Berakhot (tractate)

The Mishnah of this tractate deals with aspects of the daily Jewish prayer services, primarily the laws about formal prayers and blessings, and only infrequently or incidentally with the content, theology, or rationales for said prayers. These aspects are discussed more at length in the Tosefta, Gemara, and passages in the Midrash. Although the Talmud identifies varying degrees of direct Hebrew Biblical basis for the topics discussed in the tractate, the Mishnah organizes the material by topic, with occasional direct references to biblical sources. In their introduction to the tractate in the 1948 Soncino Press edition of the Talmud, Rabbi Isidore Epstein and Maurice Simon note the three broad liturgical categories addressed in Berakhot: • Recitation of (; oftentimes referred to only as "the Shema" by contemporary Jews) every morning and evening. • The central prayer of each service, recited silently while standing—called the Amidah () or (). • Blessings recited for enjoying food, drinks, fragrances, and on important occasions. The initial three chapters cover the Shema, the following two focus on the Amidah, and the last four discuss various related topics blessings. Deuteronomy 11:13–21, and Numbers 15:37–41 of the Torah. The blessing of Birkat Hamazon () is derived from Deuteronomy 8:10, and Psalm 55:18 and Daniel 6:11 are referenced by Chazal () in their halakhic rulings regarding the recitation of prayer generally and the requirement to pray three services daily, respectively. Religious Jews believe that reciting the Shema satisfies their duty to acknowledge the kingship and kingdom of God by proclaiming, "the is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Chazal explain that the commandments in Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 11:13–21 require Jews to recite the two paragraphs of the Shema twice daily—once in the evening ("when you lie down") and once in the morning ("when you rise up"). Additionally, Chazal specify the halakhic times (; ) at which the Shema must be recited, delineate conditions for its recitation, and identify categories of individuals (e.g., women) and contexts in which the obligation does not apply. On days when an additional offering was sacrificed in the Temple, namely Shabbat, Three Pilgrimage Festivals, the intermediate days of the Festivals, and at Rosh Chodesh (the new moon), an additional prayer service, the Mussaf, was recited between the morning and afternoon services. states that the theological rationale for this is a recognition that a person should not benefit from the world without first acknowledging that God is the source of the abundance. known as Birkat Hamazon ("the Grace after Meals"), to be recited after eating food; while the Torah obligation applies only to a meal that satisfies a person's hunger, the rabbis of the Mishna required that it be recited after eating a ''k'zayit measure of bread. When three or more men have eaten together, one of them is required to invite the others to recite the Grace after Meals in what is known as the zimmun'' ("invitation to bless"). The tractate formulates the ''berakha m'ayn shalosh ("blessing abridged from the three blessings" of the Grace after Meals), recited for food or drink made from any of the seven species — wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranates, olive (oil), and date (honey) — which are listed in the Hebrew Bible as being special products of the Land of Israel. For all other foods, besides bread or the products of the seven species, a one blessing berakha acharona'' ("blessing recited after eating or drinking") is recited. The tractate also discusses the various requirements for Kiddush, the sanctification prayers recited over wine on Shabbat and Festivals, and Havdalah, the blessings for the ceremony recited at the end of the Shabbat and Festivals. ==Structure and content==

The tractate consists of nine chapters and 57 paragraphs (mishnayot). It has a Gemara—rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah—of 64 double-sided pages in the standard Vilna Edition Shas of the Babylonian Talmud and 68 double-sided pages in the Jerusalem Talmud. There is a Tosefta of six chapters for this tractate. Tractate Berakhot in the Babylonian Talmud has the highest word-per-folio average due to its large amount of aggadic material. Some of these passages offer insights into the Rabbis' attitudes towards prayer, often defined as a plea for divine mercy, but they also cover many other themes, including biblical interpretations, biographical narratives, dream interpretation, and folklore. • Chapter 4 discusses the main prayer, the Shemoneh Esrei (or Amidah), and considers the appropriate time-frames in which to recite this prayer in the morning, afternoon and evening; the abbreviated Amidah's wording and when it is recited; reciting the Amidah while riding or driving; and Mussaf recited on Shabbat and festivals. • Chapter 5 considers the necessity of preparing for prayer, praying with kavanah during the Amidah and the prohibition against interrupting one's prayer during the Amidah, guarding against error, especially regarding additions to or deviations in the form of the prayer; insertion of specific supplications such as for rain; and the course of action when the reader (shaliach tzibbur) makes a mistake while reciting the Amidah for the congregation. • Chapter 6 examines the principle that before and after eating any food, one must recite a blessing. It determines the form of blessing for various kinds of food before and after. It discusses the blessing made on capers, for example, with the leaves of the caper plant, having a different blessing than the fruit, since they are fruit of the ground rather than fruit of a tree. • Chapter 7 discusses the procedures for the concluding blessings known as Birkat Hamazon, (blessing for the sustenance) following a formal meal, usually defined by eating bread, at which three or more have eaten together, and the zimmun—invitation to join the grace. • Chapter 8 formulates the rules for the washing of hands in connection with a meal, reciting grace over the wine-cup; Kiddush, the sanctification of Shabbat and Jewish holidays and Havdalah, the concluding ceremony of Shabbat; it also notes the disputes between the Houses of Shammai and Hillel regarding blessings recited at meals, especially to the order of their recital. • Chapter 9 discusses various special blessings that can be made for many occasions, such as upon coming across a place where a miracle was performed or places of religious significance, or upon hearing thunder or seeing natural phenomena such as lightning or a rainbow, experiencing life milestones, and deliverance from danger; additionally, various additional instructions are given to ensure respect for the Temple Mount and the name of God in personal greetings and to resist heresy by stressing a belief in the world-to-come. ==Placement in the Order Zeraim==

