FIRST ARAMAIC · 2 OF 5
What is different?
Read the Aramaic expression mai shena, recognize “first” and “and further,” and explain a question about the Mishnah’s order.
Ask about the choice of wording
In Where and when in Aramaic, we met היכא, “where,” and אימת, “when.” Now learn an expression that asks why the teacher chooses one way of presenting a teaching rather than another.
The Gemara, our sages’ discussion of the Mishnah and other teachings, opens Berakhot 2a by examining the Mishnah’s first question. The Mishnah begins with the evening Shema, our recitation of Torah passages. The Gemara asks why evening comes before morning in this presentation. Our focus is the words that make that question.
Learn the small pieces
- מאי · mai
- What?
- מאי שנא · mai shena
- What is different? In this question: why this choice?
- ברישא · bereisha
- First; at the beginning.
- ותו · ve-tu
- And further.
Read מאי שנא as a unit. The first word asks “what”; the whole expression asks what distinguishes the choice under discussion. Here that becomes a question about why evening is taught first. It is the expression and its context together that produce the idiomatic “why.”
Cover the glosses and locate the single word meaning “first.” Then locate the two-word expression asking about the difference.
1. Which words did you select?
ברישא means first. מאי שנא is the two-word expression “What is different?” Do not collapse the two-word expression into the meaning of מאי by itself.
Read the question in chunks
ותו מאי שנא דתני בערבית ברישא
And further, why does he teach evening first?
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
The remaining chunks are דתני, “that he teaches” here, and בערבית, “in the evening recitation” here. A close chunk guide is:
and further / what is different / that he teaches / evening / first.
Natural English makes the question smooth: “And further, why does he teach evening first?” The question concerns the order of teaching in the Mishnah. It is not asking what time the evening service begins.
Locate each chunk in the original, beginning at the right. Give extra attention to the final word: ברישא identifies the position being questioned.
2. Which chunk supplies “he teaches,” and which supplies “first”?
דתני supplies “that he teaches” in this sentence; ברישא supplies “first.” The question expression is מאי שנא. Keeping these jobs apart lets you read rather than memorize an undivided English sentence.
3. Why does replacing “why” with “when” change the question?
“When” would ask for a time. This question asks why the teacher starts with evening rather than the alternative. A clock time would leave the order-of-teaching question unanswered.
Hear “and further”
ותו begins the second question after תנא היכא קאי, “On what is the teacher relying?” The opening ו contributes “and”; תו contributes “further.” Here the joined word adds another question. It does not announce that the previous question has been answered.
Read just these openings aloud or silently: תנא היכא קאי … ותו מאי שנא. State what the second opening adds without filling in the whole argument.
4. What can you tell before reading the rest of the second question?
The discussion adds another question: “And further, what is different …?” The rest will identify the choice it examines. The marker joins the questions; it does not supply an answer to either.
Read the proposed alternative
The next source phrase is below. Try it before revealing the sentence. You already know the final word. Use the supplied new chunks: לתני = let him teach; דשחרית = the morning one, referring to morning recitation.
לתני דשחרית ברישא
Write a natural English sentence. Then put it beside the preceding question and say which word stays the same while the proposed subject changes.
5. How does your rendering compare?
“Let him teach the morning one first.” ברישא, “first,” remains the same. Evening in the question gives way to morning in the proposed alternative.
The Gemara voices a possible different presentation. It is not giving an instruction to rearrange the day’s prayers.
6. Which pair distinguishes evening from morning here?
בערבית points to evening recitation in the question. דשחרית points to the morning one in the alternative. These are the supplied surrounding chunks; ברישא tells us which is placed first in each.
Read the two lines together
Cover the English renderings above. With the chunk key available, read these consecutive source phrases. Divide the first at מאי שנא and the second at ברישא. Explain the first line’s question and the second line’s proposed change in your own words.
ותו מאי שנא דתני בערבית ברישא
לתני דשחרית ברישא
Then repair this reading: “And further, when does he teach evening? Let him teach morning later.” Identify two specific words or expressions that the reading has mishandled.
7. What are the two repairs?
The first line asks why this order, through מאי שנא, not “when.” The second puts morning first, through ברישא, not later. A supported reading is: “And further, why does he teach evening first? Let him teach the morning one first.”
Return next session
Close the page. Recover the phrases for “and further,” “what is different?” and “first.” Reopen the source and use them to explain which choice the Gemara is questioning. Finally, distinguish מאי on its own from the whole expression מאי שנא.
8. What should your recall include?
ותו = and further; מאי שנא = what is different, here asking why evening is taught first; ברישא = first. מאי by itself asks “what?” The whole expression carries the particular comparison.
Read in context
Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 2a supplies the quoted questions and alternative. They follow the teacher question at the beginning of the Gemara. What does “from when” assume? follows the answers and their different purposes. Our chunk guides and English renderings make the language visible without adding words to the original text.
Next, learn to recognize a source being introduced in As it is written.