Berakhot 5a — the Talmud in English

Rav Naḥman said: ![](pamud.bmp "

exact location of the folio")

If he is a Torah scholar,

who is accustomed to review his version constantly,

he does not need

to recite the Shema upon his bed .

Abaye said: Even a Torah scholar

who does not need to recite the Shema,

it is necessary for him to recite one verse of mercy, such as

“Into Your hand I entrust my spirit; You have redeemed me, Lord, God of truth.”

[Psalms 31:6].

Rabbi Levi bar Ḥama said:

thus

said Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: A person should always rouse

his

good inclination

against

the evil inclination

so that he will wage war with it,

as it is stated

[there, 4:5]:

“Tremble, and do not sin.”

If he defeats it, well and good; and if not, he should engage in Torah, as it is stated

in the continuation of the aforementioned verse,

“Speak

within your heart.”

If he defeats it, well and good; and if not,

he should recite the Shema, as it is stated

there,

“upon your beds.”

If he defeats it, well and good; and if not, he should remind it of

the day

of death, as it is stated

there,

“And be silent forever.”

And the intention is to the day of silence, that is, death, which is everlasting silence.

And

further

Rabbi Levi bar Ḥama said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: What is the meaning of that which is written,

What is the explanation of the verse [Exodus 24:12], “Come up to Me upon the mountain and be there,

and I shall give you the stone tablets and the Torah and the commandment that I have written, to teach them”?

“Tablets” — these are the Ten Commandments ;

“Torah” — this is Scripture —

the Five Books of the Torah.

“And the commandment” — this is Mishna.

“That I have written” — these are “Prophets and Writings.”

“To teach them” — this is “Gemara.”

And this verse

teaches that all of them —

the Ten Commandments, Torah, Prophets, Writings, Mishna, and Gemara —

were given to Moses at Sinai.

The Gemara returns to discuss “the recitation of the Shema upon the bed”:

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: Anyone who recites the Shema upon his bed is as though he holds a double-edged sword

in his hand —

a sword whose two sides are sharp, and with which he can strike the harmful beings from both sides.

As it is stated

[Psalms 149:6]:

“The praises of God in their throats, and a double-edged sword in their hand.”

The Gemara asks:

What indicates this!?

How is it indicated that this verse speaks of one who recites the Shema upon his bed?

And it explains:

Mar Zutra said, and some say

[that it was

Rav Ashi who said it]:

from the beginning of the matter it is implied thus,

as it is written

in the preceding verse:

“The pious shall exult in honor; they shall sing

upon their beds,”

which is an allusion to one who recites the Shema upon his bed,

and it is written afterward,

in the verse that follows:

“The praises of God in their throats, and a double-edged sword in their hand.”

And

further

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: Anyone who recites the Shema upon his bed, harmful beings keep away from him,

as it is stated

[Job 5:7]:

“And the sons of flame raise flight,” and

this verse is expounded as follows:

“Flight” is nothing other than “Torah,”

as it is stated

[Proverbs 23:5]:

“Will you cause your eyes to fly upon it, and it is gone.”

That is, if you close your eyes to Torah study — “and it is gone,” it is immediately forgotten from you. And just as “you cause to fly” is stated concerning Torah, so “flight” refers to Torah.

And “flame” is nothing other than “harmful beings,” as it is stated

[Deuteronomy 32:24]:

“Devoured by famine, and consumed by fiery flame and bitter destruction.”

“Bitter destruction” is the name of a demon; from here, “fighters of flame” is also the name of a harmful being. It follows that the intention of the verse is that “flight,” that is, Torah study, will raise up and remove the “sons of flame,” who are the harmful beings.

The Gemara brings another exposition of this verse:

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Anyone who engages in Torah, afflictions keep away from him, as it is stated: “And the sons of flame raise flight,” and

this verse is expounded as follows:

“Flight” is nothing other than “Torah,”

as it is stated:

“Will you cause your eyes to fly upon it, and it is gone”; and “flame” is nothing other than “afflictions,” as it is stated: “Devoured by famine, and consumed by fiery flame.”

“Devoured by famine” means swollen from hunger, and since hunger, which is affliction, is adjacent to “flame,” it too is interpreted as referring to afflictions.

It follows that the intention of the verse is that “flight,” that is, Torah study, will raise up and remove the “sons of flame,” who are the afflictions.

