<HTML>I think the fact that only one person commented that girls/women in his
school regularly say the zimmun begs "darsheni" with regard to girls
yeshivah education. Everyone agrees that three women can make a zimmun
--it's even included in contemporary halakhic guides for women, if the
Shulhan Arukh isn't authoritative enough-- and some (like the Gr"a) hold
that it's required. Why shouldn't educators who encourage their girls to
join the family in the sukka (a mitzvah which from which all agree she is
exempt) encourage girls in junior high school to form a zimmun? The
reason for Hazal not requiring it of women as they did of men is that
they feared few women would know how to do it. Should girls/women who
have a solid Jewish education opt for an exemption granted on the basis
of their assumed ignorance? Should their teachers so encourage them?
The issue is much more than zimmun. If we encourage them to "bench
lulav," why should we not encourage them to hold a lulav in shul during
Hallel? How do we pick and choose among all the optional mitzvot?
Should ma'ariv be part of evening programs in a girls yeshivah? We
encourage girls to attend shul Shabbat morning, but not minha and se'uda
shelishit. Is this a thought-out position?</HTML>
