Berakhot 4b (ד:) — the Talmud in English

And if they hold in accordance with Rabban Gamliel,

that the meaning of “when you lie down” is all the time that people lie down and sleep, and the entire night is included in this, then

let them say “

until the rise of dawn”

in accordance with Rabban Gamliel?

The Gemara answers:

Actually, they hold in accordance with Rabban Gamliel,

that “when you lie down” means all the time that people lie down, that is, until the rise of dawn.

And the fact that they say

that its time is only

until midnight,

is in order

to distance a person from transgression,

so that he will not rely on the fact that much time still remains and ultimately neglect the mitzva.

As it was taught

in a beraita:

The Sages made a safeguard for their words,

and said that the time for reciting the Shema is only until midnight,

so that a person who comes home from the field in the evening will not say:

“There is still sufficient time for me to recite the Shema until the rise of dawn;

I will go

first

to my house and eat a little (a small amount),

a small amount,

and drink a little,

and sleep a little,

and afterward I will recite the Shema and pray, and

eventually

sleep will overcome him, and it will turn out that he slept the entire night,

and he will have neglected the mitzva of reciting the Shema.

However,

since the Sages instituted that one recites it until midnight, it follows that when

a person comes home from the field in the evening,

he should not go home, but rather

enter the synagogue, and if he is accustomed to read

Torah,

he reads

until the time for reciting the Shema arrives.

And if he is accustomed to study

Mishna,

he studies, and

when the time arrives,

he recites the Shema and prays

the evening prayer, and afterward he goes home

and eats his bread and recites the blessing.

The beraita concludes with a warning:

And anyone who transgresses the words of the Sages

and delays reciting the Shema until after midnight,

is liable for death.

The Gemara asks:

What is different in every other place,

in every instance where the Sages’ decrees are mentioned,

that it does not teach

that one who transgresses them

is liable for death; and what is different here, that it teaches: “is liable for death”?

The Gemara answers:

Alternatively, if you wish, say: Because

with regard to reciting the Shema

there is

a concern of

being overcome by sleep.

That is, since a person is tired at night, there is concern that if he does not exert himself to fulfill the mitzva, sleep will overcome him. Therefore, they needed to warn him more stringently.

Alternatively, if you wish, say:

The beraita comes

to exclude the one who says

[below, 27b] that

the evening prayer

is not obligatory like Shacharit and Minḥa, but is only

optional.

Therefore,

it teaches us

that the tanna in the beraita, in his warning that one who transgresses the words of the Sages is liable for death, teaches

that

the evening prayer

is obligatory.

The Master said,

in the aforementioned beraita:

He recites the Shema, and

afterward

prays.

The Gemara demonstrates this from the words of the beraita:

It supports Rabbi Yoḥanan, for Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Who is one destined for the World to Come? —

One who juxtaposes redemption

to the evening prayer,

who recites the Shema and its blessings before prayer, without interrupting between them.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi

disagrees and

says:

All

the prayers

of the day

were instituted in the middle,

between the morning Shema and the evening Shema. That is, in the evening one should pray before reciting the Shema and its blessings, and only afterward recite the Shema with its blessings.

And since we learned in the beraita that in the evening he recites the Shema first and only afterward prays, it follows that it supports Rabbi Yoḥanan.

The Gemara asks:

What is the point of their disagreement?

What are the reasons for their respective positions?

The Gemara explains:

Alternatively, if you wish, say

that they disagree over the interpretation of a verse,

and alternatively, if you wish, say

that they disagree over

reasoning.

The Gemara explains:

Alternatively, if you wish, say

that they disagree over

reasoning.

Rabbi Yohanan holds that the redemption

in Egypt

also took place at night

, since they were already given permission to leave at night [as stated below, 9a].

But the full redemption

, namely, the actual departure from Egypt,

took place only in the morning

, that is, at daybreak. Since there was redemption at night as well, one must juxtapose the redemption [blessing] to the prayer at night too.

And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi holds: Since

the actual redemption

took place only in the morning, it did not take place

—the redemption at night is not considered a

full redemption

. Therefore, there is no need to juxtapose the prayer to it.

And alternatively, if you wish, say that it is based on a verse; and both expounded the same verse, as it is written

[Deuteronomy 6:7]:

“When you lie down

and when you rise,”

the verse equates the obligation to recite the morning Shema, whose source is “when you rise,” with the obligation to recite the evening Shema, whose source is “when you lie down”; and they disagree as to how to expound this equation:

Rabbi Yohanan holds: The verse equates lying down with rising: Just as when one rises

[in the morning] he first recites

the recitation of the Shema

and only

afterward prays, so too when one lies down

[in the evening]

also

he first recites

the recitation of the Shema and

only

afterward prays.

.

But

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi holds

that indeed the verse

equates lying down with rising

, but the equation is to be expounded as follows:

Just as when one rises

[in the morning] he recites

the recitation of the Shema near his bed,

close to the time he rises from his sleep—that is, there is no prayer interrupting between rising and reciting the Shema—

so too when one lies down

[in the evening]

also

he recites

the recitation of the Shema near his bed,

close to the time he lies down. That is, the prayer should not interrupt between reciting the Shema and going to sleep; it follows that he first prays, and only afterward recites the Shema.

Mar, son of Ravina, raised an objection

to Rabbi Yohanan’s position that one must juxtapose redemption to prayer in the evening as well. For we learned in the Mishna below [11a]:

In the evening

one recites two blessings before it and two afterward.

