[Avodah] Kiddush Levanah on Motzoei Yom Kippur

[Zev Sero]

Yitzchok Levine wrote:
> Many have the custom of making Kiddush Levanah on Motzoei Yom Kippur 
> right after Maariv. However, this means that the wives of the men 
> making Kiddush Levanah have to wait longer before they can break 
> their fast, because they have to wait for their husbands to return 
> home and make Havdalah before they can eat.

Why can't they make their own havdalah?  Whether women are obligated
in havdalah or not, mimah nafshach they are yotze.  Or are you
concerned about bracha levatalah, if it should turn out that they
are not obligated?



> Along the same lines, I have noted that some women stay in shul after 
> Neilah and daven Maariv. This means a delay in preparing the meal 
> after the end of Yom Kippur. Again, is it really proper to perform 
> this mitzvah at the "expense" of others who may well be feeling weak 
> from fasting?

At whose expense?  If the wife is at shul, and so is the husband,
then they will go home together, at a time and pace that is mutually
convenient.  And surely whoever is at home with the kids can feed them.

PS: My shul always has a "havdalah" after maariv, so everyone can
stay for maariv, nobody has to go home hungry, and kiddush levana
can be said besimcha, *after* breaking the fast.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas