So, we get compliments from people on our daughter - yay. Initially, when people said something nice, I would amusingly make some noise, not sure what the right thing to say was.Then, my wife said that the proper response is to say, "Thank you", since they are proferring a compliment.
However, my problem with this is that while we were involved with creating her, a rabbinic statement says that there are three partners involved in the creation of life: a male, a female, and God (Niddah 31a), so why are we necessarily accepting the compliment.
Furthermore, any glance at the Bible will yield the obvious result that the proper response should somehow entail a recognition of God's blessing and handiwork and that this is surely it.
Personally, I don't feel comfortable saying "Thank you" on people complimenting the cuteness of our daughter, because I think that we should say "Thank God".
The one problem with this is that it may sound weird for two reasons: 1) I may come out sounding like a religious freak and 2) someone expecting an appreciate response such as "Thank you" may feel slighted at not being properly acknowledged for their proffering.
Oh well, I guess I will have to figure it out situationally.
5 comments:
I think if you keep the "Baruch Hashem" down to a 5-10 minimum during a conversation then you should be able to walk out of it without seeming like a religious fanatic.
ha! that's great :)
I also feel weird when people compliment me on my son's cuteness. I thank them, then say I can't really take credit for how cute he is. I just provided some genetic material, and he did the cute part himself.
You could try this line, "For babies, being cute is a survival strategy." (Which it is--but also kind of gets you out of the situation.)
Go for religious freakiness. We need to reclaim the implication of "That person is very religious" - from "they must be coldhearted, proud, and illogical" to "they must be full of humility and divine love".
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