379 GAL 3,28 AND ITS ALLEGED RELATIONSHIP TO RABBINIC WRITINGS blessings of gratitude found in rabbinic sources 14. In Judaism, the distinctions between Jew and Gentile, man and woman (not the least of them that women have low social status compared with men), and between free Jewish male and slave (the status of women and slave are the same) are self-evident and have their social and religious consequences. In the recitation of the three blessings, the person who recites the blessings admits his social status with the different religious practices that accompanies it. The next step after having surveyed the possible origin of the three blessings of gratitude found in rabbinic writings is to determine their function and meaning. The three blessings of gratitude, as we know, are used in the context of Jewish morning liturgy. They are three brief fixed formulae recited at the beginning of the daily Jewish morning prayer of blessings. These three blessings are part of a series of blessings one recites as an expression of gratitude to God for the ability to wake up in the morning and be able to go about the daily routines of the morning 15. Among the different blessings, such as thanking God for the ability to distinguish between day and night, the ability to wake up in the morning, and the ability to put on cloth, L. Hoffman acknowledges that the three blessings wherein a Jew thanks God for not having been created a Gentile, a woman and a slave (ignorant person) are somewhat different from the rest of the blessings 16. As for the purpose and function of the recitation of the three blessings, a rabbinic explanation is that a Jewish male thanks God that he is not a gentile because gentiles are excluded from fulfilling religious duties since “they are as nothing before Him”. He thanks God that he is not a woman because “a woman is under no obligation to keep the commandments. He thanks God that he is not an uneducated person “for no uneducated person fears sin” 17. T. ZAHAVY, Studies in Jewish Prayer (Lanham, MD 1990) 25. 14 L.A. HOFFMAN, “Blessings and Study: The Jewish Way to Begin a Day”, 15 My People’s Prayer Book. (ed. L.A. HOFFMANN) (Woodstock, VT 2001) V , 6-16, 6-7. HOFFMAN, “Blessings and Study”, 7. 16 A.L. WILLIAMS (trans.), Tractate Berakoth (Benedictions), Mishna and 17 Tosephta (London 1921) 92-93.