Q&A: Changing the Blessing “Who Has Not Made Me a Woman”
Changing the Blessing “Who Has Not Made Me a Woman”
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Is it possible to change the blessing “who has not made me a woman” and say “who has made me according to His will”? It is not clear to me how binding this part of the prayer is in its exact wording.
Answer
In my opinion, yes. If it bothers you, and in any case you cannot have proper intention when saying it, then your blessing has no value. It does not bother me, because this is not necessarily about female inferiority, but about being obligated in fewer commandments, just as there is a difference between a priest and an Israelite. Similar to the laws of precedence in Horayot, which are based on the scope of the commandments one is obligated in.
Discussion on Answer
“Who has not made me a woman” is like “who has not made me a slave.” In those times, a woman was like a slave.
So when you recite “who has not made me a woman,” intend it as “who has not made me a maidservant.”
The question that should be asked is whether nowadays, when everyone has to work like slaves, it is permissible to recite “who has not made me a slave.”
People do not have to work like slaves. That is a personal choice.
If it is only a matter of being obligated in more commandments, why does a priest not recite “Blessed is He who has not made me an Israelite,” or simply “Blessed is He who has made me a priest”?
2. Is fewer commandments not inferiority? What about what is written in Ben Ish Hai, in the laws in the portion of Pinchas, second year, where he brings from the Chida: “At the birth of a female, everyone is saddened—because in the female soul the impurity is greater than in the male…” And he writes that a slave, too, has impurity like a woman, because he is exempt from positive commandments dependent on time, and the gentile is even more impure. Sorry, this does not seem to me to indicate women’s superiority or equality.
3. Why is it, really, that there are rabbis who say that a woman has fewer commandments because she is more complete and more spiritual than a man? Here you can see that it is not because of that.
Because a priest is also an Israelite.
As for what is written in Ben Ish Hai, I suggest asking him.
Ask them.
And being obligated in fewer commandments is not female inferiority? What is this discrimination?