exemptions to reciting Shema....(daf 20)

in today's daf, we learn that women (and slaves and minors) are exempt from reciting shema and wearing tefillin, because these are time-bound mitzvot that women couldn't necessarily be aksed to engage in.

rather than give you a whole opinion on this (being a woman with a watch, and all), i leave you this link to a very interesting entry in a blog:

http://onthefringe_jewishblog.blogspot.com/2005/03/nothing-to-help-us-pray-women-and.html (and I love her title...."on the fringe")

AND
women are still obligated to affix a mezuzah (so if a woman lives alone, she has to have one up on her house) and to say birkat hamazon after eating....so there are some things to which women are obligated. Some people say that the exemption for women doesn't mean that they can't do the things, but others say that if you're going to take on the responsiblity, then you need to go "whole hog" (ha ha) and take on all the responsibilities. My understanding is that this is the rationale of the Conservative movement when they agreed to ordain women -- they required that women "become men" in their obligations, i.e. they're required to lay tefillin, and all other obligations that are incumbent upon men; it's somewhat controversial that they couldn't just accept women as women and find a halachic way for women to fulfill the role of rabbi... where there's a will, there's a halachic way. But that's not how they saw it.

More tomorrow.