[Avodah] shelo asani isha

[Chana Luntz]

RMB writes:

> But we started out with an aggadic question -- what does the berakhah
mean? Well, we know its *primary*
> meaning. It could take on other meanings; and in fact I would argue
> that no good idea ends up becoming din if it weren't rich enough to do so.

But the aggadic question is all very well, but if the answer given to the
aggadic question is not how we posken in halacha then that cannot be the
meaning that is ascribed today, otherwise the entire bracha needs to be
dropped as not in accordance with the halacha, but rather in accordance with
a minority opinion that never made it to halacha.  

> : That is, if you adopt the position above, and the current order of
> : the brochos, then you are assuming that an eved has fewer mitzvos
> than
> : (or at least the same number as) a woman.
> 
> No, I am assuming R' Yehudah, who wrote the currently used triad of
> berakhos, set it up because /he/ holds that way.
> 
Which is fine.  But then you have to justify why we say it today if we do
not hold like this position.  (I am not saying that is the case here, you
can, presumably, hold l'halacha that avadim are not chayav in any more
mitzvos than women, but if you do not hold vadai that is the case, then you
have a problem saying that this is in any form the reason of the bracha
today, regardless of what the intention was of Rabbi Yehuda. You have to
say, at best, that the reason it was originally formulated was X, but the
reason we say it today is not in fact X, but Y).

> Which, I realize, requires a discussion in light of my position on
> legal evolution being more important than original intent. I am not
feeling
> /that/ patient right now for a question no one actually may be bothered
> by. But beqitzur, see above: Halakhah is a legal process, but aggadita?
> Taamei hamitzvos?

But this isn't just about taamei hamitzvos and aggada.  As you correctly
quoted, the Magen Avraham used this reason for the bracha to posken halacha
- ie if you say shelo asani isha before you say shelo asani eved, then you
cannot go back and say shelo asani eved.  Why? Because it then becomes a
bracha sheano tzricha (you have covered the field).  But the flipside has
also to be true.  According to the Magen Avraham, if in fact avadim are
chayav in mitzvos more than women, then if you say shelo asani eved you
*cannot* then say shelo asani isha.  And if you do, you are over on a brocha
sheano tzricha (a d'orisa according to the Sephardim and a d'rabbanan
according to the Ashkenazim).

So it would seem that if you posken like Tosphos, the Maged Mishna or the
Turei Even, or are even mesupik that they are correct, then this reason
cannot be the reason for the bracha today, otherwise you may be prohibited
(either d'orisa or d'rabbanan) from saying it.  In the face of this, why it
was coined, historically, would seem to be a matter of historic interest
only.

> :-)BBii!
> -Micha

Shabbat Shalom

Chana