Berakhot 2a (ב.) — the Talmud in English

Introduction The verse states 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 along 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 proper time for the mitzva of reciting the evening Shema: when it begins and until when it continues:

From when do they recite

the Shema in the evening?

When does the mitzva-time for reciting the evening Shema begin? —

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

Priests who had been impure and immersed themselves for purification before sunset must wait until “the setting of the sun” in order to eat teruma; this is the time when the stars emerge. This time is also the beginning of the time for the mitzva of reciting the evening Shema.

The time for reciting it continues

until the end of the first watch

—

until the end of the first third of the night,

the statement of Rabbi Eliezer .

His reason is that “when you lie down” means the time when lying down begins, which is the time when people go to bed; and that 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. Their reason will be explained later in the Mishna.

Rabban Gamliel says:

The time for reciting Shema is

until the rise of the dawn.

In his view, “when you lie down” means the entire time of lying down, and the entire night is a time when people lie down.

It happened

that

his sons came

of Rabban Gamliel

from the banquet hall

after midnight.

They said to him

their father: We have still

not recited the Shema; may we still recite the Shema?

and can we still recite the Shema?

He said to them: If

the

dawn has not yet risen, you are obligated to recite it.

For even according to the Sages, the time for reciting it as a matter of strict law is the entire night; the Sages limited its time to midnight only as a safeguard, in order to distance a person from transgression, as stated below.

Rabban Gamliel continued and said to his sons:

And not only that,

not only do the Sages maintain that, as a matter of strict law, the time for reciting Shema is the entire night,

but everything that the Sages said

must be performed

“until midnight,”

as a matter of strict law,

its mitzva-time is until dawn,

and if it was not performed by midnight, it is a mitzva to perform it until dawn.

The Mishna gives an example of this principle concerning something performed at night, whose mitzva-time continues throughout the entire night:

The burning of the fats and limbs,

the portions of the sacrifices that were burned on the altar [the fat of all sacrifices, or the limbs of a burnt-offering, which is entirely burned on the altar], which it is a mitzva to place on the altar on that day and also during the following night,

their mitzva-time,

the mitzva of burning them, is

until dawn,

and only afterward does the sacrifice become invalid.

And

likewise,

all offerings that may be eaten for one day,

sacrifices whose permitted eating extends through the day on which they were slaughtered and the following night, such as a sin-offering, a guilt-offering, and a thanksgiving-offering,

their mitzva-time,

the mitzva of eating them, is

until dawn,

and only once dawn has risen do they become invalid and become notar, forbidden to eat.

If so,

given that anything whose mitzva is performed at night remains valid throughout the entire night,

why did the Sages say

that the time for reciting Shema and the time for eating the sacrifices 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 thereby come to eat sacred meat after dawn, when doing so incurs the punishment of karet.

And likewise regarding reciting the Shema, so that a person should not say, “There is still time to perform the mitzva,” and postpone it; meanwhile dawn will arrive and the time for the mitzva will pass.

Shenot Eliyahu that Rabban Gamliel in our Mishna does not disagree with the Sages, but only with Rabbi Eliezer], and in Sha'agat Aryeh raises a difficulty about this, because how is it possible to establish a safeguard for the sake of a possible later recitation of the Shema, and now nullify the mitzva of reciting the Shema for one who certainly did not recite it, and see Pri Yitzchak [there] who reconciled their words. And the view of Rashi [3a, s.v. lav] is that according to the fundamental law, everyone agrees that the mitzva is to recite it until dawn; however, according to the Sages, the Rabbis established a safeguard for this matter and said that it is until midnight, while Rabban Gamliel does not hold of this safeguard. According to his view, one may recite it ab initio until dawn, and according to his approach, the Rashba and the Ritva and the Rosh [ here and below 9a], since the halakha follows Rabban Gamliel, it emerges that one is permitted to recite it ab initio until dawn. The concern that he might come from the field, etc., applies only when he goes to eat or sleep, in which case there is concern that he may be negligent; but when he studies or engages in his work throughout the night, he may ab initio recite it until dawn [and see Bi'ur Halakha 235, subsection 4]. Gemara:

The opening of the Mishna, “From when do we recite the Shema in the evenings,” implies that the tanna already knew about the obligation to recite the Shema in the evening, and was discussing only when the time of the obligation is.

