Berakhot No.1: A Brief History of Jewish Time

When King David said: At midnight I rise, the assumption is that he rose precisely at midnight. The Gemara asks: Did David know exactly when it was midnight? Even Moses our teacher did not know exactly when it was midnight. How do we know this about Moses? As it is written that he said to Pharaoh: “Thus said the Lord: About midnight, I will go out into the midst of Egypt” (Exodus 11:4). The word about indicates that it was only an approximation. The Gemara clarifies: What is the meaning of the expression: About midnight? Did Moses say it or did God say it? If we say that the Holy One, Blessed be He, Himself, said: About midnight, to Moses, is there doubt before God in heaven? Rather, this must be understood as follows: God told Moses: At midnight, but from the fact that when Moses came to Pharaoh he said: About midnight; apparently, Moses was uncertain about the exact moment of midnight. Moses, the greatest of all the prophets, was uncertain, and David knew?

Moses said, “Thus says the LORD: Toward midnight I will go forth among the Egyptians,

The Gemara answers: Yes, as it was taught in a baraita, God becomes angry, as it is stated: “God vindicates the righteous, God is furious every day” (Psalms 7:12). How much time does His anger last? God’s anger lasts a moment. And how long is a moment? One fifty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-eighth of an hour, that is a moment. The Gemara adds: And no creature can precisely determine that moment when God becomes angry, except for Balaam the wicked, about whom it is written: “He who knows the knowledge of the Most High” (Numbers 24:16).

שמור OBSERVE [THE SABBATH DAY] — But in the former Ten Commandments (i.e. where they were first promulgated, in Exodus XX.), it states, “Remember [the Sabbath day]"! The explanation is: Both of them (זכור and שמור) were spoken in one utterance and as one word, and were heard in one hearing (i.e. were heard simultaneously) (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:8:1).

The beginning of tractate Berakhot, the first tractate in the first of the six orders of Mishna, opens with a discussion of the recitation of Shema, as the recitation of Shema encompasses an acceptance of the yoke of Heaven and of the mitzvot, and as such, forms the basis for all subsequent teachings. The Mishna opens with the laws regarding the appropriate time to recite Shema:

MISHNA: From when, that is, from what time, does one recite Shema in the evening? From the time when the priests enter to partake of their teruma. Until when does the time for the recitation of the evening Shema extend? Until the end of the first watch. The term used in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:7) to indicate the time for the recitation of the evening Shema is beshokhbekha, when you lie down, which refers to the time in which individuals go to sleep. Therefore, the time for the recitation of Shema is the first portion of the night, when individuals typically prepare for sleep. That is the statement of Rabbi Eliezer.

