Lesson #6 - Content and Questions
This week's lesson takes us a bit off track from our tractate. It deals with interpreting a Mishnah from the tractate Tamid, which is in seder (order) Kodoshim. This seder deals with the sacrificial order. What is it doing here in a tractate dealing with pray stuff? Well, it deals with the prayer order of the priests (cohanim) who carried out the sacrifices in theTemple. Since some of the elements of their prayer order coincide with those of the synagogue, the Talmud interfaces with this Mishnah here.
Sources
חלק א’
1. [משנה - תמיד פ”ה מ”א]
תנן התם, אמר להם הממונה: ברכו ברכה אחת!והם ברכו, וקראו עשרת הדברות, שמע, והיה אם שמוע, ויאמר, וברכו את העם שלש ברכות: אמתויציב, ועבודה, וברכת כהנים, ובשבת מוסיפין ברכה אחת למשמר היוצא.
2. [שאלה]
מאי ברכה אחת?
3. [תשובה בתוך סיפור]
כי הא דרבי אבא ורבי יוסי בר אבא אקלעו לההוא אתרא, בעו מנייהו: מאי ברכה אחת? לא הוה בידייהו. ואתו שיילוהו לרב מתנה, לאהוה בידיה. אתו שיילוהו לרב יהודה, אמר להו: הכי אמר שמואל אהבה רבה.
4. [מימרא – דעת חולקת]
ואמר רבי זריקא אמר רבי אמי אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש: יוצר אור.
5. [סיפור המערערת על דברי ר’ זריקה]
כי אתא רב יצחק בר יוסף אמר: הא דרבי זריקא לאו בפירוש אתמר אלא מכללא אתמר, דאמר רבי זריקא אמר רבי אמי אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש: זאת אומרת – ברכות אין מעכבות זו את זו.
6. [בירור דברי ר’ זריקא]
אי אמרת בשלמא יוצר אור, הוו אמרי – היינו דברכות אין מעכבות זו את זו, דלא קא אמרי אהבה רבה;
אלא אי אמרת אהבה רבה הוו אמרי – מאי ברכותאין מעכבות זו את זו?
דלמא האי דלא אמרי יוצר אור – משום דלא מטא זמן יוצר אור, וכי מטא זמן יוצר אור – הוו אמרי!
7. [שאלה]
ואי מכללא מאי?
8. [תשובה]
דאי מכללא, לעולם אהבה רבה הוו אמרי, וכי מטא זמן יוצר אור – הוו אמרי ליה,
ומאי ברכות אין מעכבות זו את זו? – סדר ברכות.
חלק ב’
1. [ציטוט מן המשנה מתמיד]
וקורין עשרת הדברות שמע והיה אם שמוע ויאמר אמת ויציב ועבודה וברכת כהנים.
2. [מימרא]
אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל: אף בגבולין בקשו לקרות כן, אלא שכבר בטלום מפני תרעומת המינין.
3. [ברייתא המסייעת בדעת המימרא]
תניא נמי הכי, רבי נתן אומר: בגבולין בקשו לקרות כן, אלא שכבר בטלום מפני תרעומת המינין.
4. [דו שיח בין אמוראיים]
רבה בר בר חנה סבר למקבעינהו בסורא,
אמר ליה רב חסדא: כבר בטלום מפני תרעומת המינין.
5. [עוד דוגמא]
אמימר סבר למקבעינהו בנהרדעא,
אמר ליה רב אשי: כבר בטלום מפני תרעומת המינין.
חלק ג’
1. [עוד ציטוט מן המשנה מתמיד]
ובשבת מוסיפין ברכה אחת למשמר היוצא.
2. [שאלה]
מאי ברכה אחת?
3. [מימרא – תשובה]
אמר רבי חלבו: משמר היוצא אומר למשמר הנכנס: מי ששכן את שמו בבית הזה הוא ישכין ביניכם אהבה ואחוה ושלום וריעות.
Part 1
1. [Mishnah - Tamid 5:1]
We have learnt elsewhere: The deputy high priest said to them [the priests], Say one benediction, and they said the benediction and recited the Ten Commandments, the Shema’, the section ‘And it shall come to pass if ye hearken diligently’, and ‘And the Lord said’,and recited with the people three benedictions, viz., ‘True and firm’, the benediction of the ‘Avodah, and the priestly benediction. On Sabbath they said an additional benediction for the outgoing watch.
