Berakhot 12b (יב:) — the Talmud in English

Rav Sheshet, when he bowed -

he bowed like a branch,

like a staff held in a person's hand, which he strikes downward all at once; so too, he bowed all at once. And

when he straightened -

he straightened like a serpent,

like a serpent, which straightens itself by raising its head first and then straightens little by little. So too, when he bowed during prayer, he would raise his head first and then his body, so that his bowing would not appear burdensome to him.

And

further,

Rabba bar Ḥanina the Elder said in the name of Rav: Throughout the entire year, a person prays

and says, in the conclusion of the blessing “You are holy” in the Shemoneh Esrei -

“the holy God.”

And likewise, in the conclusion of the blessing “Restore our judges as at first,” he says throughout the year

“King who loves righteousness and justice.”

Except for the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, during which he prays

during them

“the holy King,” and

he likewise says during them

“the King of justice.”

For during these days, the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals His kingship in order to judge the world.

And Rabbi Elazar said: Even if he said “the holy God” -

he has fulfilled his obligation, as it is stated

[Isaiah 5:16]

“And the Lord of Hosts shall be exalted through justice, and the holy God shall be sanctified through righteousness.”

And this is the proof from this verse that one also fulfills his obligation with “the holy God”:

When does “the Lord of Hosts shall be exalted through justice” - -

These are the ten days from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, and

nevertheless

the verse says

the verse

“the holy God”;

therefore, after the fact, if he did not say “the holy King,” he need not repeat the prayer.

The Gemara discusses:

What was the conclusion?

How was the halakha decided?

Rav Yosef said:

One who says during the Ten Days of Repentance

“the holy God,”

and likewise

“King who loves righteousness and justice” -

has fulfilled his obligation after the fact.

Rabba said:

One is obligated to say

“the holy King and the King of justice,”

and if he erred, he must repeat the prayer.

The conclusion of the Gemara is:

And the halakha is in accordance with Rabba.

And Rabba bar Ḥanina the Elder said in the name of Rav: Whoever is able to plead for mercy on behalf of another and does not plead -

is called a sinner.

The proof is

as it is stated

[I Samuel 12:23]

“Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you.”

Rava said: If he is a Torah scholar

and this person

requires mercy, he must

his fellow

make himself ill on his behalf

through prayer for him.

The Gemara discusses:

What is the reason,

what is the proof for this?

If you say it is because it is written

[I Samuel 22:8]

“Is there none of you who is ill on my behalf and tells my ear?”

Saul was a Torah scholar, and he thought that David hated him, and complained that no one was grieved on his behalf, although he required mercy to save him from David - this is not proof, because

perhaps a king is different?

Only for a king who requires mercy is it a mitzva to grieve on his behalf.

Therefore, the Gemara explains:

Rather,

the source that one must make himself ill on behalf of a Torah scholar who is suffering is derived

from here:

[Psalms 35:13]

“But I,

when they were ill,

namely, Doeg and Ahithophel [who were Torah scholars],

I wore

I would wear

sackcloth.”

This proves that one must grieve over the suffering of a scholar.

And

further,

Rabba bar Ḥanina the Elder said in the name of Rav: Whoever commits a transgression and is ashamed of it -

all his iniquities are forgiven him.

The proof is

as it is stated

[Ezekiel 16:63]

“So that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your shame, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done, says the Lord God.”

The Gemara raises a difficulty concerning the proof:

Perhaps a congregation is different?

Perhaps they are forgiven because of the virtue of the congregation.

The Gemara therefore brings another source:

Rather, from here:

When Saul turned to Samuel through the medium of the necromancer, Samuel answered him: [I Samuel 28:15]

“And Samuel said to Saul: Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul said: I am greatly distressed, and the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has turned away from me and no longer answers me, neither through the prophets nor through dreams; and I have summoned you to tell me what I should do.”

The Gemara infers:

But he did not say “Urim and Tummim,”

he did not mention

Saul

having also inquired through them and received no answer,

because he had killed

Saul

the

men of

Nob,

the city of the priests. Saul was ashamed before Samuel, lest Samuel say to him: You caused yourself not to receive an answer through the Urim and Tummim, because you mistakenly killed the priests of Nob. And since Saul was ashamed, he was forgiven.

The Gemara clarifies:

And from where is it known that he was forgiven in Heaven?

The Gemara explains:

As it is stated

in Samuel's reply to Saul:

“And tomorrow

you and your sons shall be with me.” And Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

Samuel said to Saul: Tomorrow, you will be together

with me -

in my portion.

See the Iyun Yaakov, who writes that he was exempted only from punishment in the World to Come, but was killed by the sword in battle as punishment for not destroying Amalek, and for consulting a necromancer [see I Chronicles 10:13].

And the Rabbis say: From here

it is proven that he was forgiven:

Toward the end of David's life, there was a famine in the land for three years, and God said that the famine had come as punishment for Saul's treatment of the Gibeonites, whom he had killed. When David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you, and with what shall I make atonement, so that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?” the Gibeonites answered him: [II Samuel 21:6] “Let seven men of his sons [of Saul] be given to us

and we will hang them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.”

Surely the Gibeonites did not say the final two words, “the chosen of the Lord,” since they intended to disparage Saul and not honor him. Rather, the verse teaches that

a Divine voice emerged

after the Gibeonites' words

and said

that Saul, whose sons they demanded to kill as atonement for his sin, was

“the chosen of the Lord!”

This proves that Saul was forgiven in Heaven. [Because he was ashamed before Samuel.]