Rabbi Yohanan said to him: This -

matter, that the Torah protects from sufferings,

even schoolchildren

who have not yet learned the Book of Job, in which it is written, “And the sons of Reshef

know it,”

for it is an explicit verse in the Torah,

as it is stated [

Exodus 15:26]:

“And he said, ‘If you will surely heed

the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is upright in His eyes, and give ear to His commandments, and observe all His statutes, every disease that I placed upon Egypt I shall not place upon you

for I am the Lord your healer.’”

Rather,

this is how this matter is to be expounded:

Anyone who is able to engage in Torah and does not engage in it, the Holy One, blessed is He, brings upon him sufferings

that are ugly

and that trouble him,

confusing the clarity of his mind.

As it is stated [

Psalms 39:3]:

“I was mute in silence; I was silent from good, and my pain was troubled.”

If I was silent from “good,” then my pain was troubled.

And “good” means only “Torah,” for

indeed

it is stated concerning the Torah [

Proverbs 4:2]:

“For I have given you a good teaching; do not forsake My Torah.”

And this means that the “sons of Reshef,” which are the sufferings, will raise up the study of Torah, which is called “a bird,” so that he will be unable to engage in it because of the force of the sufferings .

This verse is expounded in another manner:

Rabbi Zeira said, and some say [

there was one who said that it was said by]

Rabbi Hanina bar Pappa: Come and see that the measure of the Holy One, blessed is He, is not like the measure of flesh and blood; the measure of flesh and blood

the attribute of the Holy One, blessed be He, is the attribute of flesh and blood. The attribute of flesh and blood

is that when

a person sells an object to his fellow, the seller is sad,

because he was forced by his distress to remove from his possession something important to him ,

while the buyer is happy

that an object important to him has come into his possession.

But the Holy One, blessed is He, is not so; He gave Israel the Torah

and was happy,

for He warned them not to forsake the Torah, and praised it before them after giving it to them, that it is a good teaching, as

it is stated: “For I have given you a good teaching; do not forsake My Torah.”

And further concerning sufferings:

Rava said, and some say Rav Hisda: If a person sees that sufferings are coming upon him, he should examine

[search]

his deeds,

whether he has no transgression in his possession on account of which the sufferings are fit to come upon him, and he should return concerning it in repentance,

as it is stated [

Lamentations 3:40]:

“Let us search out our ways and investigate, and return to the Lord.”

He examined but did not find

a transgression on account of which sufferings would be fit to come,

he should attribute

the sufferings

to

the sin of

neglect of Torah,

as it is stated [

Psalms 94:12]:

“Fortunate is the man whom You discipline, O Lord, and from Your Torah You teach him.”

Fortunate is the person who, because of sufferings that come upon him, strengthens himself in Torah study, and through this they are removed from him.

And if he attributed them and did not find

in his possession even the sin of neglect of Torah,

it is known

that these sufferings

are sufferings of love,

for the Holy One, blessed is He, afflicts him in this world without any sin, in order to increase his reward in the World to Come beyond his merits,

as it is stated [

Proverbs 3:12]:

“For whom the Lord loves He rebukes.”

And further concerning sufferings:

Rava said in the name of Rav Sehora in the name of Rav Huna: Anyone

who

the Holy One, blessed is He, desires

He loves him and wishes to increase his reward,

He crushes him

with sufferings, as it is stated [

Isaiah 53:10]:

“And the Lord desired to crush him; He afflicted him.”

One whom the Holy One, blessed is He, desires, He crushes with the sufferings of illness.

It might be thought

that He increases his reward

even

if

he did not accept them with love? The verse teaches

[in the continuation of the verse]:

“If You make his soul a guilt offering,”

and it is expounded as follows:

Just as

a sacrifice

guilt offering

is not offered except

with the consent

of the owner, but it is not offered against his will,

so too sufferings:

their reward exists only if they are

with consent.

That is, that he accepted them with love.

And if he accepted them

with love,

what is his reward?

The verse continues and says:

“He shall see seed; he shall prolong days.” And furthermore, his learning is sustained in his possession,

as

it is stated

at the end of the verse:

“And the desire of the Lord shall succeed in his hand,”

and this means the Torah, concerning which it is stated, “And all your desires shall not compare with it”; it shall succeed in his hand.

