Berakhot 2a — the Talmud in English

Introduction The verse says in the passage of “Shema” [Deuteronomy 6:7]: “ And these words, which I command you today, shall be upon your heart, and you shall teach them thoroughly to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” From here they learned that it is a mitzva to recite the passage of “Shema” twice each day, “when you lie down” in the evening, “and when you rise” in the morning. Mishna:

The first Mishna explains the appropriate time for the mitzva of reciting the evening Shema: from what time it begins and until what time it continues:

From what time do they recite

the Shema in the evening?

When does the time of the mitzva of reciting the evening Shema begin? —

From the time that the priests enter to eat their teruma.

Priests who were impure and immersed for their purification before sunset must wait until “the setting of the sun” in order that they may eat teruma, and this is the time of the emergence of the stars. This time is also the beginning of the time of the mitzva of reciting the evening Shema.

And the time of the recitation continues

until the end of the first watch,

the first one,

until the end of the first third of the night,

the words of Rabbi Eliezer .

And his reason is that the meaning of “when you lie down” is the time at which lying down to sleep begins, and this is the time when people go to lie down to sleep, which is only during the first third of the night.

And the Sages say:

The time for reciting the evening Shema is

until midnight

of the night. And their reason will be explained further on in the Mishna.

Rabban Gamliel says:

The time for reciting Shema is

until the dawn rises.

For according to him, the meaning of “when you lie down” is the entire time of lying down, and the entire night is the time during which people lie down.

An incident

occurred,

and his sons came

of Rabban Gamliel

from the banquet house

after midnight.

They said to him

to their father: We still

have not recited the Shema, and is it still possible to recite the Shema?

He said to them: If the dawn

has not yet

risen, you are obligated to recite.

For even according to the Sages, as a matter of fundamental law the time of recitation is the entire night; the Sages limited its time until midnight only as a safeguard, in order to distance a person from transgression, as follows.

And Rabban Gamliel added and said to his sons:

And not only this,

not only regarding the recitation of Shema do the Sages hold that as a matter of fundamental law its time is the entire night,

but everything that the Sages said

that it must be done

“until midnight,”

as a matter of fundamental law,

their mitzva is until dawn rises,

and if they were not done by midnight, it is a mitzva to do them until dawn rises.

And the Mishna brings an example of a matter practiced at night, whose mitzva time continues throughout the entire night:

The burning of fats and limbs,

the portions of the offerings that were burned upon the altar [the fat of all offerings, or the limbs of the burnt offering, which is entirely burned upon the altar], which it is a mitzva to place upon the altar on that day, and even during the night that follows,

their mitzva,

the mitzva of burning them is

until dawn rises,

and only afterward does the offering become disqualified .

And

likewise

all offerings that are eaten for one day,

the offerings whose permitted eating is on the day of their slaughter and the night that follows, such as a sin offering, a guilt offering, and a thanksgiving offering,

their mitzva,

the mitzva of eating them is

until dawn rises,

and only after dawn has risen does it become disqualified and become “notar,” forbidden to eat.

If so,

since every matter whose mitzva is at night is valid throughout the entire night,

why did the Sages say

that the time for reciting Shema and the time for eating the offerings is only

until

midnight? —

In order to distance a person from transgression,

so that a person will hurry to fulfill the mitzva and not postpone it until the end of its time, and will come to eat sacred food after dawn, which entails the prohibition of karet.

And likewise regarding the recitation of Shema: a person should not say, “There is still time to fulfill the mitzva, and I will postpone it,” while meanwhile dawn will rise and the time of the mitzva will pass.

Gemara:

From the opening of the Mishna, “From when do they recite the Shema in the evenings,” it follows that the tannai already knows about the very obligation of reciting the evening Shema, and he discusses only when the time of the obligation is.

And concerning this the Gemara asks:

Where is the tannai standing!?

Where is the tannai standing in his learning!? That is, to what is he referring in his words concerning the time of reciting Shema,

for he teaches, “From when,”

since his question is when the time of the obligation to recite it is, whereas the very obligation to recite Shema twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, he has not yet taught in the Mishna!?

Furthermore,

there is another question to ask:

What is different, that he teaches

the laws of reciting Shema

of the evening first,

whereas it would be more appropriate

to teach

the law of reciting Shema

of the morning first,

as we find with regard to the daily offering, where the Torah wrote the law of the morning daily offering before the daily offering of the afternoon? The Gemara answers:

The tannai is referring to the verse.

