This source sheet is part of the larger Ta’amei HaPardes Commentary, a project of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. This is sheet 3 of 9 on the topic of Mishnah.
1) Introduction to Chapter One: Structure
The first three chapters of Tractate Berakhot discuss the ritual of reading the Shema.
There are five mishnayot in the first chapter. They form a structure of AABCC. The first two are a pair – each opening with a similar question about the exact time frame of the reading. The last two are a pair, focusing on the blessings which surround the Shema. Mishnah 3 stands on its own in the middle, highlighting the key Torah verses from which the ritual of the Shema is learned. Avraham Walfish, in his book Marvadei Mishnah (p. 16), points out that there is also a flow surrounding the concepts of night and day that runs throughout the chapter. Mishnah 1 – night; Mishnah 2 – day; Mishnah 3 – night and day; Mishnah 4 – day and night; Mishnah 5 – night (and day). A short summary of the content of the mishnayot is as follows:
Mishnah 1 – From when do we read the Shema in the evening? Until… terumah, Priests and Temple references. What happens after the cutoff point?
Mishnah 2 – From when do we read the Shema in the morning? Until…nature references. What happens after the cutoff point?
Mishnah 3 – Key Torah verse. Dispute between Beit Hillel and Shammai. Law follows Hillel.
Mishnah 4 – Rabbis give structure of blessings which one must follow.
Mishnah 5 – Topic of blessing. Link going out of Egypt to days of Messiah.
Although this structure highlights Mishnah 3 as the core of the chapter, ordering the texts in this fashion creates a certain discord, both conceptually and chronologically. It creates a feeling that things are presented out of order. The chapter opens with a discussion of the exact time periods for the evening and morning Shema and assumes the reader knows 1) there is a commandment to read the Shema; 2) what texts constitute the Shema; and 3) that one is required to read the Shema twice a day in the evening and morning. (The Gemara 2a also is struck by this odd beginning.) Conceptually it would make more sense to open the chapter with the mishnah that is presented third. Mishnah 3 quotes verses from the Torah which state the commandment of Shema. It also delineates the two time periods during which it should be read. The information presented in that mishnah is essential background knowledge required to understand the first two mishnayot. The third mishnah conveys all this important information through a dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, who represent the older strata of law from the earliest generations of tannaim, whereas the two previous mishnayot are from the generation of Rabban Gamliel in Yavneh and record the discussions of the later Rabbis from after the destruction of the Temple.
Meta questions – Structure and Language:
When noticing the Rabbis’ odd choice in the ordering of this chapter, one should ask what message this order conveys? What focus or topic is so essential that the redactor presented it first, instead of Mishnah 3? Why open with a question of time? Why did the editor choose this odd ordering for the chapter?
Moreover, there are many ways that human beings tell time – according to the clock, by noting natural events or by observing daily occurrences. Why did the editor choose these specific descriptions for telling time around the mitzvah of Shema and not others?
Throughout this commentary we will try to answer all these questions.
2) Introduction to Chapter One: Background Content – Torah Verses
The first three chapters of Tractate Berakhot discuss the ritual of reading the Shema.
The source for this ritual appears in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9):
(ד) שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יהוה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יהוה ׀ אֶחָֽד׃ (ה) וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יהוה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכׇל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃ (ו) וְהָי֞וּ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ׃ (ז) וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשׇׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ׃ (ח) וּקְשַׁרְתָּ֥ם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֶ֑ךָ וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ׃ (ט) וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזֻז֥וֹת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃ {ס}
(4) Hear, O Israel! Lord is our God, Lord alone/one. (5) You shall love your God Lord 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; (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The Torah paints an all-consuming picture. This faith/belief statement about God’s unique oneness in the world should take up one’s entire emotional and physical strength. One must impress it on oneself and on the next generation. The faith statement should always be on your lips – at home and when traveling; lying down and arising. It should be bound to your body and mark your homes. According to the Torah, the appropriate time to recite the Shema is ALL the time.
In this chapter of Mishnah, the Rabbis will interpret these verses. Keep this Biblical picture in your minds as you read through the Mishnah. Alongside their interpretation of the Biblical text, each one of the mishnayot will offer a different facet of how the Rabbis relate to Torah law. In this opening to the Mishnaic corpus, the Sages are transparent in their presentation of their role and their relationship to the Torah.
Meta questions – Content Torah:
How do the Rabbis read and interpret the Biblical verses about the Shema? Do they expand on it or limit it? Which phrases and concepts do they prioritize and why? What do the Rabbis see as their job in general? What role do they play in the unfolding nature of Torah?
Throughout this commentary we will try to answer all these questions.
