[Avodah] shelo asani isha

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Aug 12, 2011 at 06:05:24PM +0100, Chana Luntz wrote:
:> 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...)

Perhaps we shouldn't aske whether or not we hold that avadim would be
chayavim in more mitzvos than women, and simply take the berakhah's
continued existence in the siddur as a raayah that we do.

...
: 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
...
: 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....

Why? These are birkhos shevach. The notion that you can't praise HQBH in
zu ve'ein tzarikh lomar zu format isn't necessarily a given.


The question appears to revolve around whether we repurpose or retire
nusachos that no longer "work". If I phrase it that broadly, the nusach of
"Retzeih" appears to be an example of RnCL's position. "Ve'ishei Yisrael
usefilasam teqabeil beRatzon" worked when Retzeih was originally composed,
used as part of tefillas hakohanim in bayis sheini, and perhaps also
used in its current role -- but at a time when Yisrael was offering
qorbanos. The Granikim try to repurpose the phrase by (awkwardly IMHO)
moving the period to make it:

    Vehasheiv [two things:]
	- es haavodah lidevir veisekha,
	- ve'ishei Yisrael.
    Usefilasam teqabel beRatzon...

Keeping the matbeiah by changing its meaning, and where one pauses.

But I have been arguing until now with the assumption that the matbeiah
proves the aggadita, without assuming repurposing. And as you have yet
to convince me that we repurposing is actually needed, I am sticking
with my default assumption.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Live as if you were living already for the
micha at aishdas.org        second time and as if you had acted the first
http://www.aishdas.org   time as wrongly as you are about to act now!
Fax: (270) 514-1507            - Victor Frankl, Man's search for Meaning