The tannai’s words refer to what is written in the Torah; therefore, the tannai did not teach that there is an obligation to recite Shema in the morning and in the evening,

as it is written, “When you lie down and when you rise,”

and from here we know that there is a mitzva to recite the Shema twice a day, at the time of lying down and at the time of rising.

And thus he teaches,

and this is how the tannai taught:

The time of reciting the “Shema” of “lying down”—

when,

does it begin? —

from the time that the kohanim enter to eat their teruma.

And since his question concerns this verse, the tannai first opened with the evening recitation of Shema, because “when you lie down” is stated before “when you rise.”

And if you wish, say:

and if you wish, say another way to resolve why he gave precedence to the evening—

for

he learned

the tannai learned

from

what is stated in

the creation of the world.

For it is written [Genesis 1:5]:

“And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

“And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

Thus, evening precedes morning.

The Gemara asks:

If so,

if indeed the tannai opened with the evening recitation because he learned this from the creation of the world, then also in

the conclusion, where he teaches,

in the continuation of the Mishna [below 11a]:

In the morning he recites two

[two blessings]

before it

[before the recitation of Shema],

and

one blessing

after it. And in the evening he recites two before it and two after it—

let him teach

the laws of the blessings of the recitation of Shema

of the evening first!?

Why did the tannai mention the laws of the blessings of the morning recitation of Shema first?

The Gemara answers:

The tannai opened

his words in the first Mishna

with the evening,

in the order of the creation of the world,

and afterward he taught,

and afterward, at the beginning of the next Mishna, he taught the time of reciting Shema

in the morning.

And while he was standing with the morning recitation,

while he was still dealing with the morning recitation of Shema,

he expounded matters,

he continued to expound the other laws of the blessings of the recitation of Shema

of the morning.

And afterward, he expounded the matters of the evening.

And after he finished, he returned to expound the laws of the evening recitation of Shema. Therefore, with regard to the blessings, the tannai mentioned those of the morning before those of the evening, because their laws were not taught separately.

The Master said

in our Mishna: “From when do they recite the Shema?”—

from the time that the kohanim enter to eat their teruma.

The Gemara asks:

Now,

after all,

when do kohanim eat

their

teruma?—

From the time of

the emergence of the stars

[as explained in the beraita below]. It follows that the time for reciting Shema is from the time of the emergence of the stars. If so,

let him teach

in our Mishna that the time for reciting Shema is

from the time of the emergence of the stars—

and why did the tannai make the time of reciting Shema dependent upon the time that the kohanim enter to eat?

The Gemara answers:

A matter incidentally, in the course of its teaching, it informs us

the tannai, through the addition of his wording,

that when do kohanim eat teruma? From the time of the emergence of the stars.

And this it informs us:

the tannai came to inform us through this

that atonement does not prevent.

Even if the kohanim became impure with severe impurity, such as the impurity of one with a flux or of a person afflicted with scale disease, whose purification depends upon an offering that the impure person brings for atonement, and as long as they have not brought the offering they are prohibited from eating sacred food and from entering the Temple, nevertheless, with regard to eating teruma, bringing the offering does not prevent them, but once they immersed and the time of the emergence of the stars arrived, they are permitted to eat teruma.

As it was taught

in the beraita, this law and its source: It is stated in the Torah [Leviticus 22:7]:

“And the sun comes and he becomes pure,

and afterward he may eat from the sacred things.” And this verse was stated with regard to teruma, and the Sages expounded, “And the sun comes”:

the coming of his sun prevents him,

only sunset prevents him

from eating teruma.

And his atonement does not prevent him from eating teruma.

Rather, once the sun has set and the stars have emerged, the kohanim are permitted to eat teruma.

The Gemara raises an objection to the beraita:

And from where

is it that what the verse says,

“And the sun comes,”

means

the coming of

[the setting of]

the sun, and that what

the verse says,

“and he becomes pure,”

means

the day becomes pure,

that the day has become completely clear [has been vacated and passed] from the world? That is, that the sun has completely set until the stars emerge, and from then he is permitted to eat teruma, and bringing the offerings does not prevent him.