Rabbi Abahu ben Zutarti said in the name of Rav Yehuda bar Zevida: They sought to establish the passage concerning Balak as part of the recitation of the Shema.

And why did they not establish it? Because of the burden on the congregation.

The Penei Yehoshua wrote that the Exodus from Egypt is mentioned in many sections, but concerning the section of Balak it is stated [Micah 6:5], “My people, remember what Balak planned,” and so there was reason to think that it should be mentioned every day, and they wanted to establish it in the recitation of the Shema.

The Gemara discusses:

What is the reason

they wished to establish it in the recitation of the Shema?

If you say it is because it is written in it

[Numbers 23:22]

“God, who brought them out of Egypt,”

if so,

let us say the passage concerning interest, and

likewise let them institute the recitation of

the passage concerning weights,

which are short passages,

in which the Exodus from Egypt is written!?

The Gemara therefore brings another reason why they wished to establish it in the recitation of the Shema:

Rather, Rabbi Yosei bar Avin said: Because this verse is written in it

[Numbers 24:9]

“He crouched, he lay down like a lion and like a lion cub; who can rouse him?”

This is similar to “when you lie down and when you rise,” meaning that the Holy One, blessed be He, protects us when we lie down and when we rise, so that we may lie down secure and tranquil like a lion and a lion cub.

The Gemara asks:

Then let us say this verse -

and no more!?

There would then be no burden on the congregation.

The Gemara answers:

It is a received tradition

that only

a passage that Moses our teacher divided, we may divide, and

if it is

a passage that Moses our teacher did not divide -

we may not divide it.

See Tractate Megilla [22a], where it says: “Any verse that Moses did not divide, we do not divide.” The Magen Avraham [beginning of 282] explained that if one intends to complete the entire section, it is permitted to stop in the middle, as is done during the Torah reading; however, it is forbidden to stop in the middle of a verse, even if one intends to complete it. The Meromei Sadeh wrote that it is forbidden to begin in the middle of a section, but concerning a verse the prohibition is only to stop in the middle of it.

The Gemara discusses:

The passage of tzitzit -

why did they establish it

to be recited as part of the Shema?

The Gemara explains:

Rav Yehuda bar Ḥaviva said: Because it contains five matters

the Exodus from Egypt, acceptance of the yoke of mitzvot, and the notion of

the

heretics, sinful thoughts, and thoughts of idolatry.

The Gemara asks:

Granted, these three are explicitly explained:

[In addition to the Exodus from Egypt, making six in total - Vilna Gaon]

1.

The yoke of mitzvot, as it is written

[Numbers 15:39]

“And you shall see it and remember all the mitzvot of the Lord.”

Rashi [s.v. “yoke”] cited the verse “and you shall perform all My mitzvot.” See Dikdukei Soferim, which notes that the version before him in the Yalkut [section of Shelach] did not include the verses.

2.

Tzitzit -

as it is written: “And they shall make for themselves tzitzit.”

3.

The Exodus from Egypt -

as it is written: “Which I brought out.”

Rather,

the notion of

heretics, sinful thoughts, and thoughts of idolatry -

from where do we derive them?

The Gemara explains, from

as it was taught in a beraita: “

And you shall not stray

And you shall not stray

after your heart” -

this refers to heresy,

those who turn the reasons of the Torah into erroneous interpretations.

And likewise it says

[Psalms 14:1]

“The fool says in his heart

‘There is no God.’”

And there is no greater fool than one who turns the words of the living God into something else.

“After your eyes” - this refers to thoughts of transgression.

“After your eyes” -

this refers to sinful thoughts.

As it is stated [Judges 14:3]:

“And Samson said to his father: Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”

“You shall stray” -

this refers to thoughts of idolatry, and likewise it says

[Judges 8:33]

“And they strayed after the Baalim.”

Mishna:

The Exodus from Egypt is mentioned at night. They recite in the Shema the passage of tzitzit, in which the matter of the Exodus from Egypt is mentioned , even though the night is not the time for tzitzit, since it is stated concerning it, “And you shall see it - and remember.” Nevertheless, it is recited at night because of the Exodus from Egypt mentioned in the passage.

Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah said: I appear

to be

about seventy years old,

and I did not merit

deciding in accordance with my view

that the Exodus from Egypt should be mentioned at night, until Ben Zoma expounded

as follows:

As it is stated [

Deuteronomy 15:3]:

“So that you may remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life”—

“the days of your life”

these are

the days

during which one must mention the Exodus from Egypt, while the addition

“all the days of your life”

comes to include also

the nights.

And the Sages

who disagree with this

say

that the verse is expounded as follows:

“the days of your life,”

this world [until the Messiah comes], whereas the addition

“all”

is stated

to include

the days of the Messiah,

when as well one will be obligated to mention the Exodus from Egypt.

Gemara:

It was taught

in the Tosefta:

Ben Zoma said to the Sages: Do we mention the Exodus from Egypt in the days of the Messiah? Has it not already been stated [

to the Sages: “Do we mention the Exodus from Egypt in the days of the Messiah? But it has already been stated

Jeremiah 23:7]:

“Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought the Children of Israel up from the land of Egypt,’ but rather, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought up and Who brought the offspring of the House of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands to which I had banished them.’”

They said to him: No,

the prophet did not mean to say

that

in the days of the Messiah

the mention

of

the Exodus would be uprooted from its place; rather,

the redemption from

the subjugation to the kingdoms will be primary, and the Exodus from Egypt secondary.

Similarly, you say in explanation of the verse [

Genesis 35:10]:

“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob; rather, Israel shall be your name.”