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Tag: ברכות מעכבות

Introduction to Shema and its Berachot (11) – The relationship between the blessings (3) – Ramban & Rav Hai (Rashba)

Introduction to Shema and its Berachot (11) – The relationship between the blessings (3) – Ramban & Rav Hai (Rashba)

We have seen that the Yerushalmi and the Bavli seemed to use the phrase ברכות מעכבות (that the omission of the blessings does or does not impact the Shema or the other blessings) to refer to different questions. The Yerushlmi appeared to refer only to the question of the berachot and Shema while the Bavli seemed to deal only with the question of the berachot  in relation to each other. We noted a difficult question of Tosafot who compared those very two texts on the assumption that they are talking about the same topic. What emerged was that when one says ברכות אינן מעכבות את שמע (the omission of the blessings does not stand in the way of the fulfillment of the Shema) one could mean that these two berachot are not only distinct from the Shema but also operate apart from one another.

The claim that recitation of the berachot is not linked directly to the Shema basically indicates that they are not ברכות המצוה (mitzvah blessings) but standard ברכות שבח (blessings of praise) that happen to be situated before the Shema. If a person skipped one of the ברכות השחר (the morning blessings), there would be no reason to think that any of the other berachot are impacted1. What I would like to show is how this debate appears after the Tosafot, in the 13th century Rishonim in Sefarad — the Ramban and the Rashba — and how that appearance deepens our understanding of this entire unit of the Siddur. …

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Introduction to Shema and its Berachot (10) – The relationship between the blessings (2) – Yerushalmi, Berachot  2:1, Tosafot

Introduction to Shema and its Berachot (10) – The relationship between the blessings (2) – Yerushalmi, Berachot  2:1, Tosafot

Last time, we unpacked a complex sugya in the Bavli that struggled to understand the relationship of the berachot of the Shema to each other. Let’s take a look at a short comment of the Yerushalmi that appears to use this same phrase in a different way. The comment was made on the first Mishna of the second chapter of Masechet Berachot:

משנה ברכות ב:א

הָיָה קוֹרֵא בַּתּוֹרָה וְהִגִּיעַ זְמַן הַמִּקְרָא אִם כִּוֵּון לִבּוֹ יָצָא

Mishna, Berachot 2:1

If one was reading the Torah and arrived at the time of the reading of Shema – if you intend your heart, you can fulfill your obligation. 

The Mishna understands that even though this person did not recite the complete liturgy — meaning that they did not recite any of the blessings — they could nonetheless appropriately fulfill the mitzvah of the Shema. The Yerushalmi then says:

תלמוד ירושלמי ברכות י”ב א (וילנא) פרק ב הלכה א

א”ר בא זאת אומרת שאין הברכות מעכבות. 

Yerushalmi Berachot 12a (2:1)

Rabbi Aba said, “This teaches that the blessings do not stand in the way of [the Shema].”

It is clear that this short passage explains that the recitation of the berachot of Shema is not essential to the proper fulfillment of the mitzvah of reading the Shema. It seems that, while approximately the same phrase is used in both the Bavli and the Yerushalmi, they are talking about two very different questions.  …

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Introduction to Shema and its Berachot (9) – The relationship between the blessings (1) – Bavli, Berachot 11b/12a

Introduction to Shema and its Berachot (9) – The relationship between the blessings (1) – Bavli, Berachot 11b/12a

The last few essays addressed the question of סמיכת גאולה לתפילה: the juxtaposition of the beracha of geula to the Amida. We looked at the relationship between one of the berachot of Shema and what follows. The remaining installments will analyze the relationship of these berachot to each other and to the Shema itself. 

We will address these two final questions together. 

  • First, how do the various berachot interact with each other? For example, what if you said them out of order, or what if you skipped one? 
  • Second, are the berachot recited before the Shema meant as a normal blessing on a Mitzvah or as something else? If they are like other berachot on Mitzvot, why is their formulation so different? If they are not like other berachot on Mitzvot, then what are they? 

I hope to show the ways in which these two questions are, in fact, interrelated. …

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