Berakhot 11b (יא:) — the Talmud in English

“Who forms light and creates darkness,” [

and below it will be explained what the second blessing is] .

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

But let him say: “Who forms light and creates radiance.”

The Gemara answers:

As it is written

in the verse,

we say it,

using the wording of the verse [Isaiah 45:7]: “Who forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates evil.”

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

If that is so,

why, when it comes to what is written in the verse [there],

“Who makes peace and creates evil,” do we say it as it is written?

Yet we say, “Who makes peace and creates everything.”

Rather,

it is evident that although in the verse

“evil” is written, and

in the blessing

we read “everything,”

because the Sages formulated the blessings in

elevated language; “evil” is not pleasant language. If so, the difficulty returns to its place:

here too,

it would be appropriate

to say “

radiance,” which is

elevated language,

and not “darkness,” which is not pleasant language.

The Gemara answers:

Rather, Rava said:

The reason that we specifically mention “creates darkness” is that the Sages instituted that both during the day and at night we mention darkness and light together,

in order to mention

the

quality of day,

namely, light,

at night. And

the

quality of night,

namely, darkness,

during the day [

to make known that one Creator created darkness and light, thereby refuting the view of the heretics who say that the one who created light did not create darkness].

The Gemara wonders:

Granted, “the quality of night during the day”

we mention

as we say, “Who forms light and creates darkness”; but “the quality of day at night”—

where do you find it

in the wording of the blessing? The Gemara answers:

Abaye said:

We say in the evening prayer,

“Who rolls away light before darkness and darkness before light,”

and “light” is the mention of the quality of day at night.

The Gemara further clarifies:

And the other one,

the second blessing recited in the morning before the Shema—

what is it?

The Gemara explains:

Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: “Ahava Rabba.”

And so, Uri,

he instructed,

Rabbi Elazar instructed Rabbi Pedat, his son:

“Ahava Rabba.”

It was taught likewise in a beraita: “In the morning one does not say

the blessing

‘Ahavat Olam,’ but rather ‘Ahava Rabba.’”

And the Rabbis say [

the other amoraim, who disagreed with Shmuel and Rabbi Elazar, and held] that the wording at the beginning of the blessing is

“Ahavat Olam” [

and there is no disagreement except concerning the opening words of the blessing; according to everyone, the remainder of the blessing's wording is the same] .

And so it is,

as

the verse

[Jeremiah 31:2]

says: “I have loved you with an eternal love; therefore I have drawn you with kindness.”

Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: One who rose early

in the morning

to study

before prayer—

before he recited the Shema

with its blessings—

must recite

the blessing over Torah before he studies. But if he wishes to study

after he has recited the Shema, he need not recite

the blessing over Torah, because

he has already been exempted

from his obligation through reciting

the

blessing

“Ahava Rabba”

before the Shema. This is because this blessing contains a form of the wording of the blessings over Torah: “Grant in our hearts to learn and to teach, to observe, to perform, and to fulfill all the words of the study of Your Torah,” corresponding to “Make the words of Your Torah pleasant in our mouths,” while “And teach us the statutes of life” corresponds to “Who chose us and gave us eternal life within us.”

Rav Huna said: Before

study of

Scripture,

one must recite

the blessing over Torah,

but

before

midrash,

one

need not recite

a blessing, because according to Rav Huna the blessing over Torah was instituted only for the Written Torah.

And Rabbi Elazar said: For Scripture and midrash one must recite a blessing,

but specifically for midrash, because it is close to Scripture, such as the Mekhilta, Sifra, and Sifrei, which are midrashim on the verses. But

for Mishna,

which is the principal part of the Oral Torah,

one need not recite a blessing

over it beforehand, because “words of Torah” refers only to the body of the verses that were spoken by the mouth of the Lord.

And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One must recite a blessing even for Mishna,

because the content of its teachings was spoken by the mouth of the Lord;

but for Talmud,

which consists of explanations of the reasoning and bases of the Mishna and resolutions of Mishnayot that contradict one another,

one need not recite a blessing.

And Rava said: One must recite a blessing even for Talmud,

since it is the principal form of Torah, from which practical rulings emerge.

