004b – מאימתי – פרק ראשון – ברכות, ד ע”ב

And if they hold like Rabban Gamliel,

ואי כרבן גמליאל סבירא להו - who understands when you lie down as the whole time that people lie down, and the whole night is included in this:

let them say like Rabban Gamliel!

לימרו כרבן גמליאל - until the dawn:

In fact they hold like Rabban Gamliel, and the reason they say “until midnight”

is in order to keep a person far from transgression.

מן העבירה - lest he rely on the time he has left, as it was taught in the beraisa that follows:

As it was taught: The Chachamim made a fence^[1] for their words,

so that a person should not come home from the field in the evening and say: I will go home, eat a little,

קימעא - a little:

drink a little, sleep a little, and afterwards I will recite the Shema and pray,

and sleep overtakes him, and he ends up sleeping the whole night.

Rather, a person comes from the field in the evening and goes into the synagogue.

If he is accustomed to read Scripture, he reads;

and if he is accustomed to learn Mishnah, he learns;

and he recites the Shema and prays, and eats his bread and says the bracha.

And anyone who transgresses the words of the Chachamim is liable to death.^[2]

Why is it that everywhere else it does not teach “liable to death”, and why is it different here, that it teaches “liable to death”?

If you wish, say: because there is the compulsion of sleep.

משום אונס שינה - which seizes him to transgress the words of the Chachamim, so they needed to warn him more:

And if you wish, say: to exclude the one who says

ממאן דאמר - below, in perek Tefillas Hashachar (27b):

the evening prayer is optional;^[3] it teaches us that it is an obligation.

The master said:^[4] He recites the Shema and prays.

אמר מר קורא קריאת שמע - of the evening first, and afterwards he prays:

This supports Rabbi Yochanan.

מסייע ליה לרבי יוחנן - who said that in the evening too it is Shema first and afterwards prayer, so that he joins geulah to tefillah; and not like Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who said, prayer first and afterwards the Shema:

For Rabbi Yochanan said: Who is one who inherits the World to Come?

[See Berachos 2a]

One who joins geulah to the tefillah^[5] of the evening.

זה הסומך - and all the more so in the morning, for the main redemption from Mitzrayim was in the morning, as it is written, on the morrow of the Pesach the children of Yisrael went out (Bamidbar 33:3). And David hinted at joining geulah to tefillah in the book of Tehillim, as it is written, Hashem, my Rock and my Redeemer (Tehillim 19:15), and next to it, Hashem will answer you on the day of distress (Tehillim 20:2). And we say in the Yerushalmi on Berachos (perek 1): “One who does not join geulah to tefillah — what is he like? Like the friend of a king who came and knocked at the king's door; the king came out and found that he had gone away! So he too went away! Rather, a person should bring the Holy One, blessed be He, close to him, appease Him with the praises and acclaim of the going out of Mitzrayim, and He draws close to him; and while He is close to him, he may ask for his needs”:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: The prayers were instituted in the middle.

באמצע תקנום - between the two Shemas they instituted all the prayers of the day; for he holds that the evening prayer comes before the Shema:

In what do they disagree?

If you wish, say a verse; if you wish, say a reason.

If you wish, say a reason: Rabbi Yochanan holds that there is redemption in the evening too, only the full redemption was not until the morning;

and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi holds that since it was only from the morning, it is not a full redemption.

גאולה מאורתא לא הוי - therefore the geulah of the evening is not significant enough to attach tefillah to it:

And if you wish, say a verse;

and both of them expounded the same verse.

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

Rabbi Yochanan holds: it compares lying down to rising;

just as at rising it is Shema and afterwards prayer, so too at lying down it is Shema and afterwards prayer.

מה קימה קריאת שמע ואחר כך תפלה - for in the morning all agree that they must be joined:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi holds: it compares lying down to rising;

just as at rising the Shema is close to his getting out of bed,

so too at lying down the Shema is close to his bed.

Mar the son of Ravina raised an objection: In the evening he says two brachos before it and two after it.

And if you say one must join them, he does not join geulah to tefillah, since he must say Hashkiveinu!^[6]

They say: Since the Rabbanan instituted Hashkiveinu, it is like a long geulah.

For if you do not say so, how can he join them in the morning?!

But Rabbi Yochanan said: At the beginning he says (Tehillim 51:17) Hashem, open my lips,^[7] and at the end he says (Tehillim 19:15) May the words of my mouth be acceptable!

Rather, there, since the Rabbanan instituted saying “Hashem, open my lips”, it is like a long prayer.

Here too, since the Rabbanan instituted saying Hashkiveinu, it is like a long geulah.

Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Avina: Whoever says (Tehillim 145:2) Tehillah leDavid^[8] every day, three times, is assured that he will inherit the World to Come.

שלש פעמים - corresponding to the three prayers:

What is the reason?

If you say because it goes in the order of the alef-beis,

let him say (Tehillim 119:1) Fortunate are those whose way is perfect, which goes eightfold!^[9]

Rather, because it contains (Tehillim 145:16) You open Your hand?

