More Discussions for this daf
1. Breaking the Glass 2. Prayer times 3. Tefilas Chanah
4. Comparison to Rashi about Yosef in Vayigash 5. Eli seeing fault in Chana 6. Did Hash-m create "man" with useless parts?
7. re question on simcha b tefilla vilna gaon on daf 31a 8. Chumrah Adopted by Bnos Yisrael 9. The 3 "simple" Halachos
10. Ta'anis l'Ta'aniso 11. Chumras R' Zeira 12. "Like a mourner amongst the merry"
13. Moreh Halachah bi'Fnei Rabo 14. Chana and Eli 15. Rebbi Akiva moving during Tefilah
16. Question on Sota 17. מיתה בידי שמים
DAF DISCUSSIONS - BERACHOS 31

alex lebovits asks:

In one of Chana's pleas to Hash-m "Of all that you created in a WOMAN, You did not create a single thing for naught".

Did she mean to exclude a "MAN"? Or is there a reason that man was created with nipples?

Thank you for answering my questions.

Alex Lebovits

alex lebovits, toronto, canada

The Kollel replies:

Alex, it is wonderful to hear from you again.

1. I would have said that according to the simple way of understanding the Gemara, Chana did not intend to exclude a man but was merely expressing her request as a woman whose great desire was, like most women, to give birth to a child, and consequently she argued to Hash-m that she should be entitled to use all of the physical gifts that He had granted her. She did not mean to hint at why a male was created with nipples.

2. However, I did find that the Mefarshim explain why Chana specifically mentioned woman in her prayer. The Mesivta edition of the Gemara cites the Divrei Shaul who explains this Gemara with the help of the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Devarim #942). The Midrash relates that the reason why Hash-m created double organs in a person is so that he can use one of the organs for matters of this world and the other for matters of the next world (one for physical matters and the other for spiritual). In fact, the Yerushalmi quotes Raban Shimon bar Yochai who said that if he would have been present on Har Sinai when the Torah was given, he would have requested that a person be granted two mouths -- one for learning Torah and another for mundane speech.

3. The Gemara in Shabbos (77b) teaches that of everything that Hash-m created in His world, He did not create a single thing without a purpose. So Chana's reasoning was as follows: Even though we know that nothing was created without a purpose, it still could be that the purpose of the organ is for some spiritual use which is not so obvious to us. However, in the case of the nipples of a woman, she argued, this logic is weak. Since we know that a woman was created as a helpmate for her husband ("Ezer k'Negdo," Bereishis 2:18), it makes sense that her organs were created more with the physical purposes in mind. Therefore, Chana argued to Hash-m that even if one may say about other parts of the body that they were created primarily with Olam ha'Ba in mind, one must concede that a woman's nipples were created for Olam ha'Zeh. This, then, was her claim that Hash-m should allow her to use them to feed the child that she so much looked forward to bearing.

Wishing you a Shanah Tovah and lots of Nachas from all of your family,

Dovid Bloom

Alex Lebovits asks further:

Rabbi Bloom

Thank you for your answer. I really appreciate the effort invested to answer. Its good to hear from you as well.

I want to suggest for your consideration the fact that when Hashem created Adam and Chavah He created them as one body. And that body was to function both as a man and a woman, as far as procreating and feeding and raising children. Therefore that body needed nipples. And when Hashem created a separate woman; 'man' was left with nipples. Does that make any sense?

Thank you for considering.

Alex Lebovits

The Kollel replies:

So why did Hashem leave in the male body only this remnant of the female body and not other aspects which are unique to the female form?

Dovid Bloom