3) Introduction to Chapter One: Background Content – Temple Times (Mishnah and other historical sources)
In another tractate, the Mishnah records that the Shema was originally recited daily by the priests each morning in the Temple after the daily Tamid offering (M. Tamid 5:1):
אָמַר לָהֶם הַמְמֻנֶּה, בָּרְכוּ בְרָכָה אֶחַת, וְהֵן בֵּרְכוּ. קָרְאוּ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, שְׁמַע, וְהָיָה אִם שָׁמֹעַ, וַיֹּאמֶר. בֵּרְכוּ אֶת הָעָם שָׁלשׁ בְּרָכוֹת, אֱמֶת וְיַצִּיב, וַעֲבוֹדָה, וּבִרְכַּת כֹּהֲנִים.
The appointed [priest] said to them [the priests]: Recite a single blessing [of the blessings that accompany Shema]. And they blessed. They read the Ten Commandments, Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4–9), VeHaya im Shamoa (Deuteronomy 11:13–21), and VaYomer (Numbers 15:37–41). They blessed the nation with three blessings- Emet Veyatziv, [the blessing of redemption recited after Shema]; and [the blessing of the] Temple service, [similar to the blessing in the Amida]; and the Priestly Benediction.
Here, in Tractate Berakhot, the Mishnah will present the recitation of the Shema not in the Temple but in the daily lives of the individual. This practice seems to be one that is quite ancient and most certainly predates the obligation of prayer which the Rabbis crafted (see M. Berakhot 4:1). The Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates, a pseudepigraphal Hellenistic Jewish work from the 3rd or early 2nd century BC, is one of the earliest references to the commandment of the Shema in the lives of Jews:
(קנז) [כל אלה] תכונתם לאין חקר: ועל־כן הוא מצווה לזכור כי כל אשר נרמז למעלה קיים בתכונתו בכוח אלוה: וכל זמן ומקום קבע לזכור ולחשוב תמיד על האלוהים השליט והשומר:
(קנח) ועל־כן רק אחר הקרבת ראשית המאכלות והמשקים לאלוהים הוא מתיר הנאתם: ועוד נתן לנו אות זכרון בכנפות בגדינו וכן ציוונו לקבוע בשערים ובפתחים את הפרשיות למען נזכור מציאות אלוהים:
(קנט) ואף ציווה בדברים ברורים לקשור את האות סביב היד: והוא מראה אל נכון כי כל פעולה צריכה להיעשות בצדק ולזכור את תכונת עצמנו ויותר מכל יראת אלוהים:
(קס) ואף הוא ציווה להגות בשכבנו ובקומנו ובלכתנו במעשי האלוהים ולא רק בדיבור כי אם גם בעיון מחשבה על השינויים והרשמים שקדמו בנו לשכיבתנו וליקיצתנו כי אלה חילופיהם אלוהיים הם ובלתי מושגים:
(קסא) עתה הובררה לך החשיבות היתרה אשר בעניין ההבדלה והזיכרון מאשר ביארתי לך בעניין הפרסת הפרסה והעלאת הגירה: כי לא בלי תכלית נחקק החוק ולא כאשר עלה במקרה על הלב כי אם לשם האמת ולשם הדרכה אל דבר נכון:
(157) Wherefore he exhorts us to remember that the aforesaid parts are kept together by the divine power with consummate skill. For he has marked out every time and place that we may continually remember the God who rules and preserves us.
(158) For in the matter of meats and drinks he bids us first of all offer part as a sacrifice and then forthwith enjoy our meal. Moreover, upon our garments he has given us a symbol of remembrance, and in like manner he has ordered us to put the divine oracles upon our gates and doors as a remembrance of God.
(159) And upon our hands, too, he expressly orders the symbol to be fastened, clearly showing that we ought to perform every act in righteousness, remembering (our own creation), and above all the fear of God.
(160) He bids men also, when lying down to sleep and rising up again, to meditate upon the works of God, not only in word, but by observing distinctly the change and impression produced upon them, when they are going to sleep, and also their waking, how divine and incomprehensible the change from one of these states to the other is.
(161) The excellency of the analogy in regard to discrimination and memory has now been pointed out to you, according to our interpretation of " the cloven hoof and the chewing of the cud ". For our laws have not been drawn up at random or in accordance with the first casual thought that occurred to the mind, but with a view to truth and the indication of right reason.
Much later on, around the year 93 CE, Josephus Flavius looks back and also mentions the practice:
13. Let every one commemorate before God the benefits which he bestowed upon them at their deliverance out of the land of Egypt, and this twice every day, both when the day begins and when the hour of sleep comes on, gratitude being in its own nature a just thing, and serving not only by way of return for past, but also by way of invitation of future favors. They are also to inscribe the principal blessings they have received from God upon their doors, and show the same remembrance of them upon their arms; as also they are to bear on their forehead and their arm those wonders which declare the power of God, and his good-will towards them, that God's readiness to bless them may appear everywhere conspicuous about them.
How does one connect to the Divine without a Temple? How will the individual’s reading of the Shema look the same and how will it differ from the ritual of the Temple service and the times when the Temple was standing? Is this new structure linked to the past? Is the message and the experience of the ritual altered when the Temple no longer exists?
Throughout the commentary on this chapter, we will try to answer all these questions.