Introduction
Tractate Berakhot begins by discussing what time the Shema (only two paragraphs were recited at night, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21) is recited in the evening. It probably begins by discussing the evening Shema because in rabbinic thought the day begins at night. This is also the order reflected in Deuteronomy 6:7 and 11:19, “Recite them…when you lie down and when you get up.” In our mishnah the sages debate what the halakhic meaning of the words “when you lie down” really are.

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 priests would immerse at dusk so that after the sun had set and the stars came out they could go into their homes and eat terumah. Rabbi Eliezer determines that until the sun has set the Shema cannot be recited. The night is divided into three watches. Rabbi Eliezer holds that once the first watch has passed (this would be about 10 PM, if the day and night are both 12 hours), one can no longer recite the Shema. It seems that he interprets “when you lie down” to mean that the Shema must be recited at a time when most people go to sleep, that is between the time that the stars come out and the end of the first watch.

The sages say: until midnight. The sages say that he can read the Shema only until midnight.

Rabban Gamaliel says: until dawn. Rabban Gamaliel says that the Shema can be read until the sun rises the following morning. As we shall see below, Rabban Gamaliel does not actually disagree with the sages but rather explains their opinion.

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. In this story Rabban Gamaliel’s sons are out all night at a wedding party and they do not come home until early in the morning. Being good rabbi’s children, the first thing they ask him upon their return is if they can still recite the evening Shema or whether they have missed the opportunity altogether. Rabban Gamaliel answers that if it is not yet dawn, they may still recite the Shema.

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. Here and in the following sections we see that Rabban Gamaliel holds that whenever the sages say that a certain mitzvah must be performed before midnight, in actuality it can be performed until the following morning. The sages said that the mitzvah should be performed before midnight so that the person would perform the mitzvah with plenty of time to spare and not miss his opportunity and thereby transgress. The mishnah brings two more such cases where they said that the mitzvah should be performed before midnight but it could actually be performed until the following morning. Parts of sacrifices that were not offered during the day were offered at night. While this should be done before midnight, if not done by then it can still be done up until the following dawn. Similarly, some sacrifices can only be eaten for a day or two and the night that follows. The sacrifice should be eaten before midnight, but if it is still leftover it can be eaten until dawn of the following morning.

Introduction
Today’s mishnah proceeds to discuss when the morning Shema is recited. The Torah says that it should be recited “when you get up,” so the debate in our mishnah is essentially over the meaning of this phrase.

From what time may one recite the Shema in the morning?
From the time that one can distinguish between blue and white. Rabbi Eliezer says: between blue and green. Both opinions in the mishnah determine when one can recite the morning Shema by whether it is light enough to distinguish colors. This is probably connected to the wearing of tzitzit in the morning and the ability to recognize the colors of the threads. The first opinion holds that one must be able to distinguish between blue and white, the two colors in one’s tzitzit. Rabbi Eliezer holds that one must be able to distinguish between blue and green. Green is close to the color of tzitzit, so Rabbi Eliezer is saying that one must be able to tell that the tzitzit are blue and not green. This would require more light than distinguishing between blue and white.

And he must finish it by sunrise. Rabbi Joshua says: until the third hour of the day, for such is the custom of the children of kings, to rise at the third hour. If one recites the Shema later he loses nothing, like one who reads in the Torah. According to the first opinion one must finish reciting the Shema by sunrise. This is the time of day when most people would get up. Rabbi Joshua holds that “when you get up” doesn’t refer to when an average working person rises, but to when the last people, the children of kings who do not have to work, get up. They rise at the third hour of the day, meaning when one quarter of the day has passed. Therefore, all of Israel has until this time to recite the Shema. Rabbi Joshua adds that after the third hour one who reads the Shema has not transgressed. We might have thought that by reciting a prayer which he was not obligated to recite he thereby recited God’s name in vain. However, this is not so because the Shema is in the Torah and reading the Torah and pronouncing God’s name is not considered taking God’s name in vain. Nevertheless, one who recites the Shema after the third hour has not fulfilled the mitzvah of reciting the Shema.

Introduction
The Torah says that one should recite the Shema “when you lie down and when you get up.” In our mishnah, Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel debate the meaning of this phrase.

