Reply To: Centrist Orthodoxy, and the English Language

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#952243
yytz
Participant

I don’t see anything wrong with him having his own personal drash on the shelo asani isha bracha. And accusing some other Orthodox Jews of sexism for throwing chairs at women or whatever, well you can quibble with that but I wouldn’t say it’s beyond the pale.

I do find it odd that he didn’t mention the original non-sexist interpretation, found in the tosefta (written before the Gemara!) — that we thank G-d for making us men because we have more mitzvos we are obligated in and we should be thankful for that. Even if a woman could easily accomplish more mitzvos and maasim tovim than a man despite being obligated in fewer mitzvos — think, for example, of all the countless acts of chesed involved in raising children, not to mention the caring-oriented professions women tend to gravitate towards — the fact is men are obligated in a larger number of mitzvos. Instead of seeing this is a burden we should see it as something to be thankful for.

This is a very ancient, non-sexist and convincing rationale for the bracha (as well as for the other shelo asani brachas). Not mentioning it is misleading because it suggests some kind of crude sexism motivated the bracha.