She-lo Asani Isha, She-asani Kirtzono

Birchot Ha-shachar include a series of three berachot thanking God for establishing aspects of a person’s identity. In the first two, we thank God for the fact that we are neither non-Jews (she-lo asani goy) nor bondsmen (she-lo asani aved). Men then conclude the series with she-lo asani isha, “Who did not make me a woman,” while women recite the beracha she-asani kirtzono, “Who made me according to His will.” These berachot are naturally of particular interest to women.

The forerunner to the current set of three berachot appears in the Talmud:¹

These berachot center around identity. A man praises God for not making him other than he is, in three respects, including “Who did not make me a woman.”

The Rationale

Why should a man be grateful for this? The Tosefta has a parallel version of this teaching, which includes rationales for the blessings.

This explanation of ‘Who did not make me a woman’ is fairly straightforward. A man should be grateful for being obligated in more mitzvot than women are, presumably because each mitzva provides a unique opportunity to serve God, and this beracha expresses that gratitude.² Given that the Talmud Yerushalmi presents the same rationale,³ this explanation for the beracha seems authoritative.

Both the Talmud and the Tosefta list “Who has not made me a boor” among the three blessings. A Talmudic passage explains the switch from boor to “Who has not made me a bondsman,” as recited today.⁵

Rav Acha hears the beracha “Who did not make me a boor” and objects to it. His son understands him as suggesting that he say the beracha “Who did not make me a bondsman” in its place. The son argues that one cannot recite a beracha on not being made a bondsman, because a bondsman is equivalent to a woman and the two berachot would be redundant. Rav Acha disagrees and tells him to add the bondsman blessing anyway.

Two key elements of the Talmudic story are unclear: (1) Why does Rav Acha object to the recitation of the blessing about boorishness? (2) In what respect does his son see a similarity between women and bondsmen?

Rashi’s Reading

Rashi gives two possible interpretations of the passage:

I. His first interpretation reads “zil tefei” as “he is lesser,” which would be an expression of social status. Rav Acha rates a man’s status above a woman’s and a woman’s above a bondsman’s.⁶ On this reading, the identity berachot revolve around social status and a man thanks God both that he is not a woman and that he is not a bondsman, who has a lower status.

However, this approach to the passage does not line up with the explanation given above for this beracha, which is found in the Tosefta and Yerushalmi.

II. His second interpretation, on the other hand, lines up perfectly with the other sources. It reads the comparison between women and bondsmen in terms of their shared exemption from positive time-bound commandments and reads “zil tefei” as “Go [add more].”

Here Rashi answers both of our questions.

(1) Rav Acha objects to his son’s recitation of the beracha “Who did not make me a boor” because a boor is fully obligated in all mitzvot and the identity blessings are specifically about mitzva obligation.

(2) The son assumes women and bondsmen are equivalent for the purposes of reciting berachot about mitzva obligation, because both groups are exempt from positive time-bound commandments.⁷ (His father apparently thinks there is sufficient difference in their obligations to allow for two blessings.)

Which interpretation prevails?

Although some commentators include social status in their discussion of the beracha,⁸ Tur and Beit Yosef⁹ both emphasize mitzva obligation as the rationale behind it.

Unfortunately, as Rav Yehuda H. Henkin observes, many men recite the beracha without being aware that, according to the most authoritative explanation, its purpose is to thank God for their obligation in additional mitzvot:

Rav Henkin laments the fact that many men do not understand the true meaning and intent of the beracha. Men should not think of the beracha as expressing superiority. As we have seen, many halachic authorities do not follow Rashi’s first interpretation, that the beracha refers to the fact that men have a loftier social status. Because some of those reciting it still take the beracha in this direction, it is understandable that many people find it difficult.

We have a report from as early as the eighteenth century of a woman feeling offended by the beracha:

Reporting the story, Rav Tamar is careful to establish Rebbetzin Horovitz’s bona fides as a learned and wise woman whose father and husband were both Torah scholars. She raises her question as a faithful, religious, and wise woman from an important rabbinic family, living well before the modern feminist era. It is clear therefore that these concerns are of long-standing and are not a response unique to contemporary women.

Education and Privilege

What can be done in response to these concerns? First and foremost, it is important to educate our communities.

In his modern code of Jewish law, Rav Chayim David Ha-levy specifies what men should think about when reciting the beracha:

Rav Ha-levy notes that men’s being commanded in more mitzvot is a privilege, not a sign of superiority. “Even though she is just as important as he is, she is not obligated in all the mitzvot.“Men should be careful to keep this in mind, and not to mistake their privilege for anything more than that.

How can a man succeed in in balancing gratitude for his obligations with humility about himself? Rav Hirsch suggests one possible approach:

Men should recognize that the privilege of being obligated in more mitzvot brings with it great responsibility. The berachot they recite bear a message beyond simple praise. In reciting a beracha over being commanded in more mitzvot, men’s focus should be on undertaking their unique obligations with utmost seriousness.

As Rav Henkin notes, many of those reciting the beracha are unaware of its primary meaning. One might wonder why we don’t omit or alter the beracha if we find the wording to be misleading.

We cannot simply drop berachot that our sages enacted as obligatory. This is especially the case here, where the number of berachot of identity seems to be of particular importance and where the Talmud presents the identity berachot together as a package.