There is proof of this,

as Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi said: Many

times

I would

I would stand before Rav

in order

to review a chapter with him from the Sifra in the school of Rav. He would rise early, wash his hands,

and take his hands,

and recite

the blessing over Torah,

and

only afterward

he would teach us the chapter.

The Gemara discusses:

What blessing does he recite?

What is the wording of the blessing over Torah?

The Gemara explains:

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel:

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe,

Who sanctified us with His mitzvot and commanded us to engage in words of Torah.

And Rabbi Yohanan concludes it in this manner:

May You make pleasing, Lord,

the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of Your people, the House of Israel, so that we and they will enjoy engaging in them out of love,

and may we, our descendants, and the descendants of Your people, the House of Israel, all know Your Name

and engage in Your Torah. Blessed are You, Lord, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel.

And Rav Hamnuna said:

This is the wording of the blessing over Torah: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe,

Who chose us from among all the nations and gave us His Torah. Blessed are You, Lord, Who gives the Torah.

And the Gemara concludes:

But

that of Rav Hamnuna

is the finest of the blessings

over Torah, because it contains acknowledgment of God, praise of the Torah, and praise of Israel ;

therefore, let us recite them all.

We learned there in tractate Tamid [5:1]: At dawn, after the priests had arranged the limbs of the morning daily offering on the ramp and salted them, they descended and went to the Chamber of Hewn Stone to recite the Shema. There

they recited the Ten Commandments and the passages

the supervisor—

that is, the deputy High Priest—

said to them:

“Recite one blessing,”

one of the blessings preceding the recitation of the Shema. The Gemara will explain below which blessing it was.

And they recited, and read the Ten Commandments

and the passages of

“Hear,” “And it will be, if you obey,” and “And the Lord spoke.” They did not, however, recite the Eighteen Benedictions, because they had no time. Therefore, they recited the Shema even though its time had not yet arrived ab initio, because they feared that they would become occupied with the service and would not have time.

And they blessed the people [that is, together with the people ]

[that is, together with the people ]

with three blessings,

and these are:

“True and Certain,” and “Service,”

and the Priestly Blessing

—with which they blessed the people.

And on Shabbat,

they also

added one blessing for the outgoing watch,

so that it would bless the incoming watch, because the watches changed on Shabbat.

The Gemara discusses:

What is the meaning of “one blessing”

that the supervisor instructed them to recite? [That is, which of the two blessings preceding the recitation of the Shema did the priests recite?]

There is room to examine this matter,

as in the incident involving Rabbi Abba and Rabbi Yosei bar Abba: They happened to come to a certain place, and the people there asked them: What is

that

“one blessing”

that the priests would recite in the morning in the Temple?

And they did not have

an answer.

They went and asked Rav Mattana,

and he too

did not have

an answer.

They went and asked Rav Yehuda. He said to them: This is what Shmuel said:

the blessing of

“Great Love.”

Rabbi Zerika said in the name of Rabbi Ami, who said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish:

The blessing of

“Creator of Light”

was recited by the priests in the Temple.

When Rav Yitzhak bar Yosef came

from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia,

he said: That statement of Rav Zerika was not stated explicitly—

he did not hear directly from Resh Lakish that the one blessing recited in the Temple was “Creator of Light”—

but by inference,

from Resh Lakish’s words

it was stated—

he understood it in this manner.

For Rabbi Zerika said in the name of Rabbi Ami, who said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: This indicates that

from the fact that he instructed them, “Recite one blessing,” it follows that

the blessings

of the Shema

do not prevent one another.

If one recited one blessing but did not recite the other, he has fulfilled his obligation through that one blessing that he recited; we do not say that one is ineffective without the other.

From this Rabbi Zerika proved that Resh Lakish held that the one blessing recited in the Temple was “Creator of Light.” Rabbi Zerika reasoned as follows:

Granted, if you say

that the priests recited the blessing of

“Creator of Light”

and not “Great Love,” then it is clear that they recited it when its time arrived in the morning, and therefore

this is what

Resh Lakish meant when he said, “This indicates that

the blessings do not prevent one another,” for

they recited only one blessing, and afterward they certainly

did not recite

the blessing of

“Great Love,”

because they had no time.