And concerning this the Gemara asks:

Where is the tanna standing!?

At what point is the tanna situated in his study? That is, to what is he referring in his statement concerning the time for reciting the Shema,

as he teaches, “From when,”

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

And furthermore,

there is another question:

why did he teach

the laws of reciting the Shema

of the evening recitation first,

when it would be more appropriate

to teach

the law of reciting the Shema

of the morning recitation first,

as we find concerning the daily offering, for the Torah wrote the law of the morning daily offering before that of the afternoon daily offering. The Gemara answers:

The tanna is referring to the verse.

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

as it is written, "when you lie down and when you rise",

and from this 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. 21a, s.v. “That one] They maintained that this answer is possible even according to Rav Yehuda [below, 21a], who holds that recitation of the Shema is only rabbinic, and that the verse “And you shall speak of them when you lie down and when you rise” refers to words of Torah and not to the recitation of the Shema, because the Sages gave it scriptural support. However Tosafot in Sotah 32b, s.v. “And Rabbi] wrote that this answer holds that the mitzva of reciting the Shema is from the Torah, and likewise proved from here the Pri Hadash section 67].

And this is how he teaches it,

and thus the tanna taught:

the time for reciting the Shema of “when you lie down” -

When,

when does it begin? -

from the time the priests enter to eat their teruma.

And since his question revolves around this verse, the tanna first began with the evening 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 mentioned the first of the evening ones first -

for

derives

the tanna learned

from

what is stated in

the creation of the world.

as it is written

Genesis 1:5]:

"And there was evening and there was morning, one day".

thus, evening precedes morning.

The Gemara asks:

If so,

If indeed the tanna opened with the evening recitation because he learned this from the order of the creation of the world, then also in the

conclusion, as it teaches,

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

in the morning he recites two blessings

two blessings]

before it

before reciting the Shema],

and

a blessing

one 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 the Shema

of the evening first?!

And why did the tanna mention the laws of the blessings of the morning recitation of the Shema first?

The Gemara answers:

The tanna began

his words in the first Mishna

with the evening

in accordance with the order of the world's creation,

and then taught

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

in the morning

And while he is engaged in the morning,

while he is still engaged in the matter of reciting the morning Shema,

he expounded matters,

he continued to explain the remaining laws of reciting the morning Shema

of the morning.

And afterward, he expounded the matters of the evening.

And after he finished, he returned to explain the laws of reciting the evening Shema. Therefore, with regard to the blessings, the tanna 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 we recite the Shema? -

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

The Gemara asks:

Given that,

when

do priests partake

of

terumah? -

from the time of

the emergence of the stars

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

let it teach

In our Mishna, that the time for reciting the Shema is

from the emergence of the stars,

and why did the tanna tie the time for reciting the Shema to the time when the priests enter to eat?

The Gemara resolves::

It teaches us an incidental matter

the tanna added in his wording,

that when do priests eat teruma? From the time the stars emerge.

And this teaches us

the tanna came to teach us by this,

that atonement does not prevent it.

For even if the priests became impure with severe impurity, such as the impurity of a zav or a leper, whose purification is dependent on a sacrifice brought by the impure person for atonement, and as long as they have not brought the sacrifice they are prohibited from eating consecrated food and entering the Temple, nevertheless, with regard to eating teruma, bringing the sacrifice does not prevent them, Rather, once they have immersed and the time of the emergence of the stars has arrived, they are permitted to eat the teruma..

As it is taught

in a beraita, this law and its source:]

“And the sun has set and he is pure

and afterward he may eat of the sacred offerings.” And this verse was stated regarding teruma, and the Sages expounded, “And the sun has set",

the setting 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 do we know that this

that the verse states

and the sun sets",

means

the setting of

setting of]

the sun, and this

that the verse states

and he becomes pure,

Its interpretation is:

The day has become pure,

meaning that the day has completely cleared away [departed and passed] from the world. That is, the sun has completely set, until the stars have emerged, and from that point onward he is permitted to eat teruma, and the bringing of the offerings does not delay it.