A QUESTION THROUGH THE SOURCES · 1 OF 2
When is the evening Shema?
The Mishnah opens with a question about our daily service of God. Learn to hear each voice before deciding what the disagreement means.
In this lesson
Begin with something we do
Hashem, “the Name,” is our reverent way of referring to God. The Shema begins with the Torah’s call to Israel to hear that Hashem is our God and Hashem is one. Shema means “Hear.” In our prayer book, the name also refers to three Torah passages recited together: Deuteronomy 6:4–9, Deuteronomy 11:13–21 and Numbers 15:37–41. They teach love of Hashem, keeping his commandments and remembering the Exodus. Read the opening words in Hear, O Israel.
Keriat Shema means reciting the Shema. It has an evening and a morning setting, rooted in the Torah’s words “when you lie down and when you rise” in Deuteronomy 6:7. Here we study the evening recitation. It is distinct from the Amidah, the standing prayer.
The Mishnah gathers our sages’ teachings, compiled around 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi. Its first tractate, or named book, is Berakhot, “Blessings.” It studies recitation, prayer and blessings. Unlike the short ethical teachings in Avot, this passage asks how a mitzvah, a commandment, is carried out.
Berakhot 1:1 means tractate Berakhot, chapter 1, mishnah 1. We will read its opening and a case that follows. The complete passage continues beyond these excerpts.
One question, several voices
Read once for the overall question. Read again to find where each speaker’s answer ends.
מאימתי קורין את שמע בערבין
From when do we recite the Shema in the evenings?
משעה שהכהנים נכנסים לאכול בתרומתן עד סוף האשמורה הראשונה דברי ר׳ אליעזר
From the time the priests enter to eat their terumah until the end of the first watch: these are Rabbi Eliezer’s words.
וחכמים אומרים עד חצות
The sages say: until midnight.
רבן גמליאל אומר עד שיעלה עמוד השחר
Rabban Gamliel says: until dawn breaks.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Notice the movement: “from the time” gives a starting point; “until” gives an endpoint. The question asks when recitation begins, but the answers also tell us how long its time lasts.
The Hebrew word ad, עד, means “until.” Find it in each of the three opinions. You can follow the argument even before you can read every word.
1. Is “until midnight” a starting time or an endpoint?
An endpoint. The phrase beginning “from the time the priests enter” supplies the starting point. The repeated “until” marks the different limits that follow.
Understand the time markers
Kohanim, translated here as priests, are descendants of Aharon. Terumah is a holy portion of produce set apart for them. The opening uses the time when priests who have undergone ritual purification may resume eating it. This is a shared marker, not each priest’s choice of dinnertime.
The Gemara, the sages’ discussion surrounding the Mishnah, explains this marker as the emergence of the stars in Berakhot 2a. The Mishnah’s compact wording connects reciting Shema with another part of Jewish life.
- First watch
An early division of the night. Rabbi Eliezer names its end.
- Midnight · chatzot
The middle of the night. The sages name this earlier limit rather than dawn.
- Dawn · amud hashachar
The first light of morning, before sunrise. Rabban Gamliel names this endpoint.
Follow the order of the night here, rather than converting these markers into clock times. For actual prayer times, learn your community’s practice with a knowledgeable rabbi.
2. Does the opening mean that everyone begins whenever their evening meal starts?
No. The priests’ eligibility to eat terumah identifies a time marker. The Gemara explains it as the emergence of the stars; it is not a personal mealtime.
3. Match the three speakers with their endpoints, without looking above.
- Rabbi Eliezer: the end of the first watch.
- The sages: midnight.
- Rabban Gamliel: dawn.
These are the positions as the opening presents them. The rest of the study will ask how the sages’ limit relates to Rabban Gamliel’s.
A case puts the words to work
The mishnah next tells of Rabban Gamliel’s sons returning from a feast. They say that they have not recited the Shema. He answers:
אם לא עלה עמוד השחר חייבין אתם לקרות
If dawn has not broken, you are obligated to recite.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Read the reply as a condition and a consequence: if dawn has not broken, the obligation remains. Rabban Gamliel does not tell his sons to abandon the mitzvah because the evening has gone badly.
The story makes the timing question matter. Yet it also sharpens a question: how does this dawn limit fit with the sages’ statement “until midnight”? Before answering, keep the different statements intact.
4. What fact does Rabban Gamliel make decisive in his reply?
Whether dawn has broken. The reply does not depend on how long the feast lasted or how embarrassed the sons feel. It gives a specific condition and says they are still obligated when that condition holds.
5. Can we quote the opening as saying all three voices choose dawn?
No. The opening gives three different endpoints. A later explanation may clarify how two positions relate, but that explanation must not replace the words we are reading.
6. Which phrase belongs to the Mishnah, and which comes from its explanation: “priests enter to eat” or “the emergence of the stars”?
The Mishnah’s opening says “priests enter to eat their terumah.” The Gemara identifies the time as the emergence of the stars. Keep source and explanation distinct even when the explanation makes the source much clearer.
Return to the sources
Mishnah Berakhot 1:1: the opening, the sons’ case and the continuation. Berakhot 2a, Hebrew: the Mishnah and the explanation of its starting point. Deuteronomy 6:4–9: the opening Shema passage. Leviticus 22:4–7: the priests’ purification setting. Rambam, Laws of Shema 1:1–3: the daily recitation and its three passages.
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