Together with your households, you shall feast there before your God יהוה (12:7). The use of the phrase “your households” (literally “your houses”) immediately raises questions about who is included in this designation. Subsequent verses in this parashah (12:12, 18; 16:11, 14) consistently omit wives from lists of participating household members, but they do include other women, such as daughters and female slaves. Thus, early rabbinic interpreters considered the expression for “house” here to mean “wife” (Sifrei D’varim 64); in fact, rabbinic texts often equate the two terms (Mishnah Yoma 1:1). Rabbinic sources frequently cite a statement to this effect attributed to Rabbi Yosi, who said, “All my life I never called my wife ‘my wife’ (ishti) and my ox ‘my ox.’ Instead, my wife I called ‘my house’ and my ox ‘my field’” (BT Shabbat 118b; BT Gittin 52a, among others). Indeed, in talmudic Aramaic one of the words for “wife” is related to the word for “house.” Thus, the Rabbis understood a wife to be the essence of a household, and they attached a great deal of significance to this fundamental conviction.
The metaphoric connection between woman and house in the rabbinic imagination led to further elaborations, such as references to the interior organs of the woman’s body as various rooms. For example, “the sages made a simile (mashal mash’lu) with regard to the woman: the chamber, the antechamber, and the upper chamber” (Mishnah Niddah 2:5). At times, women’s sexual organs are referred to as doors, hinges, and even keys (BT B’chorot 45a).
You shall consecrate to your God יהוה all male firstlings (15:19). The repeated biblical insistence that the first-born be consecrated led to an entire mishnaic tractate, B’chorot, which is devoted to the legal aspects of this topic. Among many other concerns, Mishnah B’chorot inquires as to what constitutes the status of a first-born animal. Does this include, for instance, an animal that emerged from “its mother’s side,” presumably by Caesarean birth? The answer is that such a birth does not bestow first-born status on the animal since Numbers 18:15 defines the first-born as literally what “opens the womb.” Moreover, biblical law explicitly requires a “male” first-born. Thus, any sexual ambiguity, whether a lack or a doubling of external sexual organs, constitutes a blemish that disqualifies an animal from sacrificial status as a first-born (Mishnah B’chorot 6:12).
You shall rejoice in your festival (16:14). According to the Babylonian Talmud, this verse teaches that a husband is obligated to make his wife and children rejoice as part of the holiday observance. A Babylonian sage suggests that wives are made joyous with new clothes; he goes on to claim that in Babylonia women prefer colorful garments, while women in the Land of Israel prefer bleached clothes made from linen (BT P’sachim 109a). Another rabbinic tradition based on this verse prohibits weddings during the intermediary days of Passover or Sukkot, since “one should not mix up one joy with another” (BT Mo’ed Katan 8b).
Three times a year…all your males shall appear before your God יהוה (16:16). The emphasis on “males” in the concluding verses of the parashah is noteworthy, especially since earlier statements imply that the entire extended household, including daughters and female slaves, was obligated to participate in festival observances. The exclusion of women in this verse appears to contradict the preceding passages. The Rabbis solved this contradiction by subdividing the responsibilities of rejoicing (v. 14) into various components. Accordingly, women and people with sexual ambiguities, such as the hermaphrodite and the non-sexed person, are said to be exempt from the commandment of appearing before God (Mishnah Chagigah 1:1), since the biblical verse specifies that males are to do this. “Appearance” (r’iah) entails both presence in the Temple and offering a sacrifice, since “they shall not appear before יהוה empty-handed” (16:16). Talmudic discussions (BT Chagigah 4b) suggest that the exemption of women from this particular obligation makes sense since bringing a sacrifice in this instance is a time-bound commandment (festival observances take place three times a year on specific days on the calendar). According to an early rabbinic principle, women are exempt from commandments that must be performed at fixed times (Mishnah Kiddushin 1:7). However, the responsibility to rejoice applies to everyone (Tosefta Chagigah 1:4 and BT Chagigah 6b); thus, in that aspect of the festival celebration, women and men are equally obligated.
—Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert