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Category: The Blessed Home

Made According to His Will

Tags:  complaints, covetousness, flesh, image, inward, outward, self-esteem

By Tikvah Michael

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. (Psalm 139:14-15)

I often hear women complain about the blessing which traditional Judaism prescribes for men to pray in the morning. It says, "Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the universe, who did not make me a woman." That seems sexist. It's hard for a woman to read that in the Siddur and not feel like the sages who wrote it must have hated women.

The explanation is that a man is supposed to be grateful that God did not make him female only because more commandments are incumbent upon men than upon women. That gives men more opportunities to serve God. If he had been born a woman, he would be required to keep fewer commandments. From that perspective, the blessing is not really a sexist statement at all.

That's the explanation, but it seems to me that there is still a hint of misogyny in the negative formulation of the blessing. If a man is simply grateful for being male, why doesn't the Siddur have him bless God saying, "Who has made me a man"? Why say, "Who has not made me a woman"?

Judged by modern standards, the sages were definitely chauvinistic. It's no secret that the Talmud often speaks about women in unflattering language. But when considered by the standards of their day, the ancient rabbis seem to have had a high view of women. Judaism offered women in the classical world more dignity and respect than they found in common Roman society.

Actually, I am not concerned about whether or not the rabbis who composed the blessings were sexist. The blessing "who has not made me a woman" does not bother me, because I never pray it. Instead, I pray the prescribed blessing for women, "Who has made me according to His will." To me, this is one of the most b...

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© 2009 First Fruits of Zion. All rights reserved. We encourage you to share this material with your friends for further personal study. However, This material may not be republished, in print, electronically, or any other form without our prior permission. Adapted from Messiah Journal #101 .

For more information about this issue, click here.

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