Pesachim 104b (קד:) — the Talmud in English

And we conclude:

And the halakha does not follow him!

Because one does not conclude with two themes.

Ulla happened to come to Pumbedita.

Rav Yehuda said to his son, Rav Yitzḥak: Go and bring him

to Ulla

a basket

a small basket

of fruit, and observe how he recites havdala.

Through this you will be able to observe how he recites havdala.

He did not go

Rav Yitzḥak himself; rather,

he sent Abaye

in his place, to go to Ulla.

When Abaye returned

back,

he said to him,

Rav Yitzḥak:

What did

Ulla say?

He said to him,

Abaye:

He said, “Blessed is He who distinguishes between sacred and profane,” and no more.

That was the entirety of his havdala, and he did not mention any other distinctions.

Rav Yitzḥak came

Rav Yitzḥak

before his father,

Rav Yehuda.

He said to him,

Rav Yehuda to his son:

What did

Ulla say?

He said to him,

Rav Yitzḥak:

I did not go

but

I sent Abaye

to Ulla,

and he told me

that Ulla had said as follows:

“He who distinguishes between sacred and profane”

alone.

Rav Yehuda said to

his son, Rav Yitzḥak:

Your arrogance and your obstinacy,

meaning your arrogance and obstinacy in not going yourself,

caused it that you did not state the teaching from his own mouth.

So that people would not attribute this teaching of Ulla to you, but to Abaye. For they said that with regard to any Torah scholar whose teaching is quoted, his lips move in the grave.

Meytivi:

It was taught in a beraita:

All blessings open with “Blessed” and conclude with “Blessed,”

those that have both an opening and a conclusion.

Except for the blessing over

the

mitzvot

such as the blessing over donning tzitzit and the blessing over taking the lulav,

the blessing over fruit, and a blessing adjacent to another blessing,

such as the blessings of the Amida,

and the final blessing of the recitation of Shema.

Although the recitation of Shema interrupts between the blessings before it and those after it, nevertheless the blessing after it is considered a blessing adjacent to the blessing before the recitation of Shema, because one must juxtapose the blessing of “True and Firm” [or “True and Faithful” in the evening] to the conclusion of the recitation of Shema. Therefore, they are considered one extended blessing.

Some of them

that

open

with

“Blessed” but do not conclude

with

“Blessed.”

For example, the blessings over mitzvot and the blessings over fruit, which are short blessings, and therefore have only an opening.

And some conclude with “Blessed” but do not open with “Blessed.”

For example, a blessing adjacent to another blessing, which does not open with “Blessed,” because the preceding blessing, which opened with “Blessed,” exempts it from doing so.

And the blessing “Who is good and bestows good,”

which is the fourth blessing of Grace after Meals, although it is adjacent to the preceding blessing, the first blessing of Grace after Meals, which opens with “Blessed,” nevertheless it too

opens with “Blessed,”

since it is an independent blessing, instituted as an expression of thanksgiving for those killed in Beitar [in which one says “Who is good” because they were given burial, and “Who bestows good” because their bodies did not decompose].

It does not conclude

with

“Blessed,”

although we make it somewhat lengthy. In any event, it is all one expression of thanksgiving, and it is therefore like the blessings over mitzvot and fruit.