In our mishna, the Master said: The beginning of the time for the recitation of the evening Shema is: From the time when the priests enter to partake of their teruma. The Gemara raises a contradiction to this opinion from a baraita that states that the time for the recitation of the evening Shema is: From when a poor person enters to eat his bread with salt until he rises from his meal. The Gemara begins its analysis by clarifying whether there is an actual contradiction here, or whether different expressions are being employed to describe the same time. The latter clause of the baraita, which established that the time for the recitation of the evening Shema ends when a poor person rises from his meal, certainly disagrees with our mishna. Since the poor person clearly does not continue eating until the end of the first watch, this baraita certainly contradicts our mishna. With regard to the first clause of the baraita, however, which establishes the beginning of the time for the recitation of the evening Shema, shall we say that it disagrees with our mishna? The Gemara immediately rejects this idea: No, the time when the poor person eats and the time when the priest is purified and permitted to partake of his teruma are one and the same time. The Gemara raises a contradiction from the Tosefta: From when does one begin to recite Shema in the evening? From the time when people enter to eat their bread on Shabbat eve. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. As they do in our mishna, the Rabbis say: From the time when the priests are eligible to partake of their teruma, a sign for which is the emergence of the stars. And although there is no explicit proof that the emergence of the stars is when one may begin to recite the evening Shema, there is an allusion in the book of Nehemiah to the fact that the emergence of the stars is generally considered the beginning of the night. As it is stated with regard to the building of the walls of Jerusalem: “And we perform the work, and half of them grasp their spears from dawn until the emergence of the stars” (Nehemiah 4:15). And it says: “That in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day” (Nehemiah 4:16). From here we ascertain that the day ends with the emergence of the stars. Even before analyzing these sources, the Gemara seeks to clarify a confusing element in the Tosefta. In their biblical proof, the Rabbis do not suffice with one verse, but rather they say: And it says…and they cite an additional verse. What is added by this use of: And it says? It seems superfluous, as the entire proof appears in the first verse. The Gemara answers that the first verse was not sufficient. As, if you say that night begins when the sun sets, but the workers stayed late and arrived early; i.e., due to the importance of their task they worked even into the night. In anticipation of this objection, the second verse was cited to teach: Come and hear, as it is stated: “That in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day,” the time between dawn and the emergence of the stars is explicitly referred to as “day,” proving that night begins with the emergence of the stars. In analyzing the three opinions regarding the beginning of the period for the recitation of the evening Shema, the Gemara begins with the supposition: It might enter your mind to say that the time when the poor person typically eats his meal and the time when ordinary people eat their Shabbat evening meal are one and the same time, since in both cases those eating would seek to begin their meals as early as possible, as, for different reasons, they are unable to kindle additional lights to illuminate their meal. And, if you say that the time of the poor person’s meal and the time when the priest is purified and permitted to partake of his teruma are one and the same time, then the opinion of the Rabbis is identical to that of Rabbi Meir. What is their disagreement? Rather, what we said previously must be rejected, and instead learn from this that there is a separate time for the poor person and a separate time for the priest. However, this conclusion is based on the assumption that the time of the poor person and the time of people are the same. That too can be rejected with the assertion that, no, the time of the poor person and the priest are one and the same time, and the time of the poor person and people are not the same. Accordingly, the opinion expressed by the tanna in our baraita is identical to that of the other tanna’im, and only Rabbi Meir disagrees with them. And is the time of the poor person and the priest the same? The Gemara raises a contradiction to this approach from another baraita, in which other opinions regarding the time for the recitation of the evening Shema are cited: From when does one begin to recite the evening Shema?
From the time when the day becomes sanctified on the eve of Shabbat, this is the statement of Rabbi Eliezer, who established an earlier time for Shema.
Rabbi Yehoshua, like our mishna, says: From the time when the priests are eligible to partake of their teruma.
Rabbi Meir says: The time for the recitation of Shema begins before the priests were purified, from when the priests immerse themselves in order to partake of their teruma.
Rabbi Yehuda said to Rabbi Meir: How is it possible that the time for the recitation of the evening Shema corresponds to the time of the priests’ immersion? Do the priests not immerse themselves during the day, so that with nightfall and the onset of a new day they will be purified? If so, how can that time be called night?
Rabbi Ḥanina says that the time for the recitation of the evening Shema begins when the poor person enters to eat his bread with salt.
But Rabbi Aḥai, and some say Rabbi Aḥa, says: From the time when most people enter to recline at their meal during the week. The preceding was the text of the baraita. Returning to our question, if you say that the time of the poor person and the priest are one and the same time, then the opinion of Rabbi Ḥanina is identical to that of Rabbi Yehoshua. However, the fact that they are cited together indicates that they are not, in fact, the same. Rather, must one not conclude from this the time for the poor person is separate and the time for the priest is separate? Since no objection is raised, the Gemara concedes: Indeed, conclude from this. Having established that the time of the poor person and that of the priest are different, the Gemara seeks to determine: which one is later? The Gemara suggests that it is reasonable to conclude that the time of the poor person is later. As if you say that the poor person is earlier, it would be impossible to establish a time earlier than that established by Rabbi Yehoshua, unless we hold that night begins with sunset, in which case the opinion of Rabbi Ḥanina is identical to that of Rabbi Eliezer. Rather, must one not conclude from this that the poor person is later? The Gemara notes: Indeed, conclude from this.