Further concerning sufferings of love:

They dispute concerning it,

they disputed concerning their definition,

Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi and Rabbi Aha bar Hanina:

One said: What are sufferings of love? —

Any that do not involve neglect of Torah,

that do not cause neglect of Torah,

as it is stated: “Fortunate is the man whom You discipline, O Lord.”

And the continuation of the verse teaches concerning which sufferings it says, “Fortunate is the man”:

“And from Your Torah You teach him,”

when they do not involve neglect of Torah.

And one said: What are sufferings of love? —

Any that do not involve neglect of prayer, as it is stated [

Psalms 66:20]:

“Blessed is God, who has not removed my prayer and His kindness from me.”

That is, He has not removed from me the ability of my prayer.

He said to them,

to Rabbi Yaakov bar Idi and Rabbi Aha bar Hanina,

Rabbi Abba, son of Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba: Thus said Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Both these and those,

both sufferings that involve neglect of Torah and those that involve neglect of prayer,

are sufferings of love, as it is stated: “For whom the Lord loves He rebukes.”

Rather,

if so,

what is the meaning of: “And from Your Torah teach us”

whose meaning is specifically that they are not afflictions of love if they involve neglect of Torah? The verse is not speaking of afflictions of love, but of the significance of afflictions that cleanse sins.

Do not read “you will teac

h

him”

in the singular, referring only to the one who suffers,

but “teac

h

us”

[with a doubled letter]. That is,

this matter,

the significance of afflictions that atone for sins,

“from Your Torah you will teach us.”

From the Torah we learn this

by a kal va-chomer fro

m a slave whose master knocked out his

“tooth”

or

“eye,”

so that he goes free. And this is how it is to be learned:

Just as tooth and eye, which are

only

one of a person’s limbs,

if the master struck his Canaanite slave,

the slave goes free through them. Afflictions, which cleanse

all

of a person’s body, all the more so

that through them a person goes free from his sins.

And this is the statement of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish

—these words, that afflictions cleanse sins, are in accordance with the words of Resh Lakish.

For Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: “Covenant” is stated with regard to salt, and “covenant” is stated with regard to afflictions,

and as he explains:

“Covenant” is stated with regard to salt, as it is written

[Leviticus 2:13]:

“You shall not omit the salt of the covenant

of your God from your meal-offering.”

And “covenant” is stated with regard to afflictions, as it is written

after the rebuke and curses in Mishneh Torah [Deuteronomy 28:69]:

“These are the words of the covenant

that the Lord commanded Moses.” And one should expound by a gzera shava: just as with regard to “covenant” stated concerning salt,

salt

enters the flesh and draws out the blood, and

sweetens the flesh,

entering the flesh and drawing the blood out of it,

so too, with regard to “covenant” stated concerning afflictions, the afflictions

enter a person’s flesh and draw out from him the boiling of the blood that brings him to sin, and thereby

cleanse all of a person’s sins.

Further concerning afflictions:

It was taught,

we learned in a beraita:

Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai says: The Holy One, blessed is He, gave Israel three good gifts, and He gave all of them only through afflictions.

And these are they: Torah, the Land of Israel, and the World to Come.

Torah—from where

that it is acquired through afflictions?

As it is stated: “Fortunate is the man whom You afflict, O Lord, and from Your Torah You teach him”

—that he is afflicted and thereby merits Torah.

The Land of Israel

—from where that it is acquired through afflictions?

As it is written

[Deuteronomy 8:5]:

“For just as a man chastises his son, the Lord your God chastises you,” and it is written afterward

—and it is written after it [8:7]:

“For the Lord your God

is bringing you to a good land, a land of streams of water, springs and depths issuing forth in valley and mountain.”

It follows that through “chastises you” one merits the Land of Israel.

The World to Come

—from where that it is acquired through afflictions?

As it is written

[Proverbs 6:23]:

“For a mitzva is a lamp and Torah is light, and the way of life is rebukes of discipline.”

“The way of life” means life in the World to Come, and one merits this through “rebukes of discipline” [afflictions] in this world.

Another statement connected with afflictions:

A tanna taught

[an amora who would teach beraitot, memorized them]

before Rabbi Yohanan: Everyone who engages in Torah and in acts of kindness,