Study Kiddushin folio 34B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
איצטריך, סלקא דעתך אמינא: נילף ״חמשה עשר״ ״חמשה עשר״ מחג המצות, מה להלן נשים חייבות – אף כאן נשים חייבות, צריכא.
It is necessary to state this verse for another reason, as it might enter your mind to say: Derive a verbal analogy with regard to Sukkot, where the verse states: “On the 15th day of this 7th month is the festival of Sukkot” (Leviticus 23:34), from Passover, where the verse states: “And on the 15th day of the same month is the festival of Passover” (Leviticus 23:6). One would then say that just as there women are obligated to eat matza on the first night of Passover, despite the fact that it is a time-bound mitzva, so too here, with regard to the mitzva of residing in the sukka, women are obligated. Therefore it was necessary for the verse to use the term “the homeborn” to exclude women from the obligation to reside in a sukka.
והרי ראיה, דמצות עשה שהזמן גרמה, וטעמא דכתב רחמנא ״זכורך״ – להוציא הנשים, הא לאו הכי נשים חייבות!
The Talmud further asks: But there is the mitzva of appearance, i.e., the obligation to bring a burnt-offering on pilgrimage Festivals, which is a positive, time-bound mitzva. And the reason women are exempt from this obligation is that God writes, with regard to this mitzva: “3 times in the year all of your males should appear before YHWH God” (Exodus 23:17), which serves to exclude women. It may be derived from here that if that were not so, women would be obligated. This indicates that women are not necessarily exempt from every positive, time-bound mitzva.
The Talmud answers: It was necessary for the verse to teach the halakha in this case as well, as it might enter your mind to say: Derive a verbal analogy with regard to appearance, where the verse states: 3 times in the year all of your males should appear,” from the appearance stated with regard to the mitzva of assembly, about which the verse states: “When all of Israel come to appear before YHWH your God” (Deuteronomy 31:11). One would then say that just as women are obligated in the mitzva of assembly, so too they should be obligated to appear on a pilgrimage Festival. It is therefore necessary for the Torah to state explicitly that women are exempt from the mitzva of appearance on a pilgrimage Festival.