Reply To: Women and Kiddush Levana

I initially expressed surprise at kol kvoda being a source for the minhag for women not to say Kiddush levana. While the Chasam Sofer would say that it is not, I could hear a different acharon going further and saying that it is. But basically I objected to kol kovoda being the sole explanation. And I still say that it can’t be. Of course women go outdoors all the time to do mitzvos. It isn’t really that, it’s a lack of tznius for a women to attend a male dominated gathering. That is not usually the context for kol kvoda. The gemora uses that to say that women don’t usually go collecting by knocking on doors. Here if we follow the way the Chasam Sofer used the sevora, since Kiddush levanah was usually said by men outdoors in a gathering at night, it is a lack of tznius for women to attend that gathering. There is nothing wrong per se for a woman to go outside to do a mitzvah. So I would still say that I was right in my initial assumption and that DaasYochid agrees with me as he himself states “It’s not just walking outside, it’s a gathering.” Kol kavoda applies in non gathering situations as well. So it’s a little misnomer to use that expression. Agav the Chasam Sofer did not use the exact expression kol kavoda bas melech pnimis because like I said it would not have been applicable. That it used for indoors as opposed to outdoors. Nothing to do with a gathering. But the Chasam Sofer does say kol koavoda. So perhaps the acharon took a poetic license and used that expression for a situation not generally referred to. We would have to find the acharon that said the sevora and see if that really is what he meant.