Bet Shammai say: in the evening every man should recline and recite [the Shema], and in the morning he should stand, as it says, “And when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:7). Bet Shammai reads the verse quite literally. In the evening one must lie down and recite the Shema and in the morning one must stand up and recite it.

Bet Hillel say that every man should recite in his own way, as it says, “And when you walk by the way” (. Why then is it said, “And when you lies down and when you get up?” At the time when people lie down and at the time when people rise up. In contrast, to Bet Hillel these words refer to the time when people lie down and the time when they rise up. The words “and when you walk by the way” prove that the Torah does not really care what position a person is when he recites the Shema.

Rabbi Tarfon said: I was once walking by the way and I reclined to recite the Shema according to the words of Bet Shammai, and I incurred danger from robbers. They said to him: you deserved to come to harm, because you acted against the words of Bet Hillel. Rabbi Tarfon, a sage who lived after the destruction of the Temple, testifies that one time while going on the way in the evening (probably riding on his donkey), he went out of his way to lie down on the ground and he almost incurred danger from robbers. The rabbis to whom he is talking tell him that he deserved whatever trouble he got in for going out of his way to act like Bet Shammai. The halakhah is like Bet Hillel and a rabbi who acts against this halakhah is endangering his own life.

If one was reading in the Torah [the section of the Shema] and the time for its recital arrived, if he directed his heart [to fulfill the mitzvah] he has fulfilled his obligation.
In the breaks [between sections] one may give greeting out of respect and return greeting; in the middle [of a section] one may give greeting out of fear and return it, the words of Rabbi Meir.
Rabbi Judah says: in the middle one may give greeting out of fear and return it out of respect, in the breaks one may give greeting out of respect and return greeting to anyone.
The first section of this mishnah deals with having proper intention when reciting the Shema. The second section deals with interrupting reciting the Shema to greet someone.
Section one: Someone is reading the Torah and he just happens to read the portions of the Shema at the time in the morning or evening when he is supposed to recite the Shema. While this may seem extremely unlikely since the Shema’s three portions are not found consecutively in the Torah the mishnah is teaching a lesson. Merely reading the Shema as if one is simply reading from the Torah is not sufficient to fulfill one’s ritual duty to recite the Shema in the morning and in the evening. One must recite the Shema with the intention in mind of fulfilling one’s obligation to perform this mitzvah. Only if one has such an intention in mind, has he fulfilled his mitzvah.
Section two: This section deals with being forced to interrupt someone to offer a greeting. It seems that in ancient times people took greetings far more seriously than we take them today. Not greeting someone properly was considered a serious insult. Therefore, both Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah allow certain interruptions in the recitation of the Shema in order to greet people. Rabbi Meir rules more strictly. In between the paragraphs one can greet and respond to someone to whom one owes respect. In the middle of a paragraph one can interrupt but only to greet or respond to someone whom one fears, such as a king or other powerful official. But one should never interrupt just to greet an ordinary person and in the middle of a paragraph one may interrupt only out of fear and not out of respect.
Rabbi Judah is more lenient on each count. In the middle of a paragraph he may initiate a greeting out of fear (Rabbi Meir agrees with this) and he may respond to one even out of respect (Rabbi Meir says only out of fear). In between paragraphs he may initiate a greeting out of respect (this agrees with Rabbi Meir) and he may respond to anyone (Rabbi Meir disagrees).

Introduction
The first section of this mishnah explain what counts as “between the breaks” such that it is more permissible to interrupt (see yesterday’s mishnah).
In the second section a sage explains the order of the three paragraphs of the Shema.

These are the breaks between the sections: between the first blessing and the second, between the second and “Shema,” between “Shema” and “And it shall come to pass if you listen” between “And it shall come to pass if you listen” and “And the Lord said” and between “And the Lord said” and “Emet veYatziv” (true and. Rabbi Judah says: between “And the Lord said” and “Emet veYatziv” one should not interrupt. There is a break between each of the blessings and between each paragraph of the Shema. Rabbi Judah however holds that one should not interrupt between “And the Lord said”, the last paragraph of the Shema and “Emet veYatziv”, the first blessing after the Shema. By doing so he connects the word “Emet (truth)” to the last two words of the Shema “the Lord your God”, thereby creating the phrase from Jeremiah 10:10, “The Lord your God is truth.” Today, the prayer leader recites these three words after completion of the Shema.

