Q&A: They Too Were Included in That Miracle
They Too Were Included in That Miracle
Question
I heard the question asked: the Talmud says that women recite the blessing because they too were included in that miracle, and then one can ask: if they had not been included in that miracle, would they not have been obligated to recite the blessing?! After all, the ones who were supposed to die and were saved were their husbands, sons, and families. So for that alone, at the very least, the women should have had to bless and give thanks. So why should it matter to me that they too were included in that miracle? Even without that, it would seem to be the same thing.
But simply put, one could still say that if they had not been included in that miracle, it would have been external to them, and one cannot obligate them on that basis. Otherwise the gentiles too would have had to bless and give thanks because they could have lost their Jewish neighbors and their dentists and their friends, etc.
Isn’t that so?
Answer
Especially their dentists. 🙂
I don’t think so. Women are part of the Jewish people, and therefore for them it is an internal miracle, not an external one. I myself also was not saved on Purim or Hanukkah. It was my ancestors who were saved (and not even all of them). So why should I light candles or read the Megillah? The women of that generation are no worse off than the men of our time. Are today’s men more connected to the men of then than the women of then were connected to the men of then? A man’s wife is like his own body.