Before we dive into our text, allow me to note that we are doing what Jews always do—going to the end, and starting over from the beginning. In our previous 52 prayer lessons, we have taken a journey all the way to the end of the Shabbat morning service. Now we start over from the beginning. Trust me, we have enough material to work with!

Perhaps the most controversial part of the siddur comes on the opening page of our services, in the section known as Birkot Hashachar, morning blessings.

In a traditional prayerbook, there is a series of blessings where we thank G-d for who and what we are. They read, “Who has not made me a non-Jew; Who has not made me a slave; Who has not made me a woman.”

As should be obvious, our modern ears find this abrasive, perhaps even contemptuous, especially the last phrase, which cannot help but sound derogatory.

There are those who assert that it simply is derogatory and intended to be so, an expression of “Jewish male privilege” looking down on everyone who doesn’t qualify for their elite. And even if it was intended like that (it wasn’t, but I’ll get there) today it can hardly be seen as anything else.

Understanding its original meaning, though, will give us an important insight into how traditional Judaism defines the purpose of our lives. Looking at the categories of non-Jew, slave, woman, and man, one thing is clear—they are listed in order of how many mitzvot, divine commandments, they are obligated to perform. Non-Jews are bound only by the 7 commandments given to Noah. Slaves were exempt from a variety of mitzvot. Women were exempt from about a dozen mitzvot, particularly those mitzvot that are time related (since, in the ancient division of labor, they were caregivers who did not determine the time when they had to take care of children or other family members). Only Jewish men were obligated to perform all 613 mitzvot.

And our tradition clearly desires us to embrace our mitzvot as a spiritual opportunity, rather than to bemoan them as a burden. For that reason, the traditional Jewish man thanks Hashem for giving him the maximal number of mitzvot to perform. Jewish women say instead, “Who created me in accordance with His will.” In premodern circles, and in some traditional circles even today, this is an acknowledgment that Jewish women are more spiritually attuned than men. Or put another way, it celebrates that men are only the Beta version.

Perhaps that explanation rang true in pre-modern times, but today it just won’t fly. And shouldn’t. That’s why the Conservative movement prayerbook presents a different version. In our prayers, I thank G-d for making me in G-d’s image; for making me a Jew, and for making me free.

So we got the textual problem straightened out. Now comes the hard part: living up to our responsibilities as G-d’s image, as Jews, and as free men and women.

“If a physician said to you, ‘You’re deficient in iron; take a supplement,’ you wouldn’t say, ‘No, I know the concept of iron; I don’t actually have to take it.’ Your body would say, ‘I don’t care what you think; take it.’ So why do we treat our spiritual lives differently?”

Rabbi Shawn Zevit