The next section of the siddur that I will analyze is the Shema and its blessings. As opposed to Pesukei d’Zimra, which had very few texts from chazal that overtly dealt with the topic, we now encounter a portion of the siddur with ample rabbinic material. These texts provide fertile ground for rishonim to struggle with the section’s deeper meaning and function.

These essays will proceed as follows. First, I present a few foundational texts that serve as the basis for subsequent deliberation. The remaining installments seek to answer the following three questions:

1. What is the relationship of Shema and its blessings to the Amida? (סמיכת גאולה לתפילה)
2. How do the berachot of Shema function relative to the Shema itself? (ברכת המצוה או ברכת שבח)
3. How do the berachot function relative to each other (ברכות מעכבות)?

While these questions are somewhat technical in nature, they also provide a framework to help unpack some of the bigger themes of this section. Through a careful halakhic analysis, I hope to foreground some of the more spiritual messages that lie just beneath the surface of the Shema and its blessings.

Foundational Texts (1)

The story of the berachot of Shema begins with a straightforward Mishna.

משנה ברכות א:ד (יא.)

בַּשַּׁחַר מְבָרֵךְ שְׁתַּיִם לְפָנֶיהָ וְאַחַת לְאַחֲרֶיהָ 

וּבָעֶרֶב שְׁתַּיִם לְפָנֶיהָ וּשְׁתַּיִם לְאַחֲרֶיהָ

אַחַת אֲרֻכָּה וְאַחַת קְצָרָה

מָקוֹם שֶׁאָמְרוּ לְהַאֲרִיךְ אֵינוֹ רַשַּׁאי לְקַצֵּר 

לְקַצֵּר אֵינוֹ רַשַּׁאי לְהַאֲרִיךְ 

לַחְתֹּם אֵינוֹ רַשַּׁאי שֶׁלֹּא לַחְתֹּם 

וְשֶׁלֹּא לַחְתֹּם אֵינוֹ רַשַּׁאי לַחְתֹּם

Mishna, Berachot 1:4 (page 11a)

In the morning he recites two [blessings] before her [Shema] and one after her; 

And in the evening two before her and two after her. 

One [of the blessings is] long and one short. 

Where the Rabbis said that a long one should be said, he may not say a short one; 

where they said a short one he may not say a long one. 

[Where they said] to conclude [with a blessing] he is not permitted to not conclude; 

where they said to not conclude [with a blessing], he may not conclude.

This Mishna outlines the basic structure of the entire section. We should be familiar with the idea of a central piece of Biblical text that is surrounded by berachot. This is the same as Pesukei d’Zimra and Hallel, both of which have opening and closing berachot enveloping the central recitation of an ancient text from the Tanakh. The same structure appears every time the Torah is read in public: an opening beracha followed by a Biblical text and then a concluding beracha.

As we proceed further into these essays, we will unpack the nature of the relationship of the berachot themselves to the Shema as well as the connection of this entire unit to the Amida. For now, I simply want to flag that the function of the berachot is entirely unclear from the Mishna itself. Are these meant to be a birkat ha-Mitzvah? If that were the case, the text of the berachot seems quite strange. If they are not birkot ha-Mitzvah, then what are they? 

The Ba’al ha-Tanya asks the question like this (תניא, חלק ראשון, ספר של בינונים מ”ט):

דלכאורה אין להם שייכות כלל עם קריאת שמע…ולמה קראו אותן ברכות קריאת שמע? 

ולמה תיקנו אותן לפניה דווקא?

For presumably they [the berachot] have no connection at all to the reading of the Shema…and why were they called, “The blessing of kriyat Shema?”

And why, in particular, were they instituted before the Shema?

The existence of at least one Beracha preceding the Shema appears to be an ancient practice. The Mishna in Tamid says:

משנה תמיד ה:א (לב:)

אָמַר לָהֶם הַמְמֻנֶּה, בָּרְכוּ בְרָכָה אֶחַת, וְהֵן בֵּרְכוּ.

Mishna Tamid 5:1 (32b)

The Kohen in charge for the day would say to them, “Bless one blessing.” And they would bless.

This Mishna, which preserves part of the tefilot that were recited in the Beit ha-Mikdash, is significant for a few reasons:

1. This reflects the reality that some davening happened before the destruction of the Beit ha-Mikdash. To whatever extent tefila can be seen as a kind of replacement for the service of the Temple, some of its aspects overlapped with the existence of the Beit ha-Mikdash.
2. The blessings of Shema are very old. While the Talmud (Berachot 11a) debates which beracha in particular was recited, we clearly have a tradition of berachot before the Shema going back nearly 2,000 years.
3. This Mishna also seems to serve as a model of call and response, perhaps not dissimilar to what we know as Barchu.

