Tefilah: Waking Up Jewish

Understanding the Mitzva of Saying 100 Blessings Each Day

Women of Valor

Between running and maintaining a household, taking care of children and a husband, preparing meals, working and performing the myriad other essential daily tasks, a woman cannot always find the time to recite all one hundred blessings. Will she be held accountable for falling short of this number?

The Beis Yosef includes the blessings on talis and tefillin in the list of one hundred blessings. Since these and many of the other blessings that he mentions are not recited by women, it is unlikely that our Sages obligated them in this mitzvah (Responsa Shevet Halevi 5:23). Rav Shlomo Zalman adds that even though women could theoretically augment the number of blessings by sampling different foods throughout the course of the day, since this is not possible on Yom Kippur or other fast days, women are exempt during a non-fast day (Halichos Shlomo 22 [44]).

Although a woman may not be able to fulfill the technical aspects of reciting one hundred blessings, the underlying principle of this mitzvah – to develop a steady relationship with Hashem – is still within her reach, and she can achieve this goal through other means.

Text Copyright © 2008 by Rabbi Daniel Travis and Torah.org