Rabbi Joshua ben Korhah said: Why was the section of “Shema” placed before that of “And it shall come to pass if you listen”? So that one should first accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven and then take upon himself the yoke of the commandments. Why does the section of “And it shall come to pass if you listen” come before that of “And the Lord said”? Because “And it shall come to pass if you listen” is customary during both day and night, whereas [the section] “And the Lord said” is customary only during the day. The first paragraph of the Shema, the one that begins “Hear O’ Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” is concerned with the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. This paragraph is about faith and it is this faith that must precede the acceptance of the commandments which is mentioned in the second paragraph. The opening words of the second paragraph hint at this step-by-step theology first you listen, “And it shall come to pass if you listen” then “to My commandments which I command you this day.” Finally, the second paragraph “And it shall come to pass if you listen” precedes the third paragraph because the third paragraph which is about tzitzit was recited only at night (today it is always recited). This fits the general rule that something which is recited regularly (tadir) takes precedence over something recited less regularly (she’ayno tadir). It also makes practical sense considering that the Shema was recited from memory. It is easier to end a prayer earlier than at other times one ends the prayer, then to skip a section within the prayer. Using myself as an example, if someone told me not to do the last paragraph of the Amidah (which I usually recite by heart) I would not have great difficulty. But if someone told me to skip a paragraph in the middle of the Amidah, I would have to concentrate hard to remember where that paragraph comes in order to skip it. This is why it is easier to save the “And the Lord said” paragraph to the end of the Shema.

Introduction
Our mishnah deals with the question of what does it mean to actually “recite” the Shema.

One who recites the Shema without causing it to be heard by his own ear, he has fulfilled his obligation. Rabbi Yose says: he has not fulfilled his obligation. According to the first opinion, one who whispers the Shema so faintly that he himself cannot hear what he said has nevertheless fulfilled his obligation. Rabbi Yose says that he has not. The Talmud interprets Rabbi Yose as deriving his halakhah from the word “Shema (listen)” the word implies that one must hear the words of the Shema being recited.

If he recited it without pronouncing the letters succinctly, Rabbi Yose says he has fulfilled his obligation. Rabbi Judah says: he has not fulfilled his obligation. This refers to someone who recites the Shema quickly, blurring one word into another. For instance he runs the word “bekhol” into the next word “levavekha”. Rabbi Yose holds that he has fulfilled his obligation whereas Rabbi Judah holds that he has not.

If he recites it out of order, he has not fulfilled his obligation. If he recites the verses within a paragraph out of order, he has not fulfilled his obligation. However, the halakhah is that if he recited the paragraphs out of order he has fulfilled his obligation.

If he recites it and makes a mistake he goes back to the place where he made the mistake. If while reciting the Shema he realized that he made a mistake, what he must do is go back to the beginning of the verse in which he made the mistake.

Introduction
This mishnah deals with reciting the Shema in a place where having proper intention might be very difficult.

Workers may recite [the Shema] on the top of a tree or the top of a scaffolding, that which they are not allowed to do in the case of the Tefillah. The mishnah describes a case of workers who go to work early in the morning and find themselves working in a tree or at the top of some scaffolding when the time to read the Shema comes. The mishnah allows these people to recite the Shema without forcing them to come down and stand on the ground. However, when it comes to the recitation of the Tefillah, which means prayer and refers to the Amidah prayer, they must come down. There are several reasons for this difference between the Shema and the Amidah. First of all, the Amidah is much longer and therefore will require more concentration. Second, the wording of the Shema was completely set by the Torah and there was no room for improvisations. While to fulfill one’s obligation one had to have the intent to perform a mitzvah, it would not have required a tremendous amount of focus. In contrast, the wording of the Amidah was more fluid and probably less familiar. Therefore, when it comes to the Amidah they have to get down from the tree and only then can they pray.

Introduction
This mishnah deals with a bridegroom reciting the Shema. The problem is that he may not be able to have the proper intention because he is focusing on other matters.

