Berakhot 14b — the Talmud in English

Because

it is written ![](pamud.bmp "

exact page location") [Jeremiah 10:10]

“And the Lord God is true.”

And since we find that the prophet joined these words together, one may not interrupt between them. The Gemara now discusses a case in which one interrupted after saying, “The Lord your God is true”: When he begins to say the blessing of “True and Firm” again, does he

repeat

and say

“true” again, or

does he begin with “and firm” and

does not repeat and say “true”?

The amoraim disagreed about this:

Rabbi Abbahu said in the name of

Rabbi Yohanan: He repeats and says “true.” Rabba said: He does not repeat and say “true.”

There was a certain

man

who went down

before the ark,

before Rabba. Rabba heard him say “true, true” twice,

but he did not repeat and say, “The Lord your God is true.”

Rabba said: Whenever one says “true, true,”

the flow of speech causes the word “true”

to seize this man.

Rav Yosef said: How excellent is that teaching

that follows:

When Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda

came from the Land of Israel to Babylonia,

he said: In the West,

when they recite the Shema in the Land of Israel

in the evening,

they do not recite the entire passage of tzitzit, but only

“Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: I am the Lord your God, true.”

This is because the commandment of tzitzit does not apply at night, and there is no need to mention it.

Abaye said to him: What is the excellence of this teaching? And

since they did not need to say the entire passage,

did Rav Kahana not say in the name of Rav

that when reciting the evening Shema,

one should not begin,

meaning that one need not begin reciting the passage of tzitzit,

but if he began, he completes it!

Since the people of the Land of Israel began reciting it, why did they not complete the entire passage?

And if you would say

that saying

“and say to them”

alone

is not considered a beginning,

because they had still not begun stating the subject of the commandment of tzitzit, then they could skip ahead and say only the end of the passage.

But Rav Shmuel bar Yitzhak said in the name of Rav:

Reciting

“Speak to the children of Israel” is not considered a beginning,

but

reciting “and say to them” is considered a beginning.

If so, why did they not finish the entire passage? The Gemara answers:

Rav Pappa said: They hold in the West

that saying

“and say to them” is also not considered a beginning,

and one is not required to continue reciting the entire passage

until he says, “And they shall make for themselves fringes,”

because only saying the beginning of the passage's discussion of tzitzit obligates him to recite the entire passage.

Abaye said: Therefore, we

Babylonians

do begin

reciting the passage of tzitzit in the evening, up to “and say to them,” as

they begin in the West

[and thus we do not follow Rav, who said, “One should not begin.”]

And since we begin,

and our view is that “and say to them” is considered a beginning,

we also complete

the entire passage.

For Rav Kahana said in the name of Rav: “One should not begin, but if he began, he completes it.”

Hiyya bar Rav said:

If he

said “I am the Lord your God,” he must

finish and

say “true,”

in accordance with the prophet's wording, “And the Lord God is true.” He must also continue the blessing that begins with “True and Faithful.” But if he recited the passage of tzitzit and

did not say “I am the Lord your God,” he need not say “true,”

nor the continuation of the blessing.

The Gemara raises a difficulty: How can he skip the entire passage of tzitzit and the blessing that follows it?

But

we learned above [12b] that one who recites the Shema

must mention the exodus

from Egypt

at night?

The Gemara answers:

He said as follows:

“We thank You, the Lord our God, for taking us out of the land of Egypt, redeeming us from the house of bondage, performing miracles and mighty deeds for us at the sea, and for our singing to You.”

He concludes with “Who is like You” until “Who redeemed Israel,” and thereby fulfills his obligation to mention the exodus from Egypt at night.

We learned in the Mishna: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha said: Why does the passage of Shema precede

“And it shall be, if you hearken”? So that one will first accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Gemara offers another reason for placing “Shema” before “And it shall be, if you hearken.”

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai says: It is proper that one first recite

the passage of

“Shema” before

that of

“And it shall be, if you hearken,”

because

this one,

“Shema,” concerns a person's obligation

to study

the Torah himself, as it says in it, “And you shall speak of them,”

whereas

that one,

“this one,”

“And it shall be, if you hearken,” concerns the obligation

to teach

others, as it says in it, “And you shall teach them to your children.” A person must necessarily study first himself, and only afterward can he teach others.

For this reason, the recitation of the passage

“And it shall be, if you hearken” precedes “And the Lord spoke,” because this one,

“And it shall be, if you hearken,” contains

teaching

the Torah,

whereas

that one,

“this one,”

“And the Lord spoke,” contains only

performing

the commandment of tzitzit.

The Gemara asks:

Is that so?

Does

“Shema”

contain only

“to study,”

and does it not contain

“to teach” and “to perform”? But it is written

in the passage of “Shema,”

“And you shall teach them diligently,”

which means “to teach,” and it also says

“And you shall bind them” and “And you shall write them,”

which means “to perform” the commandments?!

Furthermore,

there is a difficulty with the reason given by the beraita: Does the passage

“And it shall be, if you hearken” contain only

“to teach,”

and

not

“to perform”? But it is written

in it

“And you shall bind them,”

which refers to performing the commandment of tefillin, and likewise

“And you shall write them,”

which refers to making a mezuzah. The Gemara explains:

Rather, this is what

the tanna in the beraita meant:

It is proper that “Shema” precede “And it shall be, if you hearken,” because this

passage of “Shema” contains

“to study,” “to teach,” and “to perform,”

whereas “And it shall be, if you hearken” does not contain “to study,” but only “to teach” and “to perform.”

