls above the age of 12 were required to join a "Pesach Chavura". (A Chavura is usually made up of extended families, neighbors and friends, who united to offer and eat the Korban Pesach together as a group.) The Gemara relates how "a man once said to his children, 'I am slaughtering the Korban Pesach on behalf of whichever of you (family members) goes (first) to Jerusalem' and the daughters outdistanced the sons! The daughters were found to be enthusiastic (in their desire to fulfill the Mitzva), the sons were apathetic" (Pesachim 89a). If they chose, groups of women could form their own Chavurot (Hil. Korban Pesach 2:4). Interestingly enough (at least theoretically), a woman could slaughter her own Korban Pesach. The Gemara (Kidushin 52b) quotes Sumchus, a student of the Tanna R. Meir. "If a man - or more correctly, a Kohein - betrothed a woman with his portion of sacrificial meat, whether it be Kodshei Kodashim (e.g. Chatat meat) or… he has not betrothed her." ("This sacrificial meat was given to the Kohanim only for eating, and for nothing else", therefore, the attempted Kidushin does not take effect [Rambam, Hilchot Ishut 5:5]). Kodshei Kodashim - the meat of sacrifices of a higher level of sanctity - could not be removed from the Azara for any reason.Consequently, for a Kohein even to consider betrothing a woman with such meat, it had to be conceivable that she could physically be present in the Azara when he did so. [However, R. Yosi suggests that perhaps she authorized a messenger to receive her Kidushin in the Azara on her behalf.]) Upon hearing Sumchus' remark, R. Yehuda exclaimed, "How would a woman come to be in the Azara?" This exclamation of R. Yehuda provoked Rashi to comment, "Women could not enter (the Azara) as we learned in… the first chapter of Mishna Keilim" (Kidushin 52b). One of the Ba'alei Tosafot challenged Rashi. "Kuntrus' (i.e. Rashi's) statement that 'women could not enter the Azara as we have learned in the first chapter of Keilim' is inaccurate. We have not found anywhere that women were forbidden to enter the Azara. What we actually learn in the first chapter of Keilim (Mishna 8) is, "The (area of the) Cheil (ramparts which surrounded the walled Mikdash complex including the Ezrat Nashim and the Azara) is holier (than the Temple Mount), because non-Jews and those who are Tem'ei Meit (ritual impurity acquired by coming into contact with a corpse) may not enter therein. The Ezrat Nashim is even more holy because no one who has immersed that very day (because of ritual impurity) may enter therein The Ezrat Yisrael, the Court of the Israelites, is even holier because no one whose atonement is incomplete (Mechusar Kapara) may enter therein. …The Ezrat Kohanim is yet more holy, for Israelites could not enter there" unless they had a valid reason, i.e. standing next to their Korbanot, bringing Bikurim, etc. The Ba'al Tosafot concludes, "Therefore, we cannot derive (from this Mishna) that women were not permitted to enter the Azara. We learned in Zevachim 31b that women were permitted to slaughter their sacrificial animals, and, if this is indeed so, then they certainly were permitted to enter the Azara (where the slaughtering of sacrificial animals took place)." Rambam encapsulates the Halachot ordained in the Mishna. Paraphrasing the Mishna in Keilim, Rambam excludes the Nida (menstruant, Vayikra 15:19-24), the Yoledet (parturient, Vayikra 12) and the Zava (a woman who experiences abnormal vaginal blood flow, Vayikra 15:25-29) from the Temple Mount. Women, who did not fall into any of these categories were not excluded and, if they were in a state of ritual purity, freely entered the Ezrat Nashim (Hilchot Bi'at Hamikdash 3:2-7 and in Hil. Beit Habechira 7:15-18). Josephus observes that, "those (men) who were pure came in (to the Ezrat Nashim) together with their wives" (Antiquities 15:11). The Chidushei Harashash, (R. Shmuel Strashun of Vilna, 1794-1872) writes that, theoretically, "a woman could stand outside the Azara and slaughter her sacrificial animal with a long knife. Nevertheless, a woman must stand next to her sacrificial animal and therefore she may enter the Azara just like a man" (Kidushin 52b). Tif'eret Yisrael (Midot 2:6) explains, "Women must enter the Azara to stand next to their Korban. As we have learned (Ta'anit 27a), 'how can a person bring a Korban and not (be permitted to) stand next to it?'" Consequently, a woman could immerse in a Mikveh near the Sha'ar HaNashim, enter the Azara, slaughter her Korban Pesach, and eat it together with a Chavura made up only of women. The women entered the Azara through Sha'ar HaNashim, the "Women's Gate" on the northern side of the Azara located between the Sha'ar HaKorban and the Beit HaMokeid. Despite the fact that the Mishna states that all the entrances leading into the Azara were the same size (Midot 2:3), Tif'eret Yisrael (ibid. 2:6) speculates that Sha'ar Hanashim may indeed have been smaller, since "it was not so common" for women to bring Korbanot. "No one may enter the Azara for Avoda (or for any other reason) even if he was pure until he has immersed" (Yoma 3:3). Before entering the Azara, men immersed in Mikva'ot located in the Lishkat HaMetzora'im (Chamber of Lepers) situated in the northwestern corner of the Ezrat Nashim. Just as the men immersed in Mikva'ot adjacent to the Nicanor Gate before entering the Azara, it is likely that the women immersed in Mikva'ot situated in close proximity to the Sha'ar Hanashim before they entered the Azara. To A.C. - Question: Could the Korban Pesach be offered at a Bamat Yachid (a "private altar")? To answer, I will quote the Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzva 487. "Even at a time when we were permitted to build Bamot, we could only sacrifice the Korban Pesach at the Bamat Rabim (public altar) located in the courtyard of the (wilderness) Mishkan, (and later, in Shilo and the two Batei Mikdash). Therefore, it is written, 'You shall not sacrifice the Pesach within any of your gates'. Those of blessed memory said, (referring to the time when Bamot were permitted), 'All individual Korbanot' may be offered on a Bamah Ketanah (i.e. Bamat Yachid), with the exception of the Korban Pesach "so to inculcate in our souls the preciousness of the Mitzva." Catriel's book in progress: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrim’s Perspective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service [The
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