779. Bless the Fruit of Your Womb

“Bless the fruit of your womb.” Rabbi Natan says, “How do we know that a woman’s fruit of the womb is not blessed unless from the fruit of a man’s womb, as was said, ‘Bless the fruit of your womb’? It did not say, ‘the fruit of her womb’ but ‘the fruit of your womb’ [in male form in Hebrew]” (Berachot 11b).

A woman is called the “will to receive.” The will to receive is blessed only from the man’s fruit of the womb, for a man is called the “desire to bestow.” In other words, to the extent that one works to bestow, to that extent he can receive pleasure. This is called “receiving in order to bestow.”