As we have pointed out in other postings, a strong case can be made that one of the most serious “deadly sins” of history is the sin of misogyny. Every faith grapples with this problem in one form or another. In Judaism, there is a well known blessing men say every day upon getting up in the morning:
“Blessed are you, Lord, our God, ruler the universe who has not created me a woman.”
The Original Rabbinical Source of the Blessing
The origin of this prayer is found in the Tosefta to Berakhot 6:16 that reads:
R. Judah says: “A man is bound to say the following three blessings daily: (1) ‘[Blessed are You . . .] Who has not made me a heathen’, ‘. . . . (2) Who has not made me a woman’; and (3) ‘ . . . who has not made me an uncouth person.’”
The Tosefta then explains its rational: (1) “. . . a heathen,” because it is written: ‘Before him all the nations are as nought, as nothing and void he accounts them,’” (Isa. 40:17). (2) “. . . an uncouth person,” because it is said, “an uncouth person cannot be pious” (Avot 2:5). (3) “. . . a woman,” for women are not legally required to observe all the precepts.
To what is this matter (i.e., gentile, uncouth people, women who perform the precepts) analogous to? A mortal king once said to his servant, ‘Go cook a meal for me.’ However, unbeknownst to the king, the servant had never cooked a meal in his life! After cooking a meal, the king got upset with him. Another analogy: A king once asked his servant to hem a garment for him, but having never hemmed a garment before, the servant ruined the garment, thus angering the king. [The moral of the story: Let those who are unfamiliar with the observance of the commandments be exempt from observing them, lest they be an affront to their Maker.]
It is interesting to note that unlike the canned apologetic responses seen in subsequent rabbinic literature, which purports that women are essentially exempt from the performance of certain time-bound precepts because of her family obligations, the Tosefta dismisses such a perspective. Her legal exemption from the commandments is because of incompetence and not because of the lack of opportunity.
Re-interpreting the Tosefta
The Talmud discusses part of the Tosefta in BT Menachot 43b:
A learned discussion began: “ R. Judah [1] used to say, ‘A man is bound to say the following three blessings daily: ‘[Blessed are You . . .] who has not made me a heathen’, ‘. . . . who hast not made me a woman’; and ‘ . . . who hast not made me a brutish man.’
One of the Sages, R. Aha b. Jacob, once overhead his son saying ‘[Blessed are You. . .] who has not made me a brutish man’, when he immediately said to him, ‘Isn’t this blessing a tad bit presumptuous?’ (Who says the rabbis didn’t have a wry sense of humor?) His son retorted, ‘OK, what would you have me say instead?’ Surely it is better to say, ‘. . . Who has not made me a slave.’ Once again his son retorted, “ How is this blessing different from that of a woman (seeing that neither one is fully obligated to carry out the precepts of the Torah; in fact they are on equal footing in terms of their obligations)? His father rejoined, “A slave is more contemptible” (since his character is generally prone to licentious behavior, which is not the case with women).
Now the 2nd century Roman emancipated slave Epictetus would have certainly took serious offense to the Talmudic discussion, had he been included as one of the respondents–but that too, is another discussion for a future date.
Many years ago, I dated a well known psychiatrist who never married; he grew up in Israel. He loved chanting this blessing in front of me. I said, “Can you imagine what women feel when men say this prayer?” It was so unfortunate since this man has two daughters who never married. BTW, this man did not belong to a synagogue. His only wish, was for his daughters to get married. It is so unfortunate that hid daughters suffer from his misogyny.
Judy S.