Explanation of R' Hirsch

Letter to the Editor

Jewish Observer

February 1997

Magen Avraham

Shmuel 1:1  And Chana prayed upon her heart.

Yalkut Shemoni: Why were women grouped with children and slaves concerning mitzvos? Because they have but one heart, as the verse says, “And Chana prayed upon her heart.”

Ziies Ra’anan (the Magen Avraham): Women with children: The explanation concerns the positive time bound commandments. One heart: The yetzer tov does not dwell in them sufficiently. Therefore, if the positive time bound commandments were imposed upon them, it is likely that they would not do them.

Rambam and the Bartenura

Maharal on Who Was Created Last

The Maharal says that, though created simultaneously, the asynchronous formation of the first man and woman does have bearing on their relative spiritual makeup. However, the male was formed last.

"There is to conclude that, just the opposite, the woman was created first. Even though concerning the matter that [Hashem] took the bone from [Adam’s] bones [to create Chava], and this occurred after the creation of Adam, in the final analysis [we can conclude] that Chava was created first. Behold, it is written, “Male and female [He] created them” and “[He] called their name Adam.” It appears that immediately before this [the formation of Chava], the female was created as a pair [with the male]. And then the female [as a distinct entity] was formed [before the male was]. The order of the creation is given as first the mammal, then the woman, and then the male. One sees that the working of the creation is always that the one at a higher level comes last. So here, the male is last since he is more chashuv. In this is the reason behind the saying of the Rabbis that the woman matures more quickly than the man – the girl at twelve and a day and the boy at thirteen and a day. This is the completion of their maturity. This all follows from the principle that each thing with more completeness, its completion comes last. There, the formation of the male is last and not first.[1]
Thus, the formation of Adam occurred after the formation of Chava and this indicates the spiritual ascendancy of the male over the female. One contemporary educator proposed to the author that this formation might be a final formation that consisted of the closing of Adam’s flesh after the material was taken to form Chava."

[1] Maharal, Gur Aryeh, Vayikra 12:2, beginning of parshas Tazriah.

Sh'lo Asani Isha

from the addendum to the Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik Siddur

שֶׁלֹּא עָשַׂני אִשָּׁה...שֶׁעָשַׂנִי כִּרְצוֹנוֹ - The Tanna Rabbi Meir instituted the recital of the  ברכוֹת השחר. In Rabbi Meir’s time the study of Torah was prohibited by the Romans, who executed any man who studied it since they recognized that Torah study kept Jews from assimilating. Women on the other hand were generally spared by the Romans but were instead taken into captivity. Through instituting this blessing, Rabbi Meir expressed gratitude to God for being a man and therefore having the privilege to sanctify God’s name in death. The blessing of שׁעשׁני כרצוֹנוֹ was introduced by women in the Middle Ages, because during the Crusades men and women were massacred alike. Women now shared in the privilege of dying al kiddush Hashem, sanctifying His Name, and therefore instituted their own blessing. 

(R. Isaiah Wohlgemuth, Guide to Jewish Prayer, pp. 59-60, said in the name of Rabbi Soloveitchik)