Pesachim 103b — the Talmud in English

For Rav Bruna and Rav Hananel, Rav’s disciples, were sitting at a meal. ![](pamud.bmp "

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Rav Yevai the Elder

stood over them and was serving them,

.

They said to him: Give us

a cup of wine,

and let us recite

the 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 the blessing.

He said to them,

Rav Yevai the Elder:

Since you said, “Give us and let us recite the blessing,”

it has become forbidden for you to drink

until after the Grace after meals.

What is the reason?

Because

you diverted your attention.

For by saying, “Give us and let us recite the blessing,” you diverted your attention from drinking wine, and it is forbidden for you to drink until after the Grace after meals.

Thus, the Grace after meals is considered a diversion of attention, and therefore I recited the blessing again over the wine after the Grace after meals.

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

Ameimar recited a blessing over every cup and every cup,

each time he drank during the meal he recited, “Who creates the fruit of the vine.”

And Mar Zutra recited a blessing over the first cup and over the last cup.

Only over the first cup during the meal and over the cup of the Grace after meals [which he drinks after the Grace after meals], as Rava said above.

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

even over the cup of the Grace after meals.

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

according to whom shall we act?

How should we conduct ourselves in practice?

Ameimar said:

I

am one who reconsiders!

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

Mar Zutra said: As for me—

I acted as Rav’s disciples.

I did not reconsider, and therefore I recited a blessing only over the first cup. And I also recited a blessing over the cup of the Grace after meals, because the Grace after meals is a diversion of attention, as we inferred above from Rav’s disciples.

And Rav Ashi said: The halakha is not as Rav’s disciples!

And the Grace after meals is not a diversion of attention, and one need not recite a blessing even over the cup of the Grace after meals.

And there is proof for this:

For behold, when a Festival occurred after Shabbat, and Rav said—

YKNH!

That is, he recites the blessing over the wine only once, and he need not recite “Who creates the fruit of the vine” over the kiddush separately and over the havdala separately. And if so, here too, he need not recite a blessing over the cup of kiddush and recite a blessing again over the cup of the Grace after meals.

It follows that what Rav Yevai the Elder said in the name of Rav was contradicted by Rav himself!

And we reject this:

That is not so!

There,

with Rav’s disciples,

he uprooted his attention from drinking

by saying, “Give us and let us recite the blessing.”

Here,

when a Festival occurred after Shabbat,

he did not uproot his attention from drinking,

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

And the Gemara continues the account concerning Rav Yaakov bar Abba, who happened upon Rava’s house, and this was on Shabbat. [And the Gemara interrupted in the middle, with the incident of Ameimar, Mar Zutra, and Rav Ashi, who disputed whether the halakha is like Rava and Rav’s disciples].

When

Rava reached the conclusion of Shabbat

to perform havdala, his attendant arose,

his servant,

and lit a torch from a lamp,

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

Rav Yaakov bar Abba said to him,

to Rava, after he had performed havdala:

Why do you need all this

to light a torch?

The lamp is lying there;

behold, the lamp is placed before you, so why is it impossible to recite the blessing over it?

Rava said to him:

Rava:

The attendant,

my servant,

did it 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

from him

from the Master,

if he had not heard from you that one should act this way,

he would not have done it!

Rava said to him:

Rava: And does the Master not hold

that

a

torch for havdala—

is a mitzva of the best kind?!

Rava began

Rava

and said:

Blessed is

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

Blessed is He who distinguishes between the sacred and the ordinary.

Rav Yaakov bar Abba said to him:

Rav Yaakov bar Abba:

Why do you need all this

to make it so lengthy?

But Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav:

Blessed is

He who distinguishes between the sacred and the ordinary—

this is the distinction of Rabbi Yehuda the Prince,

and he did not say more?

Rava said to him:

Rava:

I hold in accordance with this—

For Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Oshaya: One who diminishes [

in matters of havdala ]

should not diminish below three

forms of distinction.

And one who adds should not add beyond seven!