And if you say that one must juxtapose

redemption to prayer in the evening as well,

then he does not juxtapose redemption to prayer, for he must say “Who causes us to lie down,”

which is not a blessing concerning redemption. If so, does he not juxtapose redemption to prayer?

The Gemara answers:

They said

, they said in resolution:

Since the Sages instituted

the recitation of the blessing

“Who causes us to lie down,”

it too is considered

like an extended redemption.

It is a continuation of the first blessing, which concerns redemption, and thus there is a juxtaposition of redemption to prayer.

The proof for this is as follows:

For if you do not say so,

it should also be difficult

in the morning prayer: How can he juxtapose

redemption to prayer?

But Rabbi Yohanan said: At the beginning,

before he begins the Eighteen,

he says, “Lord, open my lips

and my mouth shall declare Your praise,”

and at the end,

after he has completed the Eighteen,

he says,

“May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before You, Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Since he says “Lord, open my lips” before the prayer, it follows that he interrupts between redemption and prayer.

Rather,

one is compelled to say that

there

—in the morning prayer—

since the Sages instituted the recitation of

the verse

“Lord, open my lips,” it is considered like an extended prayer

and is considered a juxtaposition of redemption to prayer.

Here too,

concerning the blessing “Who causes us to lie down,”

since the Sages instituted the recitation of “Who causes us to lie down,” it is considered like an extended redemption

, and it is not an interruption between redemption and prayer.

Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rav Avina: Whoever recites “A Song of Praise of David”

three times every day

is assured that he is a member of the World to Come!

The Gemara clarifies:

What is the reason?

If you say

that this psalm is important

because it follows the alphabetical order,

since its verses are arranged according to the order of the letters of the alphabet — if so,

let him recite

the psalm

“Happy are those whose way is perfect”

[Psalms 119],

which follows eightfold order,

since its verses are arranged according to the alphabet and repeat themselves eight times, and it has an advantage over “A Song of Praise of David,” whose alphabetical order appears only once.

Rather,

if you say

that

the importance of this psalm is

because it contains

the statement

“You open Your hand

and satisfy the desire of every living thing,” which praises the preparation of food for every living creature—there is still a question:

let him recite the

great

Hallel [Psalms 115] ,

for it says there, “Who gives bread to all flesh

for His kindness endures forever,” and that too is praise for the preparation of food for every creature?

Rather,

necessarily, the importance of the psalm “A praise of David” is

because it contains two

of the aforementioned virtues— it is arranged according to the order of the letters of the alphabet, and it also says in it, “You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with favor,” which is praise for the preparation of food for every living thing.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Why was there not stated

a verse beginning with the letter

nun in “Ashrei,”

as verses were stated for all the other letters? —

Because it contains

in the letter nun an allusion to

the downfall of Israel’s enemies [the downfall of Israel],

(the downfall of Israel),

as it is written [Amos 5:2]:

(Amos 5:2):

“She has fallen; she shall not rise again, the virgin of Israel.”

In the West,

in Eretz Yisrael, which lies to the west of Babylonia,

they explain it as follows:

they interpreted and resolved this verse favorably in this manner:

“She has fallen, and she shall fall no more,”

but

“rise, O virgin of Israel.”

That is, the words “she shall fall no more” belong to the beginning of the verse, whereas the words “rise, O virgin of Israel” are read separately.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said:

Although King David did not state in “A praise of David” a verse corresponding to the letter nun, because it contains an allusion to the downfall of Israel,

even so, David again supported it through divine inspiration—

he again alluded immediately to support following the downfall,

as

the verse beginning with the following letter, samekh,

states: “The Lord supports all who fall.”

Furthermore,

Rabbi Elazar bar Avina said: Greater is what is stated with regard to Michael,

who is the angel appointed over mercy,

than what is stated with regard to Gabriel,

who is the angel appointed over judgment,

for with regard to Michael it is written [Isaiah 6:6]:

(Isaiah 6:6):

“And one of the seraphim flew to me,”

and the meaning of the expression “flew” is that he reached his destination in a single flight in order to fulfill his mission. But with regard to the angel

Gabriel it is written [Daniel 9:21]:

(Daniel 9:21):

“And the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, came flying swiftly,”

and the doubled expression “came flying swiftly” means that he reached his destination to fulfill his mission in two flights, with an interruption between them.

The Gemara asks:

What is the indication that this “one

of the seraphim

” is Michael?

The Gemara explains:

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is derived

by means of a gzera shava,

“one” from “one.”

It is written here, “And one of the seraphim flew to me,” and it is written there [Daniel 1:13]:

(Daniel 10:13):

“And behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.”

Just as “one of the chief princes” refers to Michael, so too “one of the seraphim” refers to Michael.

A tanna

taught in a beraita:

Michael

reaches the destination of his mission

in

one flight;

Gabriel

reaches it

in two.

Elijah

the prophet reaches it

in four.

And the Angel of Death

reaches it

in eight

flights.

But at a time of plague,

the Angel of Death reaches his destination

in one.

The Gemara returns to cite statements concerning the recitation of the Shema:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Even though a person recited the Shema in the synagogue

at the time of the evening prayer,

it is a mitzva

to repeat it

upon his bed.

That is, close to the time when he lies down.

Rabbi Yosei said: What is the verse,

where do we find an allusion to this matter in the Writings? — As it is stated [Psalms 4:5]:

“Tremble and do not sin; say in your heart upon your bed, and be still forever,”

and they interpreted “your heart” as referring to the Shema, concerning which it is stated, “upon your heart.” He said that it should be recited “upon your bed,” and afterward “be still” in sleep.