A bridegroom is exempt from reciting the Shema on the first night until the end of the Shabbat, if he has not performed the act. According to the first mishnah in Ketubot, virgins are married on Wednesdays. Our mishnah teaches that the bridegroom is exempt from his obligation to recite the Shema from the first night of his wedding and for the next four nights, if he had not yet had sexual relations with her. Until he has relations with her he will obviously be very nervous, especially since this may very well be his first sexual encounter. This nervousness will prevent him from having the proper intention and hence the mishnah exempts him. However, if he hasn’t had sex with her until after Shabbat, he must go back to reciting the Shema.

It happened with Rabban Gamaliel who recited the Shema on the first night after he had married. His students said to him: Our master, have you not taught us that a bridegroom is exempt from reciting the Shema. He replied to them: I will not listen to you to remove from myself the Kingship of Heaven even for a moment. The story of Rabban Gamaliel seems to show that the previous clause means that the bridegroom is exempt from the Shema, not that he can’t recite it should he want to do so. Rabban Gamaliel’s love of God, his desire to say the Shema and thereby accept upon himself the Kingship of Heaven is so strong, that he cannot desist from reciting the Shema even on his wedding night. [We don’t know how his bride reacted to this.]

Introduction This mishnah deals with the mental/spiritual preparation one is supposed to have before one prays the Tefillah.

One should not stand up to say Tefillah except in a reverent state of mind. Today the introductory Psalms, called Psukei D’zimrah are supposed to fulfill the function of preparing a person to recite the Tefillah in a “reverent state of mind”, at least at the Shacharit (morning) service. In mishnaic times the idea of reciting specific Psalms before the Tefillah did not exist.

The pious men of old used to wait an hour before praying in order that they might direct their thoughts to God. The pious men, the “Hasidim” (no connection to the modern group with the same name) seem to be a group of especially fervent rabbis/Pharisees. They took the commandment to pray not as a rote commandment to be fulfilled mechanically but as an opportunity to communicate with God. To prepare themselves so that they would be in the right frame of mind and that they would know exactly what they were going to say, they would wait an entire hour before they began to pray.

Even if a king greets him [while praying] he should not answer him: even if a snake is wound round his heel he should not stop. I don’t believe that these statements are meant to be taken literally. Rather they are meant to teach us how hard one should concentrate on Tefillah, so much so that he tunes out the rest of the world. The Talmud is adamant that if one’s life is in real danger, either from a king not greeted or from a threatening snake, then one must interrupt the prayer and protect one’s life. For me the task of concentrating comes not when a snake is wrapped around my leg but when one (or more) of my children is. As an aside, if your child is making noise while other people are davening the Amidah and this will disturb their Tefillah, you have permission to interrupt your Tefillah and take the child out. This is preferable to leaving the child to disturb everyone.

One who has built a new house or bought new vessels says, “Blessed be He who has kept us alive [and preserved us and brought us to this season.]”
One who blesses over the evil as he blesses over the good or over the good as he blesses over evil; one who cries over the past, behold this is a vain prayer.
How so? If his wife was pregnant and he says, “May it be his will that my wife bear a male child,” this is a vain prayer.
If he is coming home from a journey and he hears a cry of distress in the town and says, “May it be his will that this is not be those of my house,” this is a vain prayer.
Section one: This is the familiar blessing “shehecheyanu” which we recite upon eating new foods, receiving new things, at the beginning of holidays and at certain other events.
Section two: This is a difficult clause to explain. Albeck explains that this refers to one who tries to bless over something bad the blessing that he should say for the good, “Blessed be He that is good and grants good.” What he is trying to do is be hopeful that from something bad will come something good. Alternatively, he blesses the blessing for the bad, “Blessed be the true judge” because he fears that something bad will come from the good. These are both vain prayers because after the event has already happened it cannot be changed. Thus these are both specific cases of one who is crying over the past. Prayers are legitimate only if they are recited in anticipation of an event that has not yet occurred. The Rambam explains that this mishnah mandates reciting the blessing over the good for something that is now good even if it might eventually be bad. Similarly, one must recite the blessing over bad for something that is now bad even though it might eventually be good. As in Albeck’s explanation, the focus is on the present and not something that might change in the future.
Sections three and four: These are both examples of “crying over the past.” Once the child’s sex has been determined it cannot change. There is no use in crying out to God in hope that the house that is under distress is not one’s house because whatever house it is has already been determined. Once something has already happened one must be reconciled with one’s fate.