Christianity in talmud and midrash: Parallelomania or parallelophobia?

One of the best-known statements about identity from ancient times is doubtless that made by Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians 3:28 regarding the equality and cooperation among all those who believe in Jesus. Paul says: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."1 This universal declaration is in striking contrast to an opposite Jewish expression. In the Morning Blessings, it states: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has not made me a Gentile⋯ who has not made me a slave⋯ who has not made me a woman." I would like to begin with these two positions regarding the question of identity as a way of introducing the issue of polemics. Is Jewish self-identity, which seems here to be formulated in a manner diametrically opposed to that of Paul, expressed in deliberate polemics with it, or was the Jewish formula already known to Paul, and was it he who turned it topsy-turvy?.