2.[Shealah]
Which is the ‘one benediction’ referred to above?
3. [Teshuva from a story]
The following will show. R. Abba and R. Jose came to a certain place the people of which asked them what was the ‘one benediction’ [referred to], and they could not tell them. They went and asked R. Mattena, and he also did not know. They then went and asked Rab Judah,who said to them: Thus did Samuel say: It means, ‘With abounding love’.
4. [A disputing opinion]
R. Zerika in the name of R. Ammi, who had it from R. Simeon b. Lakish said: It is, ‘Who forms light’.
5. [A story disputing Rabbi Zerika's opinion]
When R. Isaac b. Joseph came [from Palestine] he said: This statement of R. Zerika was not made explicitly [by R.Simeon b. Lakish], but was inferred by him [from another statement]. For R.Zerika said in the name of R. Ammi, who had it from R. Simeon b. Lakish: This shows that the recital of one blessing is not indispensable for that of the other.
6. [Clarification of Rav Zerika's statement]
Now if you say that they used to recite ‘Who forms the light’, it is correct to infer that the recital of one blessing is not indispensable for that of the other, since they did not say,’With abounding love’. But if you say that they used to say, ‘With abounding love’, how can you infer that one blessing is not indispensable for the recital of the other? Perhaps the reason why they did not say, Who forms the light’ was because the time for it had not yet arrived, but when the time for it did arrive, they used to say it!
7. [Shealah]
And if this statement was made only as an inference, what does it matter?
8. [Teshuva]
If it was made only as an inference [I might refute it as follows]: In fact, they said, ‘With abounding love’, and when the time came for ‘Who forms the light’, they said that too. What then is the meaning of ‘One blessing is not indispensable for the other’? The order of the blessings is not indispensable.
Part 2
1. [Quotation from the above Mishnah from Tamid]
‘They recited the Ten Commandments, the Shema’, the sections “And it shall come to pass if ye diligently hearken”, and “And the Lord said”, “True and firm”, the ‘Avodah, and the priestly benediction’.
2. [Meimra]
Rav Judah said in the name of Samuel: Outside the Temple also people wanted to do the same, but they were stopped on account of the insinuations of the Minim.
3. [Baraita which supports opinion of the Meimra]
Similarly it has been taught [in a baraita]: R. Nathan says, They sought to do the same outside the Temple, but it had long been abolished on account of the insinuations of the Minim.
4. [Dialogue between Amoraim]
Rabbah b. Bar Hanah had an idea of instituting this in Sura, but R. Hisda said to him: It had long been abolished on account of the insinuations of the Minim.
5. [Another example – Meimra]
Amemar had an idea of instituting it in Nehardea, but R. Ashi said to him: It had long been abolished on account of the insinuations of the Minim.
Part 3
1. [Quotation from the Mishnah in Tamid]
‘On Sabbath they said an additional blessing on account of the outgoing watch’.
2. [Shealah]
What was this benediction?
3. [Meimra - Teshuva]
R. Helbo said: The outgoing watch said to the incoming one, May He who has caused His name to dwell in this house, cause to dwell among you love and brotherhood and peace and friendship.
Guide Questions and Issues
Part 1
1. We open with a Mishnah from Tamid (notice that the Talmud introduces the Mishnah with words "תנן שם" (a Mishnah from there) which outlines the morning prayer ritual of the priests serving in the Temple. The prayer ritual opened with a blessing, the recitation of the Ten Commandments, Shma (and Vaahavta), the second paragraph of the Shma (v'haya im shmamoa), the third paragraph of the Shma (vayomer), and then together with the people they recited three blessings: 1. The blessing "emet v'yatziv", the blessing which we recite after the Shma; 2. Avoda - the "ritzei" blessing of the Amidah and then the priestly blessings.
On Shabbat, there was an additional blessing, but more on that later.
There is something tantalizing about this Mishnah from our perspective; it is what brings us to this Mishnah here in Berachot. No, it is not what you think, namely, the recitation of the Shma. If you guessed that it is the very beginning of the Mishnah - the one ambiguous item in the whole teaching - you are right! That first blessing, the one great unknown (which blessing) and, of course, we will want to associate this blessing with our discussion from last week of what are the two blessings before the Shma.
