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According to this answer, three women who have eaten together may make a zimmun. The usual formulation of the zimmun, "רבותי נברך", does not make sense for women. What formulation should women use when making a zimmun?

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  • What's wrong with rabbotai?
    – Double AA
    Mar 5, 2013 at 17:09
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    I thought the formulation of zimmun was נברך שאכלנו משלו.
    – Double AA
    Mar 5, 2013 at 17:23
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    How about הב לן ונברך (P'sachim 103b, cf. Chullin 86b).
    – Fred
    Mar 5, 2013 at 19:11
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    ...or "Señoras bendigamos", for that matter.
    – Fred
    Mar 5, 2013 at 19:27

2 Answers 2

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Dan's answer addresses the salutation.

The invitation to bless, however, might also do well to be adjusted. While in modern Hebrew (and, indeed, for a very long time, historically) the feminine, plural, first person call to bless is the same as the masculine (נברך), a more archaic form of the word (and thus, perhaps, a more correspondingly appropriate feminine equivalent to the standard men's Zimmun) is נברכנה.

I would suggest that an appropriate formulation (though by no means the only valid formulation) would be גברותי נברכנה.

That's assuming you stick with Hebrew, of course.

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  • What about נברכנה שאכלנו משלו?
    – Double AA
    Apr 21, 2015 at 18:53
  • @DoubleAA, that would be valid. I think the question, perhaps unnecessarily, is trying to stick with the "standard" formulation for the introductory line and call to bless, and just looking for a tweak. But feel free to post your own answer.
    – Seth J
    Apr 21, 2015 at 20:12
  • (@DoubleAA forgive me if I assumed incorrectly that you mean to dispense with "רבותי נברך", as in your comment on the question.)
    – Seth J
    Apr 21, 2015 at 20:13
  • I don't mean to dispense with it or not, just to ask (the only interesting question available which is) about the only halachicly meaningful line in the Zimmun. Can/should/does it get adjusted for gender?
    – Double AA
    Apr 21, 2015 at 23:05
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Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky, in his article on women's zimmun (published in the OU's Jewish Action Magazine, Fall 5760/1999 issue (link)), suggests gevirotai or chaverotai.

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