40 days before
Chazal (Sotah 2a) say that 40 days before yetziras havlad [the formation of the embryo] a bas kol [heavenly voice] calls out, "Bas ploni leploni" [The daughter of this man is destined for this one]. So when does this happen exactly? Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan touches on this on p. 5 of in Made in Heaven (Mozanaim: 1983). The 40 days before would be at the time of conception. I was just wondering about implicatons. I have heard that one can try to pray for the baby's gender only earlier than the 40th day of gestation precisely because it is not yet delineated. However, the sex would have been determined at conception if the bas zug was declared then.
Chazal do say that Leah prayed that she would carry a girl so that her sister would get to have at least two sons. Consequently, the embryo that would have been a boy was switched to a girl -- Dina. And we know that Dina went through major travails as a girl. It seems getting what you wish for is fraught with peril. I do wonder of the consequences for the heavenly declarations.
BTW the declaration sounds like it is made for the baby boy -- for he is specified while his bas zug is assigned on the basis of parentage. If it were declared for the girls, as well, I would think it should say Plonis leploni or Plonis leben ploni to match. What's interesting is if the girl is identified soley by her parentage, it would not be clear which daughter in a family of many girls is the One designated. That would actually eliminate my question of Yaakov's bas zug -- Rachel or Leah? Both would have been covered under the description "bas Lavan."
Chazal do say that Leah prayed that she would carry a girl so that her sister would get to have at least two sons. Consequently, the embryo that would have been a boy was switched to a girl -- Dina. And we know that Dina went through major travails as a girl. It seems getting what you wish for is fraught with peril. I do wonder of the consequences for the heavenly declarations.
BTW the declaration sounds like it is made for the baby boy -- for he is specified while his bas zug is assigned on the basis of parentage. If it were declared for the girls, as well, I would think it should say Plonis leploni or Plonis leben ploni to match. What's interesting is if the girl is identified soley by her parentage, it would not be clear which daughter in a family of many girls is the One designated. That would actually eliminate my question of Yaakov's bas zug -- Rachel or Leah? Both would have been covered under the description "bas Lavan."
Comments
i assume chazal chose 40 days because that is when sex chromosomes express themselves anatomically, but the sex chromosomes are there from day 1.
either the sperm contributes an x or a y. simplistically (without getting into XY women and XX men, etc.), once conception occurs, what does praying have to do with anything?
anyway, i'm not comfortable with praying for a particular sex. i understand people have preferences, but to actually pray for it?
It seems, even from Leah's experience, that it is not advisable to pray for a particular outcome.