MARK WASHOFSKY

nor rabbinically obligated. Here, too, was an existing practice which appeared to contradict the rules of halakhah. How could women, when taking the lulay or donning tefilin, say the formal "who has commanded us" when it is obvious that they are "commanded" to perform neither of these acts? There could hardly be a greater example of berakhah I'vatalah, and the halakhic authorities of most regions either forbade the practice” or counseled that"it is better for women not to say a benediction." Again, it was the Tosafists who created halakhic arguments to support this minhag. Rabbenu Tam suggested that the unnecessary berakhah is not in fact a violation of Exodus 20.7, and he further compared the case of women to that of blind men, who according to one opinion are exempt from the commandments but still recite the blessing when they perform mitzvot.?! These arguments, as the Tosafists themselves recognized, were somewhat forced. Seeking to avoid the pitfalls of this analysis, other scholars justified the permit on the grounds that, while one normally receives a greater reward for performing an obligatory than a voluntary act, women who observe the mitzvot get some reward for doing so and are thus entitled to say the berakhah.*® This logic, too, is difficult: whatever the merit of their voluntary act, women are still not obliged to observe these mitzvot. How then may they say"who has commanded us?" This difficulty is resolved in the laconic statement of R. Moshe of Coucy, who links the benedictions over Hallel and the blessings recited by women:"When one wishes to oblige himself to a previously voluntary act, he may recite a benediction. And this is not a berakhah I'vatalah."* Implicit in this reasoning, perhaps, is the notion that an individual who waives a Toraitic exemption is thereby metzuveh, obligated on a par with all others, and falls under the category of"who has commanded us." This would mean that the individual, by personal choice, may exalt a minhag, a practice not required under the formal rules of the halakhic system, to a statue synonymous with mitzvah. At any rate, both practices- benedictions recited by women and the berakhah for Hallel on Rosh Hodesh- prevailed among Ashkenazic

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