Yerushalmi

The Mishna gives little background to the meaning of the berachot themselves. However, the Yerushalmi takes up that question with the citation of two pesukim.

תלמוד ירושלמי ברכות ט׳ א:ה (ונציה) מסכת ברכות פרק א דף ג טור ג 

ר’ סימון בשם ר’ שמואל בר נחמן על שם וְהָגִיתָ בּוֹ יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה (יהושע א:ח) שתהא הגיות היום והלילה שוין.

רבי יוסי בר אבין בשם רבי יהושע בן לוי על שם שֶׁבַע בַּיּוֹם הִלַּלְתִּיךָ עַל מִשְׁפְּטֵי צִדְקֶךָ (תהילים קי”ט:קס”ד).

ר’ נחמן בשם רבי מנא כל המקיים שֶׁבַע בַּיּוֹם הִלַּלְתִּיךָ כאלו קיים וְהָגִיתָ בּוֹ יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה.

Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 9a:5 (Vilna), 3c (Venice)

R. Simon in the name of R. Shmuel bar Nachman, “Because of: you shall meditate (v’hagita¹)upon it day and night (Joshua 1:8) in order that the meditations of the day and the night be equal.” R. Yosi bar Avin in the name of R. Yehoshua b. Levi, “Because of: I praise You seven times in the day for Your just laws (Psalm 119:164). R. Nachman in the name of R. Mana, “All who fulfill ‘I praise You seven times in the day’ it is as though they fulfill ‘you shall meditate upon it day and night’.”

This somewhat cryptic passage in the Yerushalmi quotes two different Biblical texts that serve as the basis for the section of Shema and its blessings: You shall meditate upon it day and night, from Joshua (1:8) and I praise You seven times, from the Psalms (119:164).

The idea that “the meditations of the day and the night be equal” is explained by the P’nei Moshe² as referring to the numbers of Berachot plus the paragraphs of Shema that are recited in the day and at night. During the day there are three blessings and three sections of Shema. At night there are four blessings and only two sections of Shema because the parasha of Tzitzit (va-yomer) was not always recited at night³. In this way, day and night are parallel or equal. A similar idea is echoed in the Bavli Berachot 11a /b, which we will analyze next time.

The idea that the day and the night should be parallel could simply be read as a desire for symmetry in liturgy. There is always something pleasing when numbers line up in this manner. In addition, I think this can also be understood as a reference to a deeper message of this section. The idea that the night and the day must be in balance and that they both come from God is a key message of the berachot of Shema. 

How is I praise You seven times a day (Psalm 119:164) connected to the Shema? On a simple level, there are seven berachot recited in total every day before and after the Shema in the morning and evening. In addition, for Your just laws, may be a reference to the Biblical text of Shema itself. Here the number seven refers to just the blessings and not the paragraphs and Shema. In this presentation the verses do not reflect a different approach to the berachot or to Shema; rather, they are understood as referring to different passages.

How might we understand something deeper going on between R. Shmuel bar. Nachman – And you shall meditate upon it day and night – and R. Yehoshua b. Levi – I praise You seven times a day? One way to think about this is to look at directionality. And you shall meditate is a command from God to the prophet and to us. I praise you seven times is King David pouring out divine praise upward. The twice daily recitation of the Shema contains both of these aspects.

On the one hand, we are fulfilling a Mitzvah from the Torah. On the other hand, we are reaching toward the heavens with the praise of the angles. This interaction — from the heavens to us and from us to Hashem — is the secret of prayer. Davening is a two-way communication, and we need to train ourselves to hear the movement in our direction.

1. See רש”י and רד”ק on Joshua 1:8 who clearly understand וְהָגִיתָ as referring to an inner process that takes time.
2. This same idea appears in the שו”ת הרשב”א ח”א ס’, נ”א. Many of the more recent commentaries on the Yerushalmi take this approach for granted; see the ידיד נפש and Rav Chaim Kanievsky on the sugya.
3. The עלי תמר in his masterful commentary quotes a puzzling passage from the ספר הרוקח. It appears at the end סימן שי”ט, which is the conclusion of the section in the Rokeach on Hilkhot Nidda, in a short introductory section to Berachot. There, we read: שאל ר’ יצחק הגר מפני מה חטא [נ”ל שצ”ל “נשתנה”] בקר מן ערב, שבערב אומרים שתי ברכות לפני קרית שמע ושתים לאחריה, ובבקר רק אחת לאחריה? והשיב לו ר”ת לפי שבשחר יש מצות ציצית מה שאין כן בערב. When the מטה משה quotes this in עמוד העבודה קדיש, ברכו וקריאת שמע סימן קא he has נשתנה and not חטא, as do many of the printings of the Rokeach. A similar idea can be found at the beginning of מדרש תהלים (בובר) מזמור ו.