On Controversial Blessings in Birchot Hashachar (Copy)

Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who gave the rooster (or mind) insight to distinguish between day and night.

Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who did not make me a gentile.

Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who did not make me a slave (Women say: A maidservant).

Men- Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who did not make me a woman. Women- Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who made me according to his will.

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir would say: A person is obligated to recite one hundred blessings every day, as it is stated in the verse: “And now, Israel, what [ma] does the Lord your God require of you” (Deuteronomy 10:12). Rabbi Meir interprets the verse as though it said one hundred [me’a], rather than ma. Menahcot 43b

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir would say: A man is obligated to recite three blessings every day praising God for His kindnesses, and these blessings are: Who did not make me a gentile; Who did not make me a woman; and Who did not make me an ignoramus. Menachot 43b

Printed editions: who has made me an Israelite,

Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov heard his son reciting the blessing: Who did not make me an ignoramus. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said to him: Is it in fact proper to go this far in reciting blessings? Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov’s son said to him: Rather, what blessing should one recite? If you will say that one should recite: Who did not make me a slave, that is the same as a woman; why should one recite two blessings about the same matter? Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov answered: Nevertheless, a slave

44aמ״ד א

זיל טפי

is more lowly than a woman, and therefore it is appropriate to recite an additional blessing on not having been born a slave.

English

Diogenes, 4th century BCE (from Yoel Kahn "On Gentiles, Slaves, and Women." in Birkhot Hashachar: Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries. ed L. Hoffman.

Socrates used to say there were three blessings for which he was grateful to fortune: first, that I was born a person and not a beast; next, that I was born a man and not a woman; third, a Greek and not a barbarian.

Cairo Geniza fragment

"who made me a person and not a beast, a man and not a woman, an Israelite and not a gentile, one who circumcizes others and is not uncircumcised himself, free and not a slave. Ibid. Kahn

Shelo Asani Goy

Galatians 3:28 NT

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Paul on superiority of baptism into Christ.

Versions of blessings in Italian Siddurim during the Era of Church Censorship 13th century onward:

"who did not make me a Kuthite or Aramean or Ishmaelite. (in place of Goy)."

Rothschild Machzor, Florence 1492.

Goy replaced by Bor-Ignoramus) to avoid the censors.

Another example of evasion of censors: "Balti-Mdaber

On the Blessing She asani kirtzono and shelo asani isha

In the Tur by Rabbeinu Jacob ben Asher (Spain 1269-1340) "Women customarily say , 'who made me according to His will,' and it is possible that they do this like one who accepts the justice of a bad decree."

Italian Siddur by Abraham Farissol in 1478.

"who made me a woman and not a man."

The liberal formulation of the 3 blessings in the 1946 Conservative Shabbat and Festival Siddur. (See Sim Shalom on p. 65." "One had only to adopt she'asani yisrael for the first blessing and to formulate the second in the positive, she'asani ben chorin ("who made me free".) In its new form, the blessing "who made me free" expresses the basic conviction that freedom is not a gift conferred to human beings by governmental fiat and therefor liable to be restricted or removed at the pleasure of the ruler or the desire of the majority. Freedom is the inalienable right of every human being deriving from his estate as a creature fashioned in the image of God." Robert Gordis quoted in Kahn.

I bring Heaven and Earth to bear witness that the Divine Spirit may rest upon a gentile and a Jew, a man and a woman, a slave and a maid—all depends on the deeds of that particular person. (Yalkut Shimoni, Shoftim 42) from Mayim Ahronim blog.