Identifying with the Identity Blessings

1. 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.
2. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who did not make me a gentile.
3. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who did not make me a slave (Women say: A maidservant).
4. 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. The Gemara relates that on Shabbat and Festivals, when the prayers contain fewer blessings, Rav Ḥiyya, son of Rav Avya, made an effort to fill this quota of blessings with blessings on spices [be’isparmakei] and sweet fruit. 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 made me an Israelite (censored); Who did not make me a woman; and Who did not make me a boor. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov heard his son reciting the blessing: Who did not make me a boor. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said to him: All this also? 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 is more lowly

More lowly: But for a boor you do not bless because it is not common, for it is anyone who does not know Scripture, and not Mishnah, and not [derekh eretz]

(2) "An ignorant person cannot be pious": But it is possible for him to fear sin, as behold, he is an expert in the nature of buying and selling.

Rebbi Yehudah says, “A person is obligated to say three blessings every day: ... shelo asani goy (for not making me a gentile), ... shelo asani isha (for not making me a woman), ...shelo asani bur (for not making me a boor). [The reason for saying a beracha for not making him] a gentile is because it says ‘All nations are like nothing to Him. He considers them to be empty and void.’ (Isaiah 40:17) [The reason for saying a Beracha for not making him] a woman is because women are not obligated in commandments.” [The reason for saying a beracha for not making him] a boor is because a boor is not afraid of sin. They have said a parable to what this is similar to. [It is similar] to a king of flesh and blood who said to his servant to cook him [some] food, but he (i.e. the servant) has never cooked food in his life. In the end he ruins the food and angers his master. [Or the king told the servant] to hem for him a robe, but he (i.e. the servant) has never hemmed a robe in his life. In the end he [causes] the robe to get dirty and angers his master.

The Gemara remarks: Let us say that this dispute is parallel to a tannaitic dispute found elsewhere, as it was taught in a Tosefta: One who saw bread and said: How pleasant is this bread, blessed is the Omnipresent Who created it, fulfilled his obligation to recite a blessing. One who saw a date and said: How pleasant is this date, blessed is the Omnipresent Who created it, fulfilled his obligation. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yosei says: One who deviates from the formula coined by the Sages in blessings, did not fulfill his obligation. If so, let us say that Rav Huna, who said that one who recites: By whose word all things came to be, over bread or wine, did not fulfill his obligation, holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yosei; and Rabbi Yoḥanan, who said that one who recites: By whose word all things came to be, over bread or wine fulfills his obligation, holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Meir.

(5) The forms of all the blessings were established by Ezra and his Court. It is not proper to vary them, or add to or take aught away from any one of them. Whoever deviates from the form which the Sages have given to the Blessings, is in error. Any blessing in which the name of God and His Sovereignty are not mentioned is not regarded as a blessing, unless it follows immediately another blessing.

...In short, whoever alters the form the Sages gave to the blessings commits an error and must recite the blessing again according to its prescribed form. Whoever does not recite the blessing beginning, "True and firm" in the morning, and that beginning, "True and trustworthy" in the evening has not fulfilled his duty.

...It is difficult to understand why our master [Maimonides] changed the laguage and wrote that [anyone who changes the format] "is in error." It is also important to examine why he wrote "It is not fitting to change them."
It seems to me that there are two types of "changing." The first is when one says the version of the blessing established by the sages, but adds to it or leaves some of it out. In another case, he says something similar to the version established by the sages, but in different words which, nevertheless, allude to [the same point as] the version that the sages established. But since the meaning of his words conveys what the sages decreed, there is no "error," but it is still "not fitting" to do this...

(7) These Eighteen blessings have no appointed order. Each blessing is recited at the appropriate time and occasion. For example: If one has put on his girdle, while still on his couch, he recites the blessing, "Who girdeth Israel with strength". When he hears the cock crow, he recites the blessing, "Who hast given the cock intelligence, etc.". Any of the above blessings for which there is no occasion, is not recited.