Pesachim 103b (קג:) — the Talmud in English

Rav Bruna and Rav Ḥananel, Rav’s students, were sitting at a meal.

Rav Yevai the Elder was standing over them

serving them.

They said to him: “Give us”

a cup of wine

and

let us recite Grace after Meals

over it!

In the end,

afterward, they reconsidered and

said to him: “Give us”

a cup of wine

and let us drink

first, before we recite Grace.

He said to them

Rav Yevai the Elder:

Since you said, “Give us and let us recite Grace,”

you are forbidden to drink

until after Grace after Meals.

What is the reason?

Because

you diverted your attention from drinking.

By saying, “Give us and let us recite Grace,” you diverted your attention from drinking wine, and you are forbidden to drink until after Grace after Meals.

This indicates that Grace after Meals is considered a diversion of attention; therefore, I recited the blessing again over the wine that followed Grace after Meals.

Ameimar, Mar Zutra, and Rav Ashi were sitting at a meal, and Rav Aḥa son of Rava was standing over them.

Ameimar recited a blessing over every cup,

each time he drank during the meal he recited Borei peri hagefen.

Mar Zutra recited a blessing over the first cup and over the final cup.

Only over the first cup drunk during the meal and over the cup of Grace after Meals, which he drank after Grace after Meals, in accordance with Rava’s ruling above.

Rav Ashi recited a blessing over the first cup, and did not recite another blessing

even over the cup of Grace after Meals.

Rav Aḥa son of Rava said to them: As for us,

according to whom should we act?

How should we conduct ourselves in practice?

Ameimar said:

I

“reconsider.”

With every cup I drink, I intend not to drink any more, and only afterward do I reconsider and drink another cup. This constitutes a diversion of attention, and therefore I had to recite a blessing over every cup, since there was a diversion of attention between them.

Mar Zutra said: As for me,

I act like Rav’s students.

I did not reconsider, and therefore I recited a blessing only over the first cup. I also recited a blessing over the cup of Grace after Meals, because Grace after Meals constitutes a diversion of attention, as we inferred above from the case of Rav’s students.

And Rav Ashi said: The halakha is not in accordance with Rav’s students!

Grace after Meals does not constitute a diversion of attention, and one need not recite a blessing even over the cup of Grace after Meals.

The proof of this is:

For in the case of a Festival that occurs after Shabbat, and Rav said:

“Yakunaz!”

That is, he recites the blessing over the wine only once, and need not recite Borei peri hagefen separately for kiddush and separately for havdala. If so, here too, he need not recite a blessing over the cup of kiddush and then recite another blessing over the cup of Grace after Meals.

It therefore emerges that what Rav Yevai the Elder said in the name of Rav was contradicted by Rav’s own statement!

And we reject this:

That is not so!

There,

in the case of Rav’s students,

he completely diverted his attention from drinking

by saying, “Give us and let us recite Grace.”

Here,

in the case of a Festival that occurs after Shabbat,

he did not divert his attention from drinking,

because he had not yet begun drinking, and throughout kiddush and havdala he intended to drink. Therefore, he need recite only one blessing for both of them.

The Gemara continues the account concerning Rav Yaakov bar Abba, who happened to come to Rava’s house; this took place on Shabbat. [The Gemara interrupted the account in the middle with the incident involving Ameimar, Mar Zutra, and Rav Ashi, who disagreed over whether the halakha follows Rava and Rav’s students.]

When

Rava reached the time on Saturday night

to recite havdala, his attendant arose

his servant

and lit a torch from a lamp,

from another lamp, for the blessing over the lights of fire.

Rav Yaakov bar Abba said to him

Rava, after he had recited havdala:

Why do you need all this

to light a torch?

The lamp is already placed here;

it is before you, so why can you not recite the blessing over it?

Rava said to him:

Rava

The attendant

my servant

did this on his own initiative,

and I did not instruct him to do so.

Rav Yaakov bar Abba said to him:

Rav Yaakov bar Abba

If he had not heard

your servant

from the Master,

if he had not heard from you that this is the proper practice,

he would not have done it!

Rava said to him:

Rava: Surely

the Master does not hold

that

a torch for havdala

is the choicest way to perform the mitzva?!

Rava began

Rava

and said:

Blessed is

He who distinguishes between sacred and profane, between Israel and the nations, and between the seventh day and the six days of the week.

Blessed is He who distinguishes between sacred and profane.

Rav Yaakov bar Abba said to him:

Rav Yaakov bar Abba

Why do you need all this

to elaborate so much?

But did Rav Yehuda not say in the name of Rav:

Blessed is

He who distinguishes between sacred and profane

this is the distinction formulated by Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi,

and he did not say anything more?

Rava said to him:

Rava

I hold in accordance with this view:

As Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Oshaya: One who minimizes

in matters of havdala

should not recite fewer than three

forms of distinction.

And one who adds should not add beyond seven!