Let him say the Great Hallel,^[10] in which is written (Tehillim 136:25): He gives bread to all flesh!

Rather, because it contains both.

דאית ביה תרתי - it goes in the order of the alef-beis, and it contains praise for providing food for every living thing:

Rabbi Yochanan said: Why is there no nun in Ashrei?

Because it contains the downfall of the enemies of Yisrael.

As it is written (Amos 5:2): She has fallen and will rise no more, the maiden of Yisrael.

In the West^[11] they explain it this way:

She has fallen, and will fall no more; rise, maiden of Yisrael.

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said: Even so, David went back and supported them through ruach hakodesh,

אפילו הכי - even though he left out the nun because of the falling in it, and did not want to hint at it, he went back and hinted at the support for the falling, right after it:

as it says (Tehillim 145:14): Hashem supports all who fall.

Rabbi Elazar bar Avina said: Greater is what is said of Michael than what is said of Gavriel.

For of Michael it is written (Yeshayahu 6:6): And one of the serafim flew to me,

ויעף אלי - in one flight, and he did not rest in between:

while of Gavriel it is written (Daniel 9:21): and the man Gavriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying in flight, and so on.

מועף ביעף - two flights:

From where do we know that this “one” is Michael?

Rabbi Yochanan said: It is learned from “one”, “one”.

It is written here: And one of the serafim flew to me;

and it is written there (Daniel 10:13): and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.

It was taught: Michael in one,

באחת - in one flight:

Gavriel in two, Eliyahu in four, and the Angel of Death in eight;

and in a time of plague, in one.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Even though a person recited the Shema in the synagogue, it is a mitzvah to recite it upon his bed.

Rabbi Yosei said: What is the verse?

(Tehillim 4:5) Tremble, and do not sin;

say in your heart

אמרו בלבבכם - say what is written, upon your heart (Devarim 6:6):

upon your bed,

על משכבכם - as it says, when you lie down (Devarim 6:7):

and be silent, Selah.

ודומו - in sleep, afterwards:

Rav Nachman said:^[12]

Tosafos

וקורא קריאת שמע ומתפלל - from here it is implied that once the time of the night Shema has come, he may not eat a meal until he recites the Shema and prays the evening prayer:

דאמר רבי יוחנן איזהו בן העוה"ב וכו' - and as for us, who say Yir'u Eineinu^[13] and other verses after Hashkiveinu: it seems that since the Rabbanan instituted them, it is like a long geulah; for they instituted saying it so that meanwhile his fellow too would pray and he would not leave the synagogue until each one finished his prayer. And there are also in those verses eighteen mentions of the Name, corresponding to the eighteen brachos of Shemoneh Esrei, and since they instituted saying those verses, they instituted saying the closing of Yir'u Eineinu. And the halachah is like Rabbi Yochanan, since a beraisa supports him, and so ruled the Halachos Gedolos. And if so, one must be careful not to speak between the geulah of the evening and Shemoneh Esrei. However, in the Seder of Rav Amram^[14] it explains that the Kaddish we say between geulah and the evening prayer teaches us that we do not require joining the geulah of the evening to the tefillah, because the evening prayer is optional. But this does not seem right, [for if so,] Rabbi Yochanan holds that the evening prayer is obligatory, since it is a dispute between Rav and Rabbi Yochanan, and the halachah is like Rabbi Yochanan. And it is proper to be stringent and careful not to speak in between. And if you ask, one halachah contradicts another, for we hold that the evening prayer is optional, and here we rule like Rabbi Yochanan — one must say that even if Rabbi Yochanan holds like Rav that it is optional, in any case he requires joining them. If so, we too must join them:

Notes

1. 1. A fence is a protective rule: the Chachamim set the time earlier so that a person would not come to transgress.
2. 2. This means death at the hands of Heaven, not a death sentence of a beis din.
3. 3. This is Rav's view in perek Tefillas Hashachar, that the evening prayer is not an obligation.
4. 4. The Gemara returns to the wording of the beraisa, which puts the Shema before the prayer, and asks whose view that order follows.
5. 5. Geulah is the bracha Ga'al Yisrael that follows the Shema; tefillah is the Shemoneh Esrei.
6. 6. Hashkiveinu is the bracha said in the evening after Ga'al Yisrael and before the Shemoneh Esrei.
7. 7. This verse is said before the Shemoneh Esrei, and “may the words of my mouth be acceptable” after it.
8. 8. This is Tehillim 145, said in the prayers as Ashrei.
9. 9. Tehillim 119 has eight verses for each letter of the alef-beis.
10. 10. The Great Hallel is Tehillim 136, “Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, for His kindness endures forever”.
11. 11. The West is Eretz Yisrael, which lies west of Bavel.
12. 12. Rav Nachman's statement continues at the top of 5a.
13. 13. Yir'u Eineinu is a passage of verses with a bracha that was customarily said in the evening after Hashkiveinu.
14. 14. The Seder of Rav Amram is the order of prayers of Rav Amram Gaon; the Halachos Gedolos, cited just before it, is an early code of the Geonic period.