Q. My daughter wants to know if she is obligated like men to make 100 Brachos per day. Even though she davens Shacharis and Mincha daily, she does not daven Arvis and does not know of many righteous women that do so either (or did so in previous generations -- other than the grandmother in whose memory she is named). Therefore, she wonders where in the Sidur is she going to find the extra Brachos.
A. Poskim disagree whether women are liable to recite meah brochos every day. Divrei Benayahu (4: 2), Halichos Olam (1: p, 59), Yashiv Moshe (p. 19), Sefer Hasichos (5751: 1: p.134) quoting the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt'l, Oitzros Hahalacha (p. 33, n.13) quoting Horav Eliashiv zt"l, and others maintain they are.
However, other Poskim disagree. Shevet Halevy (O.H. 5: 23), Halichos Beiso (13 n.2) quoting R.S.Z. Auerbach zt"l, Teshuvos Vehanhogos (2: 129), Shevet Hakehossi (1: 63), and others maintain that they are not obliged to recite one hundred brochos. They argue that it would seem in reality very difficult to complete that number when they usually daven only one amida a day.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that since they have to take care of their children and their household or preparing themselves to do so, they are osek bemitzva or engaged in compliance of mitzvos and therefore exempt of having to search for more brochos. Their important obligations stands as a source of brocho in its stead.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Important Numbers
