[Avodah] Does Bat Mitsva girl continue counting during Sefira

Saul Mashbaum via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Mon May 30 05:25:35 PDT 2016


R. Aryeh Frimer posits that a girl who becomes  Bat Mizva during
sefira  should not continue counting with a bracha after becoming bat
mitzva, since, unlike a boy, she had no mitzva to count as a minor
because of chinuch.
I find this very counterintuitive; on the contrary, it seems to me
that a girl has more reason to continue counting with a bracha than a
boy.
A boy upon becoming bar-mitzva during sefira goes from a status of
non-chiyuv (obligation) to chiyuv; one may question whether what he
counted in a state of non-chiyuv "counts" when he enters a state of
chiyuv. On this point, some poskim say that there was a chiyuv all
along, at least rabbinically, so no fundamental change took place;
some disagree. A girl, on the other hand, has no chiyuv either before
or after her bar mitzva; in this respect, nothing changed at all when
she became bat mitzva. Thus, if the girl has been making a bracha on
sefira throughout the sefira period, in keeping with Ashkenazi
practice, it seems to me that she should continue to make a bracha on
sefira after becoming bat mitzva.

Saul Mashbaum



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