Les femmes et les mineurs ne sont pas comptés dans un zimun. [Uniquement les mineurs qui ne savent pas à qui ils bénissent; mais un mineur qui sait est compté dans un zimun. Et il y a certains de nos rabbins qui disent n'avoir dit cela ("un mineur qui sait, etc.") qu'à l'égard d'un garçon de treize ans et un jour, qui n'a pas encore développé deux poils (pubiens), tel un garçon appelé "katan poreach" (voir Berachoth 47b); mais un jeune garçon n'est pas compté pour un zimun même s'il sait à qui il bénit. Et dans Yerushalmi, ils déclarent comme halakha qu'un mineur n'est pas du tout compté pour un zimun, jusqu'à ce qu'il devienne adulte (c'est-à-dire treize) et montre deux cheveux. Les femmes forment un zimun pour elles-mêmes et des esclaves pour elles-mêmes, mais pas ensemble, à cause de (l'appréhension de) la promiscuité.] Quelle est la quantité (minimale) (de nourriture) requise pour un zimun? Une taille olive. [Ceci est la halakha, et non comme le dit R. Yehudah.] R. Yehudah dit: Une taille d'oeuf.
Bartenura on Mishnah Berakhot
וקטנים אין מזמנין עליהם – Especially small children who do not know to Whom they are reciting a blessing (ברכת המזון ) a minor who knows to Whom He is reciting a blessing, they may invite him to join [in the group recitation of ברכת המזון], and there is something remarkable that says that we are not speaking about a minor who knows to Whom they are reciting the blessing that we invite him to join [in the group recitation of ברכת המזון] but rather with a child who is thirteen years of age plus one day, who has not brought forth two pubic hairs (which demonstrate his having attained adulthood), and he is called a “blossoming minor” but younger than this, we do not invite him to join [in the group recitation of ברכת המזון] , even if he knows to Whom we are reciting this blessing. And in the Jerusalem Talmud, they bring the Practical Halakha, that we don’t invite the Minor at all, until he grows up and brings forth two pubic hairs. And women invite other [women] to recite ברכת המזון as a group for themselves and slaves invite other [slaves] to recite ברכת המזוןas a group for themselves., but women are not [invited] with slaves because of licentiousness [that would ensue].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
Introduction
This mishnah continues the topic of yesterday’s mishnah, when is a “zimun,” an invitation to Birkat Hamazon, recited.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
Women, children and slaves they do not recite an invitation over them. The invitation to Birkat Hamazon is only recited for adult, free men. In rabbinic thinking, as in the thinking of most of their contemporaries, only adult free men count as full “citizens” in the Greco-Roman sense of the word. Only they are full members of society and hence a formal meal is constituted by their presence and not by the presence of women, children and slaves.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
How much [must one have eaten] in order for them to recite an invitation? As much as an olive. Rabbi Judah says: as much as an egg. According to the first opinion, to count in a zimun one need only an olive’s worth of food. This accords with the opinion in yesterday’s mishnah, that if the attendant (not a slave) eats an olive’s worth of food, he may join in the zimun. In contrast, Rabbi Judah sets a higher threshold of an egg’s worth. One who eats less than an egg is not required to recite Birkat Hamazon and does not participate in a zimun.
