002a – מאימתי – פרק ראשון – ברכות, ב ע”א

Mishnah

From when do we recite the Shema in the evening?

From the time that the Kohanim go in to eat their terumah.^[1]

מאימתי קורין את שמע בערבין - from the time that the Kohanim go in to eat their terumah — Kohanim who had become tamei and immersed, whose sun has set, and whose time has come to eat terumah:

Until the end of the first watch.^[2]

עד סוף האשמורה הראשונה - a third of the night, as the Gemara explains (3a). From then on the time has passed, for it is no longer called the time of lying down, and when you lie down no longer applies to it. And before this, too, it is not the time of lying down. Therefore one who recites it earlier has not fulfilled his obligation. If so, why do we recite it in the synagogue? In order to stand up for prayer out of words of Torah. And so it is taught in a beraisa in the Yerushalmi on Berachos. Therefore we are obligated to recite it once it has become dark; and with the reading of the first parshah, which a person reads upon his bed, he has fulfilled his obligation:

These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer.

And the Chachamim say: until midnight.

Rabban Gamliel says: until the dawn rises.

עד שיעלה עמוד השחר - for the whole night is called the time of lying down:

It once happened that his sons came home from a wedding feast.

They said to him: We have not recited the Shema.

He said to them: If the dawn has not yet risen, you are obligated to recite it.

And not only this did they say.

Rather, wherever the Chachamim said “until midnight”,

the mitzvah lasts until the dawn rises.

The burning of the fats and the limbs,^[3]

הקטר חלבים ואברים - of korbanos whose blood was sprinkled by day:

חלבים - of all the korbanos:

אברים - of the olah:

its mitzvah lasts until the dawn rises.

מצותן - to bring them up all night; and they do not become invalid through being left overnight until the dawn rises, while they lie below the mizbeach, as it is written, it shall not remain overnight until the morning (Shemos 34:25):

And all that are eaten for one day,^[4]

וכל הנאכלים ליום אחד - such as the chatas, the asham, the lambs of Atzeres, menachos and the todah:

their mitzvah

מצותן - the time for eating them:

lasts until the dawn rises.

עד שיעלה עמוד השחר - and that is what makes them nosar,^[5] as it is written of the todah, he shall not leave any of it until morning (Vayikra 7:15); and all of them learn from the todah:

If so, why did the Chachamim say “until midnight”?

אם כן למה אמרו חכמים עד חצות - regarding the Shema and the eating of kodashim:

In order to keep a person far from transgression.

כדי להרחיק אדם מן העבירה - they forbade the eating before its time, so that he should not come to eat it after the dawn rises and become liable to kares. And likewise with the Shema, to spur a person on, so that he should not say, “I still have time”, and meanwhile the dawn rises and his time has passed. And regarding the burning of the fats taught here, the Chachamim did not say “until midnight” at all; it is mentioned here only to teach that anything done at night is valid the whole night. And so too we learned in the second perek of Megillah (20b): the whole night is valid for harvesting the omer and for burning the fats and the limbs:

Gemara

Where does the Tanna stand,^[6] that he teaches “from when”?

היכא קאי - from where does he come, that he has already taught in it the obligation of the Shema, so that he begins here by asking the time of the reading:

And further, why does he teach the evening first? Let him teach the morning first!

The Tanna stands upon the verse.

אקרא קאי - and from there he learned the obligation of the reading:

As it is written (Devarim 6:7): when you lie down and when you rise.

And this is what he teaches: the time of the Shema of lying down — when is it?

From the time that the Kohanim go in to eat their terumah.

And if you wish, say:

ואי בעית אימא - that the Tanna taught the evening first, he learns it from the creation of the world:

he learns it from the creation of the world.

As it is written (Bereishis 1:5): and there was evening and there was morning, one day.

If so, the later clause, which teaches: In the morning he says two brachos before it and one after it,^[7]

and in the evening he says two brachos before it and two after it —

let him teach the evening first!

The Tanna opened with the evening, and then taught the morning.

והדר תנא בשחרית - “From when do we recite the Shema in the morning?”:

While he was dealing with the morning, he explained the matters of the morning, and then explained the matters of the evening.

The master said:^[8] From the time that the Kohanim go in to eat their terumah.

Now consider:

when do the Kohanim eat terumah?

From the time the stars come out.

Let him teach “from the time the stars come out”!

משעת צאת הכוכבים - which is the completion of sunset, as is learned below (on amud b):

He teaches us something in passing.

When do the Kohanim eat terumah?

From the time the stars come out.

And this he teaches us: that the kapparah^[9] does not hold him back.

As it was taught in a beraisa (Vayikra 22:7): and the sun sets, and he is tahor — the setting of his sun holds him back from eating terumah, but his kapparah does not hold him back from eating terumah.

And from where do we know that this “and the sun sets” is the setting of the sun, and this “and he is tahor” means the day is clear?

