[Avodah] Havdalah On Wine Motza'ei Shabbos Chazon

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

Rav Elyashiv was quoted as saying that if there is no boy to drink the wine of Havdala during the nine days, do not give it to a girl.

R' Zev Sero explained:

> Presumably because it's a safek whether women are obligated in
> havdalah, which is why a woman can't be motzi a man.  If women are
> exempt, then girls are not b'not chinuch, and if she drinks it
> then nobody is yotzei, even if one holds that a katan ben chinuch
> is enough a part of the mitzvah to be motzi people by drinking it.

I suspect this is in error.

Let's back up a minute, and ask why anyone needs to drink the wine at all? The answer has nothing to do with Havdala, but is because of the Hagafen. And this is why the Mishneh Brurah (if I recall correctly) stipulates that the boy needs to be too young for chinuch of aveilus on Yerushalayim (because otherwise we must *not* give him the wine), yet he does need to be old enough for chinuch on Brachos (because otherwise, giving him the wine doesn't solve any problems).

Therefore, I suspect that Rav Elyashiv's reasoning has to do with the practice of women to specifically avoid drinking the havdala wine. (A lengthy article on this practice (and about women and havdala in general), by R' Ari Zivotofsky, can be found at www.hakirah.org/Vol%2010%20Zivotofsky.pdf)

Akiva Miller

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