The Oral Tradition: Adult Bnai Mitzvah 2020

(1) Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be patient in [the administration of] justice, raise many disciples and make a fence round the Torah.

(4) Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. (5) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. (7) Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead;

(1) From what time may one recite the Shema in the evening? From the time that the priests enter [their houses] in order to eat their terumah until the end of the first watch, the words of Rabbi Eliezer. The sages say: until midnight. Rabban Gamaliel says: until dawn. Once it happened that his sons came home [late] from a wedding feast and they said to him: we have not yet recited the [evening] Shema. He said to them: if it is not yet dawn you are still obligated to recite. And not in respect to this alone did they so decide, but wherever the sages say “until midnight,” the mitzvah may be performed until dawn. The burning of the fat and the pieces may be performed till dawn. Similarly, all [the offerings] that are to be eaten within one day may be eaten till dawn. Why then did the sages say “until midnight”? In order to keep a man far from transgression.

On what does the Tanna base himself that he begins with: From what time? Furthermore, why does he deal first with the evening? Let him begin with the morning! The tanna bases himself on the Torah, as it is written (Deuteronomy 6:7): When you lie down and when you rise up, and he teaches thus: When does the time of the recital of the Shema of lying down begin? When the priests enter to eat their terumah. Or, if you prefer, I can answer: He learns this from the account of the creation of the world, where it is written (Genesis 1:5): There was evening, and there was morning, the first day. If so, why does he later teach: The morning (Shema) is preceded by two blessings, and followed by one. The evening (Shema) is preceded by two blessings and followed by two. Let him there, too, mention the evening first!? The tanna commences with the evening, and proceeds then to the morning. While dealing with the morning, he expounds all the matters relating to it, and then he returns again to the matters relating to the evening.

UNTIL THE END OF THE FIRST WATCH: Rabbi Yitzchak bar Shmuel says in the name of Rav: The night has three watches, and at each watch, the Holy Blessed One sits and roars like a lion and says: Woe to the children, on account of whose sins I destroyed My house and burnt My temple and exiled them among the nations of the world.

It has been taught: Rabbi Yossi says: I was once travelling on the road, and I entered into one of the ruins of Jerusalem in order to pray. Elijah, of blessed memory, appeared and wated for me at the door until I finished my prayer. After I finished my prayer, he said to me: My son, why did you go into this ruin? I replied: To pray. He said to me: You ought to have prayed on the road. I replied: I feared, lest passers-by might interrupt me. He said to me: You ought to have said an abbreviated prayer. Thus I then learned from him three things: One must not go into a ruin; one may say the prayer on the road; and if one does say his prayer on the road, he recites an abbreviated prayer.

THE SAGES SAY, UNTIL MIDNIGHT: Whose view did the Sages adopt? If it is Rabbi Eliezer’s view, then let them express themselves in the same way as Rabbi Eliezer. If it is Rabban Gamliel’s view, let them express themselves in the same was as Rabban Gamliel! In reality, it is Rabban Gamliel’s view that they adopted, and their reason for saying: until midnight is to keep one far from transgression. For so it has been taught: The Sages made a fence for their words so that someone returning home from the field in the evening should not say: I will go home, eat a little, drink a little, sleep a little, and then I shall recite the Shema and the Amidah, and meanwhile--sleep may overpower them and they would sleep the whole night. Rather should someone, returning home from the field in the evening, go to the synagogue.