Tosafos

מאימתי קורין וכו' - Rashi explained: And how do we recite it while it is still day, and do not wait for the stars to come out, as the Gemara explains? Therefore Rashi explained that the Shema upon the bed is the main one, and it is after the stars come out; and so it is in the Yerushalmi: if he recited it earlier he has not fulfilled his obligation; and if so, why do we recite the Shema in the synagogue? In order to stand up for prayer out of words of Torah. But this is difficult for his explanation: the world is not accustomed to recite close to lying down anything but the first parshah (below, 60b), and if so, he should have to recite three parshiyos. And it is further difficult, for one must say brachos with the evening Shema, two before it and two after it. And further, that Shema close to the bed is only on account of the mazikin, as is said shortly (5a): and if he is a talmid chacham he does not need it. And it is further difficult: if so, we would rule like Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who said the prayers were instituted in the middle, that is, in the middle between the two Shemas, between the Shema of the morning and the Shema of the evening; but we hold like Rabbi Yochanan, who says below (4b): who is one who inherits the World to Come? One who joins the geulah of the evening to the tefillah. Therefore Rabbeinu Tam^[10] explained that, on the contrary, the Shema of the synagogue is the main one. And if you ask: how do we recite it so early in the day? One can say that we hold like Rabbi Yehudah, who says in perek Tefillas Hashachar (26a) that the time of the Minchah prayer is until plag haminchah, that is, eleven hours less a quarter, and as soon as the time of Minchah ends, the time of the evening begins. And if you ask: how do we pray Minchah close to dark, and even after plag haminchah? One can say that we hold like the Rabbanan, who say the time of the Minchah prayer is until evening, and we say below (27a): now that the halachah has not been stated either like this master or like that master, one who does like this master has done properly, and one who does like that master has done properly. In any case it is difficult, for these are two leniencies that contradict one another: for on what basis do we pray the evening prayer right after plag haminchah? Because we hold that the time of Minchah ends as Rabbi Yehudah says, and the time of the evening begins at once; yet for the time of the prayer itself we do not hold like Rabbi Yehudah but like the Rabbanan. Therefore the Ri says that certainly the Shema of the synagogue is the main one, and we who pray the evening prayer while it is still day hold like those Tannaim of the Gemara who say: from the time the day is sanctified, and also from the time people go in to recline, that is, the Friday-night meal, which was while it was still day, and from that time it is the time of prayer. And there is also a proof (below, 27b) that Rav would pray the Shabbos prayer on Erev Shabbos, and presumably he also recited the Shema. From all these proofs it is implied that the Shema of the synagogue is the main one. And as for what is said in the Yerushalmi, “why would they recite it in the synagogue”, and so on — Rabbeinu Tam says that they were accustomed to recite the Shema before their prayer, as we are accustomed to say Ashrei first, and that Shema is only in order to stand up for prayer out of words of Torah. And from here it appears that one who recites the Shema upon his bed should not say a bracha, and he need recite only the first parshah:

ליתני דשחרית ברישא - as we find with the tamid, where the morning one is written first:

אי הכי סיפא דקתני שחרית ברישא - if you say that he relies on the verse when you lie down, then the verse is particular only about the Shema; but if you say that he relies on the verse of the creation of the world, then it is particular about everything. If so, the later clause, which teaches, and so on:

מברך שתים לפניה וכו' - (Yerushalmi) And the seven brachos correspond to seven times a day I praise You (Tehillim 119:164). And it does not count Yir'u Eineinu, for that bracha was instituted by the Rabbanan in order to wait for their fellows in the synagogue; and that only in their synagogues, which stood in the field where they were in danger from mazikin; but in our synagogues one need not wait for one's fellows except at night:

והא קמ"ל דכפרה לא מעכבא - and if you ask: we have already learned this once in maseches Nega'im (perek 14), and it is cited in perek Ha'arel (Yevamos 74b): once his sun has set he may eat terumah. One can say that it is the way of the Mishnayos to teach us briefly, even what has already been explained:

Notes

1. 1. Terumah is the portion of produce given to a Kohen, and it may be eaten only in purity. A Kohen who became tamei immerses in a mikveh, but may not eat terumah until the sun has set.
2. 2. A watch is one division of the night. Whether the night has three watches or four is disputed in the Gemara on 3a, so “the end of the first watch” is a third or a quarter of the night.
3. 3. The fats of every korban, and the limbs of an olah, are burned on the mizbeach. Once the blood has been sprinkled by day, they may be burned throughout the following night.
4. 4. These are the korbanos whose meat may be eaten on the day they are offered and the night that follows, such as the chatas, the asham and the todah.
5. 5. Nosar is sacred meat left past the time for eating it. It must be burned, and one who eats it is liable to kares.
6. 6. The Mishnah opens by asking “from when”, as though we already knew there is an obligation to recite the Shema. The Gemara asks where the Tanna found that obligation, and answers that he relies on the verse.
7. 7. In the morning the brachos before the Shema are Yotzer Or and Ahavah Rabbah, and after it Emes Veyatziv. In the evening they are Hamaariv Aravim and Ahavas Olam before it, and Emes Ve'emunah and Hashkiveinu after it.
8. 8. The Gemara now takes up the Mishnah's first answer. A tamei Kohen who has immersed may eat terumah once his sun has set, and the Mishnah uses that moment to mark the start of the evening Shema.
9. 9. Some who become tamei, such as a zav, a metzora or a woman after childbirth, must bring a korban after their immersion before they may eat kodashim. For terumah, the Gemara teaches, that korban does not hold them back.
10. 10. Rabbeinu Tam is Rabbi Yaakov ben Meir, a grandson of Rashi and one of the leading Baalei Hatosafos in France. The Ri, cited after him, is Rabbi Yitzchak of Dampierre, his student and nephew.