They asked Rabbi Yehoshua: ‘Why does a male emerge [from the womb] face down, while a female emerges face up?’ He said to them: ‘The male looks to the place of his creation30The earth. and the female looks to the place of her creation.’31The body. ‘Why do women have a need to perfume themselves, but men do not need to perfume themselves?’ He said to them: ‘Man was created from the ground, and the ground never becomes malodorous, while Eve was created from a bone.
The analogy is: If you leave meat for three days without salting it, it will immediately spoil.’ ‘Why does a woman have a voice that carries far away, whereas a man does not?’ He said to them: ‘If you fill a pot with meat, it does not make a loud sound [as it boils], but if you place a bone in it, immediately it will make a loud sound.’ ‘Why is a man easily persuaded, but the woman is not easily persuaded?’
He said to them: ‘Man was created from soil, and once you put a drop of water on it, it immediately becomes drenched. Eve was created from a bone, which, even if you soak it in water for several days, does not become drenched.’ ‘Why is it that the man propositions the woman but the woman does not proposition the man?’ He said to them: ‘To what is the matter analogous? To one who lost an item; he seeks his lost item, but his lost item does not seek him.’32Adam’s rib (or side) is the “lost” item that he seeks to retrieve. ‘Why is it that the man deposits seed in the woman, and the woman does not deposit seed in the man?’33And the man would be the one to gestate and bear children.
He said to them: ‘It is comparable to one who has in his possession an object he needed to deposit for safekeeping, and he seeks a reliable person with whom he can deposit it.’34The woman’s body, unlike that of the man, is shaped in a manner that makes her belly a suitable place for a fetus to grow. ‘Why do men go out [sometimes] with their heads uncovered, but a woman’s head is always covered?’ He said to them: ‘It is analogous to one who committed a transgression and is ashamed in front of people.
That is why she goes out [only] with her head covered.’35Eve was the one who sinned first by eating the forbidden fruit. ‘Why do women walk in front of the dead [in a funeral procession]?’ He said to them: ‘It is because they caused death to exist in the world; that is why they walk in front of the dead.’ That is what is written: “Following him36A dead person. are all men, [and before him, those without number]” (Job 21:33).37The men follow the bier, while the women go in front.
Women are called “those without number” because they are not counted in the Torah’s censuses. ‘Why were the laws involving menstruation given to her?’ ‘It is because she spilled the blood of Adam the first man; that is why she was given the laws involving menstruation.’ ‘Why was the mitzva of ḥalla38The separation of a portion of dough for the priest. given to her?’39See Mishna Shabbat 2:6. ‘It is because she brought ruin upon Adam the first man, who was the ḥalla at the completion of the world;40See Bereshit Rabba 14:1. that is why the mitzva of ḥalla was given to her.’ ‘Why was the mitzva of the Shabbat candle given to her?’
He said to them: ‘It is because she extinguished the [eternal] soul of Adam the first man; that is why the mitzva of the Shabbat candle was given to her.’