Revising the berachot is a more complex question especially because there seem to be many historical cases of birchot ha-shachar being revised. In response to the censor, and the fear of deadly repercussions from non-Jewish authorities, the blessing “she-asani Yisrael” or “she-asani Yehudi” was recited for many years.¹⁰ We have evidence that some individual women in medieval times commissioned prayer books in which she-lo asani isha was replaced by she-asani isha ve-lo ish, “Who made me a woman and not a man.”¹¹ Furthermore, many variants of birchot ha-shachar have arisen in different eras.¹²

In light of these considerations, some more liberal rabbis have called for altering the beracha.¹³ At the same time, all concede that this specific blessing’s formulation derives from the Talmud and was codified by Shulchan Aruch, which places limitations on change. Therefore, the question of whether or not a revision is permissible looms large.

Rav Mas’ud Roke’ach of seventeenth-eighteenth century Izmir summarizes the Halacha well, drawing on a position in the Talmud that decries changing the language in which our sages coined berachot:¹⁴

Ma’aseh Roke’ach rules that a minor change to a beracha is acceptable after the fact or in a pressing circumstance. But a person who substantively alters a beracha has not discharged his or her obligation to recite it.¹⁵

Any addition or alteration that is sufficiently substantive to really satisfy those seeking change would probably change the core meaning of the beracha. In that case, a person reciting the altered beracha might not discharge their obligation at all.¹⁶

For this reason, even those contemplating change tend to focus on introducing a positive formulation into the beracha, or possibly adding the positive onto the negative formulation. For example, replacing “She-lo asani isha” with “She-asani ish,” “Who has made me a man” or “She-asani Yisrael.” Or even “She-asani gever (ve-lo asani isha),” “Who has made me a man (and has not made me a woman).”¹⁷

Rav Henkin addresses various possibilities for change in his responsum:

According to Rav Henkin, it is by no means clear that an altered beracha would satisfy the obligation to recite it or could be recited with God’s name. “She-asani Yisrael” does not create precedent for changing other berachot to a positive formulation, because that change was in response to a real threat.

Rav Henkin adds that omitting or revising the beracha would require “wide halachic consensus,” which we have not reached.

Attaining wide consensus on a revised text is unlikely. It is extremely difficult nowadays to countenance changing a beracha that appears in the Talmud. For there to be change, there would first have to be wider rabbinic acknowledgement that there is an issue that demands attention. That acknowledgement might be building.

Why do women recite “She-asani Kirtzono,” “Who has made me according to His will?”

A woman clearly cannot recite a beracha over not being made a woman.

And yet, a woman owes God gratitude for being created as a woman. Additionally, a woman may arguably be required to recite a hundred berachot daily, and we would not want to deprive her of the opportunity to make a beracha thanking God for her creation. (See here.)

Over centuries of post-Talmudic halachic practice and discussion, consensus has formed around an alternative blessing, “Who has made me according to His will.”

Note Tur‘s wording, “the women are accustomed to recite the beracha.” It sounds as though women took the initiative to replace the men’s beracha with this particular beracha before rabbis gave it approbation. This may be a beracha by women, for women.

There is no indication in Tur that this beracha‘s format is any different from the standard formula. Since this beracha is post-Talmudic, some halachic authorities²² maintain that it should be recited without the classic hallmarks of a beracha, namely, without mention of God’s name or kingship (“Hashem Elokenu Melekh haolam”).

This position is particularly prevalent among Sefardi authorities, such as Rav Ovadya Yosef.²³

Shulchan Aruch, however, does seem to permit its recitation with mention of God’s name and kingship, which means acknowledging its status as a full beracha. ²⁴ He does not provide an explanation for why this is possible. If women did in fact initiate reciting this beracha, then this would be an extraordinary example of the rabbinic establishment respecting and adopting a liturgical initiative by women.

What does “She-asani Kirtzono” mean?

There are two major views regarding how to interpret “She-asani Kirtzono” and how it relates to gender distinction.

I. Acceptance Tur understands the blessing as an expression of acceptance of God’s will, complementary to the man’s blessing:²⁵

While men bless in gratitude for being obligated in these mitzvot, women express acceptance of the Divine decree of exemption.

Tur raises the possibility that a woman’s verbal acceptance of her exemption from mitzvot is comparable to the recitation of baruch dayan ha-emet on very bad tidings. While he emphasizes acceptance, Tur implicitly acknowledges how difficult confronting this exemption might be.

II. Positive Recognition An alternative view sees this beracha as a positive recognition of woman’s creation in the Divine image. Taz puts this simply:

In the eighteenth century, Rav Pinchas Horowitz of Frankfurt expresses this view in even more positive terms:

To Rav Horowitz, this beracha expresses the idea that, although man and woman were originally created as a single, hybrid creature,²⁶ God’s original vision and will for humanity was that woman should be a distinct “complete” entity. In “She-asani Kirtzono” a woman blesses God who made her a complete human being, distinct from man, as God always willed it.

In Practice

A woman is not strictly obligated to recite “She-asani Kirtzono.” Many women of Chabad, for example, omit it.²⁷ When a woman does recite it, however, she can actively choose what she means by it, much as a man can consciously focus his intention when reciting “She-lo asani isha.”

Dr. Erica Brown exemplifies this approach:²⁸