For this reason, the recitation of the passage

“And it shall be, if you hearken” precedes “And the Lord spoke,” because this one,

“And it shall be, if you hearken,” contains

“to teach” and “to perform,”

whereas

“And the Lord spoke” contains only “to perform.”

The Gemara asks: Why did Rabbi Shimon need to give a reason for the order of the passages of the Shema?

Let him derive it from

the reason

of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha

in the Mishna.

The Gemara explains: Rabbi Shimon does not disagree with the reason in the Mishna; rather,

“one reason and another” he said. One reason is so that one first accepts upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven and afterward accepts upon himself the yoke of the commandments. And another

reason is

because it contains these other matters.

Rav washed his hands,

he would wash his hands in the morning,

and recited the Shema, and put on

his tefillin,

and prayed

the Eighteen Benedictions.

The Gemara asks:

How did he do

this

in this manner,

placing the recitation of the Shema before putting on tefillin?

But it was taught in a beraita: One who digs a niche for the

burial of a

dead person

in the walls of a

burial cave

is considered occupied with a commandment, and therefore he is

exempt

at that time

from reciting the Shema, from prayer, and from tefillin,

even though the time for fulfilling them arrives while he is digging,

and

he is certainly exempt

from all the commandments stated in the Torah

whose time is not fixed.

When the time for reciting the Shema arrives, he emerges

from the cave,

washes his hands, puts on tefillin, recites the Shema, and prays.

This indicates that he puts on tefillin before reciting the Shema, unlike Rav's practice of reciting the Shema before putting on tefillin.

Before resolving this difficulty, the Gemara first discusses the beraita itself:

This matter itself is difficult: At first it says

that the tanna says that he is

“exempt”

from reciting the Shema because he is occupied with a commandment.

But

in the

latter clause

the tanna says that he is

obligated

to ascend and recite it?

The Gemara explains:

This is not difficult; the latter clause

speaks of a case in which there are

two

people engaged in digging, and they cannot dig together. Therefore, one of them recites and prays, and when he finishes, he exchanges places with his fellow. The

latter clause

deals

with one,

who digs alone and must continue until he finishes, and is exempt from all the commandments.

The Gemara returns to its difficulty concerning Rav:

In any event, this remains difficult for Rav,

since putting on tefillin precedes reciting the Shema.

The Gemara answers:

Rav

disagrees with this beraita, because

he holds in accordance with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha, who says

in our Mishna that one must first accept

the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven

in the passage of “Shema,”

and afterward

accept

the yoke of the commandments,

and therefore he put on tefillin after reciting the Shema.

The Gemara rejects this answer:

You can say that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha said

this when one is obligated to recite two passages, and must

precede the recitation

of “Shema,” which is acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven,

to the recitation

of “And it shall be,” which is acceptance of the yoke of the commandments. But when one is obligated both to recite and to perform a commandment, to precede

the recitation

of “Shema”

to the performance

of the commandment in practice,

can you hear that he said this?

Furthermore,

there is another reason to reject this:

Did

Rav

really hold in accordance with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha? But did Rav Hiyya bar

Ash[i] not say: Many times

[he said: “Many times”]

I would stand before Rav, and

I saw that he

would rise early,

in the morning,

wash his hands,

recite

the blessings over Torah study,

teach us a chapter, put on tefillin, and then recite the Shema.

This indicates that Rav disagreed with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha, since he preceded engaging in Torah study, which is “the recitation of a commandment,” to reciting the Shema, which is “the recitation of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.”

And if you would say

that Rav indeed holds like Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korkha, and the reason he preceded Torah study to the recitation of the Shema was only

in

a case

in which the time for reciting the Shema had not yet arrived.

This cannot be said.

If so, what

novel point is there in

the testimony of Rav Hiyya bar Ashi?

It is obvious that before the time for reciting the Shema, one is permitted to study. Necessarily, his testimony was intended to say that Rav studied even after the time had arrived, and thus disagreed with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha.

The Gemara rejects this: It is indeed possible that Rav held in accordance with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha, and the testimony of Rav Hiyya bar Ashi was that

Rav

studied before the time had arrived. Its novel point is

to exclude the view of one who says that according to the Mishna one need not recite

the blessings over Torah study.

It teaches us that even according to the Mishna one must recite the blessing,

since Rav recited it before his study.

And the Gemara raises an objection:

Nevertheless, it is difficult for Rav,

who preceded the recitation of the Shema, from the beraita that one who digs a grave puts on tefillin before the recitation of the Shema ?

And the Gemara answers: Rav would always put on tefillin before the recitation of the Shema. Only on this occasion, which was mentioned at the beginning of the matter,

it was the messenger who erred,

for he was late in bringing him his tefillin, until he feared that the time for reciting the Shema would pass and therefore he preceded the recitation and afterward put on tefillin.

Ulla said: Anyone who recites the Shema

without tefillin —

it is as though he testifies false testimony against himself!

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan:

One who recites the Shema without tefillin does not accept upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven completely, and he is

as though he offered a burnt-offering without a meal-offering, and

as though he brought

a sacrifice without libations!