Back to Question of the Week Back to Archives Q: Why in the men's morning prayers do they say; "Thank-you G-d for not making me a woman? "Curious"
		A: Yes, there is a minority of Jews, namely Orthodox men, that say the blessing, "Blessed are you, Adonai, our God, Sovereign of the universe, who did not make me a woman." In place of this, most Jews (myself included) say either, "Blessed are you, Adonai, our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who made me in Your image" or nothing at all. (Orthodox women say, "Blessed are You, ..., who made me according to Your will." The blessing for having not been made a woman has its origins in very early rabbinic times. It is found both in the Talmud (Menahot 43b) and in the Tosefta (Berahot 6:18 in the Lieberman edition). Tosefta gives the reason for this blessing that has generally been accepted ever since: "because women aren't obligated to observe the commandments." More exactly, it is because they aren't obligated, in the legal system of those Jews who say this blessing, to observe the positive, time-dependent commandments, with a few exceptions. (A "positive, time-dependent commandment" is something that you are supposed to do at a particular time, like saying the Shema or hearing the Shofar.) The medieval commentator, Abudarham, had this to say: "The reason that women are exempt from time-dependent, positive commandments is that a woman is enslaved to her husband in order to see to his needs. If she were bound by the time-dependent positive commandments, it could happen that at the time she was doing a mitsvah, her husband might command her to follow his commandment. Then, if she followed the Creator's commandment, and not the husband's commandment, woe to her from her husband. But if she followed her husband's commandment, and not the Creator's commandment, woe to her from the One that fashioned her. Therefore, God exempted her from the obligation to His commandments, in order that she have peace with her husband." It's kind of like the old westerns: There's only room in this town for one commander, and, according to Abudarham, it's the husband. God's gotta be outta here by midnight. While modern Orthodox Jews wouldn't say that a woman is "enslaved" to her husband, the (Orthodox) Artscroll Siddur does say the following: "Male, free Jews have responsibilities and duties not shared by others. For this, they express gratitude that, unlike women, they were not freed from the obligation to perform the time-related commandments. This follows the Talmudic dictum that an obligatory performance of a commandment is superior to a voluntary one ...." This is followed by a few lines of apologetics that indicate that, although men's performance of mitsvot is "superior," women still have a very important role in Judaism. So, look, if you might have been made a woman, who is a slave according to Abudarham, or whose performance of mitsvot is considered 'inferior' according to Artscroll, but instead, you were made a man, you might end up thanking God for your fate. Of course, there's something circular here, isn't there? The prayer itself is part of a system of belief and practice that reinforces a notion of male superiority, which in turn leads to a society in which it is a privilege to be a man, which leads men to say that prayer, which reinforces the notion of male superiority, etc. There is another option, the one that most Jews have adopted: Step out of that cycle and let the One Who commands back into town. written by Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz
		last update: August 1999 Got a question for Reb on the Web? Visit our Archived Questions SHOOT*! ("SHOOT" is the Hebrew acronym for SHe'elot OOTeshuvot (Questions and Answers), the centuries-old dialogue between Jews and their rabbis.)

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