[As a historical note, it is unclear whether the association that our sugya wants to make reflects the historical reality of what this blessing was in Temple times. In rabbinic minds, however,the association will be made to reflect their own reality.]
2. As we expected, this question starts the beginning of the rabbinic discussion.
3. As you can see, the historical memory of this blessing was not good. The sages who finally answered this question were sages from the Amoraic period. These sages, both Samuel and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish (step 4) associated this blessing with the blessings which precede the Shma in the shaharit (morning) prayer service.
Samuel associated it with the second blessing: "Ahavah Rabbah".
4. Rabbi Zerika asserts that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish associated it with the first blessing: "Yotzer Or".
5. In this step in the sugya, we find something very interesting. We note here that Rabbi Zerika did not learn the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish directly; rather he inferred the answer to this question from a general principle that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish learned from this Mishnah. This general principle – the recital of one blessing is not indispensable for that of the other. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish assumed that if only blessing was recited, it meant that the two blessings were not inextricably linked to each other. From this Rabbi Zerika reasoned that he thought the blessing was "yotzer or".
6. How did Rabbi Zerika make this deduction? This is the subject matter of this step. The Talmud reasons out Rabbi Zerika's position and determined why he said it must be "Yotzer Or" by the process of elimination. One can understand why if he said "Yotzer Or", he might be able to leave out "Ahava Rabbah" but if he said Ahava Rabbah first, there might be a logical reason why he might not yet have said "Yotzer Or" (it was too early and the sun had not risen.)
7. The Talmud now questions the significance of the fact that Rabbi Zerika derived his conclusion from reason as we saw in the previous step.
8. In this step the Talmud rejects Rabbi Zerika's reasoning and rejection that the blessing recited was "Ahava Rabbah". This step explains how the blessing recited could have been "Ahava Rabbah" if Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish’s principle was understood differently, namely that the order of the recitation of the blessings does not matter.
Question to Consider
In this section, we learn not only of the formation of the order of the prayer service, we also learn that the process of developing Torah involves both the revelation of past learning and the interaction of reason (See the involvement of Rabbi Zerika with the opinion of Rabbi Yohanan. The development of lawalways involves these two elements. What is the sugya's opinion on this process?
Section 2
1. This section deals with the recitation of the Ten Commandments in the davening. As we note here, in the Temple, the Ten Commandments were recited. This section attempts to explain why they are no longer a part of the davening ritual.
2. We have here an interesting phenomenon. In this step, we have a Babylonian Amora assert that that certain Jews try to reestablish the recitation of the Ten Commandments in the whole of the country but that its recitation had already been abolished on account of some threat from heretics.We are not privy from the discussion to know who these heretics were.
Speculation ranges from Christians who wanted to limit the scope of what was obligatory from the Torah to the Ten Commandments, to those who wanted to allegorize most of the Torah and also wanted to limit the extent of what was actually revealed by God, to those who only recognized as revealed those words which were actually related directly by God. Quite a catalogue of suspects, but it seems we will never know who the culprits were.
3. In this step Samuel's meimra is verified by a baraita.
4.-5. What is fascinating is that this discussion continued for some time even in Babylonia where there was a desire to reestablish the practice, but again it was rebuffed because of the threat of heretics. And again, I have to reiterate that we have no clue to as to who these cross-generational heretics were, nor do we know if the threat was from some consistent group or from a number of different groups.
Questions to Consider
1. This section treats a ticklish subject: how to combat heresy? To what extent should a tradition beinclusive or exclusive in its ideology? Should a tradition allow for a range of different beliefs? What are the parameters of such pluralism? How does a tradition protect its message?
Section 3
1. In this last quote from the Mishnah from Tamid, we are again confronted by an ambiguous blessing offered on Shabbat to the priests who had finished their week of service in the Temple. I will say again that the Mishnah from Tamid is old representing practices which preceded the rabbis by many years so if there is ambiguity it is possible that it is because there is no historical memory of what the blessing actually was.
2. The shealah!
3. It is hard to tell whether Rabbi Helbo actually knew the content of said blessing or whether he is provided us with what he thinks is a proper blessing for this occasion. Here, he presents us what he assumes to be the message of the incoming priests to those who have completed their work. What is its message?