Why using a XVth century book? Have you ever heard about Dvora? She was the leading judge of the people. It means that the final word in Halacha was her. Did you ever thought about it? As far as I know, she was a woman and the undiscutiblingly the great leader of the people.

both sexes are made as hashem wishes and perhaps both should pray in those terms..equal for a woman is a demotion as it means she must do more mitzvot and skips reference to her uniqueness in giving birth..we are made mostly the same but a little different to learn to appreciate eachothrt..liberal buzzwords like equal just show secular bias of jts progressives who should not be credited for perverse doctrine like 'egalitarianism'

Quote: “Blessed are you for not creating me a woman” is a blessing recited every morning by observant Jewish men - end quote. Are you sure it is not the other way around? :-)

Dont make anything big out of this. This siddur was written specifically for one woman, not for any form of public consumption. The likelihood is that at that time, there was generally NO alternative to thanking Hashem "for making me a man". The currently commonly accepted female alternative probably came into being long after this unique siddur. Yes this blessing has it's issues but this siddur did not address that in any great way.

what young person in their right mind would stay in an organization that is all about doing less: not keeping shabbat, not going to yeshiva, not believing in god. of course, they would leave and become orthodox (and countless did). that's were "egalitarianism' comes in: the conservatives have women do everything and since the orthodox can not do that, in that they can say they are "more". that is why it become their entire reason for being.

to divert , men who might want to change their gender,from doing that.

"the challenges to contemporary men and women presented by the sexist nature of the Traditional text." wow! i never realized that this was such a challenge, nor that it revealed a "sexist nature". (isn't that phrase somewhat biased?) at most i would have said that it was not "politically correct", in that it might offend some militant feminists. but anyone even a little familiar with the siddur will realize there are plenty of other phrases for them to object to. nor would i have capitalized "traditional"...

Actually, who cares. This proves nothing except an isolated text. Focus, on building dwindling and greying congregations. The egal thing just does'nt seem to sell. Authentic tradition does. Unfortunately, it may be too late for JTS that had some great ideas in the past.

for those who don´t know .......in the morning we first thank g-s for giving the torah than we thank for giving us the mitzvot and we go on and bless (that´s to say that is not a burden but a mission with great value and merits) first for not making us a non jew (that they have only 7 mitzvot / commandments) than for not making us a slave (because a slave acording to the jewish law have to observe a great part of the mitzvot) than we bless g-d for not making us a woman (because woman are not obligated to the mitzvot related to time). in summary we thank g-d for all the mitzvot saying that we are happy to have them and we know that with more mitzvot comes more responsability.

This passage would seem to be a basis for Haredim to reverse their present treatment of women. Women are blessed to be as they are, just as men are blessed to be as they are. Equal status in the eyes of the Creator so why the disparity here on Earth?

Orthodox were there before conservatives!

But that's not the point. You have to agree or else you get reform judaism. The traditional blessings make sure there is no competition between men and women, but this particular sidur embodies it. Therefore, it is wrong for it to become the norm now for the same reason it did not become the norm before. Because it is feminist, it is wrong.

It is frightening to think that a being with 100BILLION neurons that make over 100 TRILLION instructions per second could be SO deprived of oxygen that it could run in circles the way u just did and STILL be considered 'alive'. U gave me Something to ponder about humanity. Thank u for providing the example that zombies do indeed exist.

Just imagine all Jews, men and women, who pray in the morning would say "for making me according to your will". Nothing negative, purely positive. What danger would that pose to the relationship between men and women? To Judaism? None! Only to the Rabbi's authority, because they are the ones who want to decide what we tell HaShem!

Anyone who thinks the words "creating me a man and not a woman" are denigrating has never witnessed or experienced child birth. For men, procreating is fun. Before the advent of modern medicine many women died because of pregnancy or during or after child birth due to complications. The "normal" life of a woman included pain had the real risk of dying. I think that the words "creating me a man and not a woman" are not denigrating but a respectful acknowledgement of the fact that women experience pain and a danger that no man can begin to comprehend.

Te term used buy a reader is most unfortunate in any association with such a prayer book. Why don't you address the wording itself and what you think of the words, or the individual who crafted them?

Religion was the opiate of the masses.

This prayer can be skipped if you are not too obsessive compulsive and besides women live longer than men now especially in Russia

If the "blessing" is not consistent with the Torah it is a tradition and cannot be added to the Torah.

yep, thank you for not making me a woman, because then I would have to work instead of spending all my time praying-. Always knew that were was an good reason for this prayer...

Kol aKVod ! I cant agree more. I think this Brachot lifts women to their proper status (which definately is not the same status as men....lol). My Siddur says "for making me according to His Will". His Will is perfect and I am honored and deeply moved to say this in Honor of HaShem !!

Tell me please where we're given the permission to "add" something to the Torah? Or take away? This siddur shows the rabbanim of those days had a much more humane world view than the actual extremists.