The topics of tractate Berakhot, relating to prayers and blessings, are seemingly quite different from the agricultural laws of the other tractates of (), and several rationales have been proposed for this placement. According to Maimonides, because food is the foremost necessity for life, the laws concerning its production and use (i.e., the Halakha in ) were placed at the beginning of the Mishnah. However, to first express gratitude to God for these gifts, the one non-agricultural tractate that opens this order is Berakhot. records an explanation given by Shimon ben Lakish, who homiletically states that the first six terms in Isaiah 33:6 refer to the six orders of the Mishnah, and the first word, "emunah" ('faithfulness'), corresponds to Zeraim. This is seen as an explanation for why the regulations regarding prayers and blessings—especially those about reciting the Shema—were grouped with agricultural laws. These laws were viewed both as acts of faith through reliance on God and, according to the commentator Rashi (1040–1105 CE), as a demonstration of faithfulness in social relationships, through provisions such as dues to the poor, priests, and the Levites, as described in other tractates of Seder Zeraim. ==Historical context and influence==

Composed towards the end of the Mishnaic period (c. 30 BCE - 200 CE) in the Roman province of Judea, the Mishnah of tractate Berakhot contains traditions covering the full range of sages from the period, from the Second Temple period until the end of the period of the Tannaim. This tractate, along with other literature from the Second Temple era, especially the liturgical texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, has provided scholars with a better understanding of the place of Jewish prayer in the broader evolution of Jewish worship of the time when it coexisted alongside the sacrificial worship of the Temple in Jerusalem. The tractate also provides significant information about the eating customs of the Jews of Upper Mesopotamia, called "Babylonia" (chapter 6), and of the Jews in Syria Palaestina, also called "Land of Israel", which were largely modeled on those of the Romans (chapter 8) by the time the Mishna was written (c. 200 CE). Around the essential main prayers of the Shema and Amidah, other elements seem to have arisen, probably in the later Talmudic period during the time of the Amoraim. These included the recitation of psalms and other collections of biblical verses known as pesukei dezimra ("verses of song") prior to the main prayers in order to set an appropriate frame of mind for praying (Berakhot 5:1), and the recitation of individual prayers after the Amidah. These began as private supplications, including personal requests (Tosefot to Berakhot 3:10), but were gradually formalized. These elements took different forms in the Land of Israel and in Babylonia, as the findings of some of these texts in the Cairo Genizah have shown. During the Talmudic period, the norm developed that the ideal language for prayer was Hebrew, although other languages were considered acceptable for many prayers (BT, Berakhot 13a). By the end of the Talmudic period, consensus existed as to the basic formulation of most prayers, though regional variations remained. By the end of the Talmudic period (c. 500), two distinct prayer rites had developed, "Land of Israel" and "Babylonia". However, by the end of the Geonic period (c. 1038), the prayers of all the traditional Jewish ethnic divisions had largely conformed to the liturgy of the Babylonian Jewish community, and this has remained so until the present time, with only minor textual and structural variations among them. ==Liturgical uses==

Both the Babylonian Talmud (BT) and Jerusalem Talmud (JT) include original prayers, many of which have been included in the Siddur, the daily prayer-book. The prayers are mostly the same in form and content in both Talmuds. Elohai ("My God"), the private meditation of the fourth century sage, Mar son of Ravina, as recorded in this tractate, has become universally accepted as the concluding meditation of the Amidah in the liturgies of all the Jewish communities. It begins with the words "My God, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from deceitful speech" and reflects the opening meditation of the Amidah "O Lord, open my lips so that my mouth may declare your praise" in that, having asked God to guide what to say in his presence, it now asks Him to guide what not to say in the presence of other human beings. Yehi Ratzon ("May it be Your will"), the personal prayer of the late second–early third century sage, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, as recorded in this tractate (), requesting protection from harmful events, people and temptations, which he recited every day after the morning service, has been incorporated at the beginning of the morning service in both the Ashkenazi and Sefardi liturgies, albeit with minor textual variants in each. The second part of the Nishmat prayer, recited on Sabbath and Festivals, from the words "If our mouths were as full of song as the sea...we could not sufficiently praise You O Lord our God" is the text of a thanksgiving prayer for rain cited in this tractate (). The concluding statement of the tractate in both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud (BT, Berakhot 64a) is Amar Rabbi Elazar ("Rabbi Elazer said"), "Torah scholars increase peace in the world..." and it is recited at the end of the Kabbalat Shabbat service welcoming the Sabbath on Friday night in the Ashkenazi liturgy, and towards the end of the Musaf service on Sabbaths and Festivals in both the Ashkenazi and Sefardi liturgies. ==See also==