My son Shuby said something interesting to me over lunch today. Shuby is a very cute nine-year-old little boy with Downs. His ability to actually articulate the words isn’t caught up with his ability to decide what to say, so our conversations involve some checking what he was trying to say, some signing, etc…

After I gave him his food, Shuby said “Thank you, ma’am.” I explained that I’m a man, and “ma’am” is only for women. If he wanted to add anything, the word should be “sir”.

Shuby then said something, and signed “davening” — hands holding siddur and shuckling.

Checking, I asked / translated, “I go to shul because I’m a man?”

“No,” Shuby explained, “Daddy is a man ’cause he goes to shul.”

The line of reasoning he awakened seems quite sound.

It’s not that women are pardoned from the obligation of attending minyan. It’s that souls of which G-d wants to obligate in minyan that He makes as men.