MISHNA: From when does one recite Shema in the morning? From when a person can distinguish between sky-blue [tekhelet] and white.
Rabbi Eliezer says: From when one can distinguish between sky-blue and leek-green.
And one must finish reciting Shema until the end of the period when you rise, i.e., sunrise, when the sun begins to shine.
Rabbi Yehoshua says: One may recite the morning Shema until three hours of the day, which this is still considered when you rise, as that is the habit of kings to rise from their sleep at three hours of the day.

It was taught in a baraita:
Rabbi Meir says that the day begins when one can distinguish between two similar animals, e.g., a wolf and a dog.
Rabbi Akiva provides a different sign, and says that the day begins when there is sufficient light to distinguish between a donkey and a wild donkey.
And Aḥerim say: When one can see another person, who is merely an acquaintance (Jerusalem Talmud) from a distance of four cubits and recognize him.

MISHNA Women, slaves, and minors, who have parallel obligations in various mitzvot, are exempt from the recitation of Shema and from phylacteries, but they are obligated in the mitzvot of prayer, mezuza, and Grace after Meals. The Gemara explains the rationale for these exemptions and obligations.

The discussion above pertaining to the distance that an average person can walk in a day is based on the assumption that he walks five mil between dawn and sunrise. The Gemara brings support for this assumption. Rava said: The size of the world is six thousand parasangs, and the thickness of the firmament is one thousand parasangs. One of these measurements with regard to the size of the world is a tradition, and one of the measurements is based upon Rava’s own reasoning. The Gemara explains: Rava holds like that statement which Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: How far can an average person walk in a day? One can walk ten parasangs, which are forty mil. This is explained: From dawn until sunrise one can walk a distance of five mil; from sunset until the emergence of the stars one can walk another five mil. Therefore, it is found that the thickness of the firmament is one-sixth of the distance that the sun travels during the day. Between sunrise and sunset, the sun travels a distance of six thousand parasangs during the amount of time an average person can walk thirty mil. During the dawn and twilight periods in the morning and evening, when the sun passes through the thickness of the firmament, an average person can walk five mil, which is one-sixth of the distance he can walk between sunrise and sunset. Consequently, during dawn and twilight the sun must also travel one-sixth of the distance it travels between sunrise and sunset, i.e., one thousand parasangs, which is the thickness of the firmament. The Gemara raises an objection from the following baraita: Rabbi Yehuda says: The thickness of the firmament is only one-tenth of the distance that the sun travels during the day. Know that this is true because how far can an average person walk in a day between dawn and the emergence of the stars? One can walk ten parasangs, which are forty mil, and from dawn until sunrise one can walk only four mil, which are one parasang. Therefore, it is found that the thickness of the firmament is only one-tenth of the distance that the sun travels during the day. This is a refutation of the opinion of Rava. Similarly, it is a refutation of the opinion of Ulla, who holds that an average person can walk fifteen mil in half a day, whereas Rabbi Yehuda holds that the average person can walk sixteen mil in half a day. The Gemara concludes: It is indeed a conclusive refutation. The Gemara suggests: Let us say that this will be a conclusive refutation of the opinion of Rabba bar bar Ḥana, citing Rabbi Yoḥanan, with regard to how far an average person can walk in a day. The Gemara answers: Rabbi Yoḥanan could have said to you: I am speaking about the total distance that an average person can walk in an entire day, but I never specified the distance one can walk during different parts of the day. And it was the Sages Ulla and Rava who erred in interpreting my opinion by saying that one can walk five mil and not four during each intermediate period, because when they calculated five mil before sunrise and after sunset they included the distance walked by people who set out earlier in the morning, before dawn, and by those who continued walking after nightfall. The Gemara suggests: Let us say it is a conclusive refutation of the opinion of Rabbi Ḥanina, who proved from biblical verses that the distance from Sodom to Zoar is five mil. The angels and Lot walked that distance between dawn and sunrise, which implies that it is only four mil. The Gemara responds: No, that verse states: “The angels hastened Lot,” which indicates that they traveled very quickly. Therefore, hastened is different; because they hurried, they traveled five mil in the time one would normally walk four mil.