Berakhot 60
“One recites a blessing for the bad that befalls him just as he does for the good.”
The obligation to say a blessing for not just the good things that we experience, but for also what plagues us appeared before in Berakhot 54. We are told to say a blessing for “who is good and does good” when we experience positive things and for negative circumstances to bless “the true judge.” The struggle with saying the blessing to the “true judge” when we experience pain is that it suggests we are suffering due to something we have done and as a result are being judged. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year was it because I did something wrong in my life that I was being judged for? I know… I know… it’s all part of the divine master plan and works out in the end for the best and today I am doing OK, but still, it asks a lot of a human being to say a blessing for his misfortune.
Rabbi Akiva said that one must always accustom oneself to say: “Everything that God does, he does for the best.” Rabbi Akiva asks a lot of us to say blessings over hardship. It takes a lot of introspection and faith to be able to be able to bless our pain. A story is related to us about an incident when Rabbi Akiva was denied lodging in a city that he visited and was subjected to sleeping in a field where his candle was extinguished by a wind, his rooster eaten by a cat and his donkey consumed by a lion. I would have been furious about the inhospitable accommodations, as I am profoundly unhappy when I stay in sub-standard hotels when I travel. But Rabbi Akiva had faith and that night the city is taken into captivity and because he was not there, he is saved from the plight of enslavement.
Rabbi Akiva is exceptional in both his insight and faith. It asks a lot of the rest of us to accept our misfortunes with the belief that whatever happens is for the best.We are given a rather crude biological lesson: if a woman emits her seed first after intercourse, she will conceive of a girl, if a man emits his seed first, the off-spring will be male. And because most people wanted a male child at the time, the Talmud states that praying for a male offspring after conception is futile. The belief that the sex of a child can be influenced by prayer within the first 40 days after conception is disputed by Rav Ami who sets the record straight by stating that the sex of a child is determined at the time of conception.The discussion on healing and medicine harkens back to the respect our Jewish tradition has for doctors. The supposition that the practice of medicine is against God’s will is debunked. The Talmud tells us that “the practice of medicine is in accordance with the will of God.”
There are a lot of blessings to be said throughout one’s daily ritual and we are reminded how it important it is to pay attention when we greet each day. This includes blessings for when going to the bathroom (accompanied by angels), hearing the call of a rooster, waking up, sitting up, standing up, putting one’s feet on the floor, getting dressed, walking, putting on shoes and a belt and a shawl, wrapping oneself in fringe, and washing one’s hands and face.
We are introduced to Dinah. Dinah is the daughter of Leah and Jacob, the father of 12 sons who comprised the 12 tribes of Israel. She is at the victim of a horrible rape. She is strong-willed, out-going, influential, and a model for strong female leadership. I do not agree with all of this article (and especially the part on female modesty), but it provides an interesting perspective on Dinah and female leadership: