Throughout the Mishna there are debates between two rival schools – The House of Shammai and the House of Hillel. In the majority of cases, Shammai would take a more literal, strict interpretation and Hillel would take a more lenient interpretation. Ultimately, we usually follow the ruling of the House of Hillel. We get the first of those debates today regarding the proper body position for reciting the evening Shema. Let’s recall that the obligation to recite the evening Shema comes from Deuteronomy 6:7 (“Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up”). What does it mean to recite the words “when you lie down”?
Yesterday, we learned that Hillel believed that we did not have to lie down because the words “when you are away” can mean “when you go on the way” meaning travelling and the words “when you stay at home” can mean sitting in your house. So you can say the Shema while you are walking, sitting, standing, or whenever.
Shammai notes that the verse says “when you lie down”. The plain meaning is when you physically lie down. If God wanted to simply note the evening, God would have said “in the evening”. The Gemara asks how Shammai handles the words “when you go on the way”. This leads to a long debate about whether you have to interrupt another commandment to recite the Shema. The Gemara concludes that you do not. “On the way” refers to a groom who is on his way to be married (the obligation to recite the Shema applies to men, not women). The groom is too distracted by the upcoming wedding night, so he is not in the proper frame of mind to say the Shema. This leads to a long discussion about whether this ruling applies to all times when we are distracted or just this specific case and does it matter if the groom is marrying a virgin or a widow. Importantly, the Talmud says that the groom is not obligated to recite the Shema, but the groom is also not prohibited from reciting the Shema.
Hillel cites other authorities for the proposition that one can recite the Shema in any position. This debate was apparently very bitter because the Rabbis debate whether following the minority rule of Shammai and lying down to recite the Shema satisfies the obligation at all. Indeed, because laying down on the road while travelling could expose someone to bandits, the act of laying down to recite the Shema should not be done and those who do are liable for death.
We then introduce our fourth Mishna regarding what blessings are said before and after the Shema in the morning and the evening. The Mishna makes clear that we have to follow the order and wording the Rabbis establish. The Gemara will then go on to debate what is the correct order and wording.
The Gemara debates the exact wording of the blessings before the morning Shema. Ultimately the wording chosen are the same blessings we find in any prayer book today, more than 1500 years later!
Before we study Torah, we are required to recite a blessing. The Talmud debates whether we need a blessing before we study Torah if we has just recited the morning Shema. We do not because the second morning blessing suffices for Torah study. There is a debate about what constitutes Torah study. To understand the debate we need to delve into the many meanings of “Torah”. “Torah” can refer to the first five books of the bible which are written in scrolls and read in synagogues or it can refer to the whole bible. However, there is also the oral Torah, which includes Midrash (rabbinical explanations of biblical verses), the Mishna (distillations of the law) or Gemara (explanations of the Mishna). Do we need to say a blessing before studying these texts? The Talmud concludes yes based on the practices of Rav. Rav was the nom-de-guerre of Rabbi Abba Arikha. He established one of the great early Talmudic academies in Babylonia and instituted much of the debating method that became the Gemara.
We then turn to the text of the blessing we say before studying Torah. Again, the blessing derived is the same blessing we say today, even in my American Reform Jewish congregation!
Two other debates end our Daf. First, the Talmud spends a lot of time discussing the order of saying Shema for the Kohanim (the priests) in the days of the Temple. The Kohanim had to integrate the prayer service with the sacrificial cult and the Rabbis spend a lot of time debating how this was done. A major theme of the Talmud is the continuity of the prayer of the exiles with the Temple service. Finally, since we need to say two blessings before the morning Shema, the Rabbis debate if the blessings are two independent obligations or only one combined obligation. The Rabbis conclude they are two independent obligations. Therefore we fulfill one commandment if we say one.