FIRST GEMARA · 1 OF 4
What does “from when” assume?
A careful answer begins with a precise question. Follow our sages’ discussion of the Mishnah’s opening, and learn to give each answer its proper scope.
In this lesson
From a teaching to its discussion
The Shema, meaning “Hear,” is our morning and evening recitation of three passages from the Torah, the five books of Moshe (Moses). To recite is to say the prescribed words. The Mishnah, compiled around 200 CE, gathers our sages’ teachings. Its first tractate, or named book, is Berakhot, “Blessings.” Mishnah Berakhot 1:1 means chapter 1, mishnah 1 of that tractate.
The Gemara discusses the Mishnah and other teachings. Mishnah and Gemara together form the Talmud; here we read the Babylonian Talmud. A folio is a leaf with two sides; Berakhot 2a means folio 2, first side. A connected discussion is called a sugya. In this pair, we follow one short argument from its opening questions through its reply.
Meet the Mishnah and When is the evening Shema? provide useful preparation. We repeat the small opening excerpt here so that you can see exactly what the discussion examines.
מאימתי קורין את שמע בערבין משעה שהכהנים נכנסים לאכול בתרומתן
From when do we recite the Shema in the evenings? From the time the priests enter to eat their terumah.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Kohanim are priests descended from Aharon (Aaron). Terumah is the holy portion of produce reserved for them. The Mishnah uses their eligibility to eat it as a time marker. Our question here concerns how the Mishnah begins its teaching.
Hear two different questions
The Gemara calls the teacher formulating the Mishnah the tanna. This exchange does not name its questioner or respondent. Read the English first; the original text lets you locate the phrases we discuss.
תנא היכא קאי דקתני מאימתי
ותו מאי שנא דתני בערבית ברישא לתני דשחרית ברישאOn what is the teacher relying when he teaches “From when”? And further, why does he teach evening first? Let him teach morning first.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Compare the Mishnah’s “From when?” with the Gemara’s “On what is the teacher relying?” Before opening the check, explain the difference in your own words.
1. Is the Gemara simply asking again for the evening start time?
No. The Mishnah asks when to recite. The Gemara asks what the teacher is relying on when he begins by asking that time. Such a question already assumes an obligation to recite.
Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, is a later commentator on the Talmud. He explains the Gemara’s first question this way:
מהיכא קא סליק דתנא ביה חובת קריאת שמע, שהתחיל לשאול כאן זמן הקריאה
From what earlier teaching is he coming, in which he taught the obligation of reciting Shema, that he begins here by asking about the time of recitation?
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Rashi clarifies the question’s force. He is not reporting that an earlier Mishnah has gone missing. Giving a time marker would answer the Mishnah’s question, but would leave this new question unanswered.
ותו, “and further,” introduces another question. Divide A at that phrase. Give each question a short heading before checking.
2. What are the two headings?
What obligation is being assumed? The first question asks what lies behind beginning with “From when?”
Why teach evening first? The second asks about the order of presentation. “Let him teach morning first” voices an alternative that needs accounting for. It is not an instruction to rearrange your prayers.
Match an answer to its question
תנא אקרא קאי דכתיב בשכבך ובקומך
והכי קתני זמן קריאת שמע דשכיבה אימת משעה שהכהנים נכנסין לאכול בתרומתןThe teacher is relying on Scripture, where it is written, “When you lie down and when you rise.” This is what he is teaching: When is the time for the Shema recitation at lying down? From the time the priests enter to eat their terumah.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
דכתיב, “where it is written,” introduces the scriptural evidence. A verse used to support a point is often called a prooftext. Ask what work the quotation does here. In Deuteronomy, Moshe tells Israel to keep the commanded words in daily life:
Teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit in your home and when you walk on the way, when you lie down and when you rise.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
A worked connection
Take the first question: what obligation is being assumed? The answer’s “relying on Scripture” directs us to the command to speak these words. Rashi explains that this is where the teacher learned the obligation of recitation. The Mishnah can ask its time because that obligation is already supplied by Torah.
Now make the other connection yourself. How does the order of the words quoted in B address the second question, “Why teach evening first?” Write the connection before opening the answer.
3. How does the same verse also address presentation order?
The quotation places lying down before rising, matching evening before morning. This gives a reason for the Mishnah’s evening-first opening.
One answer does two jobs: Scripture supplies the assumed obligation, and the order of its words explains the order of teaching. Keep those jobs separate even though both use the same verse.
והכי קתני means “This is what he is teaching.” Look at the words following it in B. What does that phrase introduce?
4. Is “When is the time for the Shema recitation at lying down?” another Torah quotation?
No. It is the Gemara’s explanatory restatement of the Mishnah in light of the verse. The quoted Torah words are “When you lie down and when you rise.”
The Mishnah’s opening excerpt does not contain the expanded wording “the Shema recitation at lying down.” The Gemara makes the connection explicit rather than supplying a new sentence to insert into the Mishnah.
Find the alternative’s scope
An alternative offers another explanation. The phrase ואי בעית אימא, “If you prefer, say,” introduces one here. Read it while keeping both opening questions in view.
ואי בעית אימא יליף מברייתו של עולם דכתיב ויהי ערב ויהי בקר יום אחד
If you prefer, say: he learns it from the world’s creation, as it is written, “There was evening and there was morning: one day.”
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
The quoted words come from the Torah’s creation account. Here is the complete verse in English:
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was evening and there was morning: one day.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Try before reading Rashi. What does “he learns it” refer to? Choose one of A’s questions and point to the words in Genesis that support your choice.
5. Which question does the creation explanation answer?
It answers why the teacher begins with evening. The refrain places evening before morning. It does not state an obligation to recite Shema.
Rashi identifies the reference of “it”:
הא דתנא ערבין ברישא, יליף מברייתו של עולם
That he teaches evening first, he learns from the world’s creation.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Compare your answer with his precise scope: teaching evening first, not both opening questions.
Build an answer map
On paper, write A’s two questions on separate lines. Attach the relevant words of B to each. Put C beside only the question it answers. Add one sentence distinguishing the quoted evidence from the explanation the Gemara builds with it.
With a study partner, ask “Which words support that connection?” Alone, point to those words in the source cards. Then repair this claim before opening the final check: “The second answer rejects Deuteronomy and proves that Genesis commands the Shema.”
6. What must change in that claim?
“The Gemara offers an alternative explanation for teaching evening first. As Rashi clarifies, the creation account supplies an evening-before-morning pattern; it does not supply the obligation to recite Shema. The text does not reject the earlier appeal to Deuteronomy.”
Check your map: B addresses both questions in different ways. C belongs beside the order question only. An alternative explanation need not replace every part of the first answer.
Precise questions help us receive the teaching faithfully. We honor Torah and our sages by explaining what their words establish, without making an answer larger than the question it addresses.
Read in context
Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 2a: the Mishnah opening and Gemara discussion. Rashi on Berakhot 2a: the comments on “On what is he relying?”, “He is relying on Scripture” and “If you prefer, say.” Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and Genesis 1:1–5: the verses in their settings.
A–C are consecutive parts of the Gemara. The next lesson continues immediately with D–E, completing this short exchange. The letters and line breaks are study aids. Our explanations and Rashi’s later commentary are kept separate from the quoted text.