Americans did not widely brush their teeth until after World War II. American soldiers were required to brush their teeth in the armed forces and the practice continued when these soldiers came home. Americans were late to the party, however. Mass production toothbrushes were present in England since the late Eighteenth Century and spread across Western Europe and Japan by the mid-Nineteenth Century. Bristle-style toothbrushes have been found in China dating back to the Tang Dynasty (Seventh through Tenth Century) and were adopted in Europe in the Seventeenth Century (when the word “toothbrush” enters the English language). Chew sticks (twigs with frayed ends for brushing the teeth) have been found in many ancient societies dating back to 3500 BCE. Tooth powders date back even further and were made with a variety of ingredients, such as powdered ox hooves, eggshells and oyster shells. The combination of a tooth brush and a tooth powder did not enter general use until Nineteenth Century Britain.

Our Rabbis worried about oral health, particularly, as we learn in today’s Daf, about bad breath. We learn today that we should eat salt and drink water after every meal to avoid bad breath. Apparently, this same advice is useful for preventing diphtheria. Eating lentils every thirty days also helps prevent diphtheria, but eating lentils every day causes bad breath (not sure if that is the case if we eat salt and drink water after eating lentils). If we eat mustard once every thirty days, illness will not enter our homes, but eating mustard every day causes faintness of the heart. Eating fennel can prevent heart pains, but the odor of fennel can be deadly. Rabbi Yimiyah’s mother would putt fennel on bread for a time and then peal it off so that Rabbi Yimiyah would eat bread that had absorbed fennel but not smell it.

Of course, many, if not all, pre-modern societies had folk beliefs about what caused and cured various ailments that were replaced by our modern germ and genetic theories. The Rabbis of Babylonia were not unique in this regard. The Talmud gives us an interesting window into their everyday beliefs – an actual written record, which to some extent is unique. We learn much about life in Seventh Century Babylonia in the Talmud, and much in today’s Daf. The Rabbis hint that there was a variety of Jewish religious practice in the days of the Talmud, just as there is today. While the Rabbis tried to divine and create religious rules that governed the minutest details of daily life, we are reminded in today’s Daf that the Rabbis could not trust all Jews to follow these rules rigorously. In fact, the Rabbis today debate what happens if an unlearned person says the wrong blessing or creates their own blessing.

Today we begin with a general rule that you should not talk between blessing food and consuming that food. We do allow talking if the talking is for the purpose of the blessing. So, for instance, our rabbi could bless bread and then ask people to pass it around before consuming it. Our rabbi should not bless bread and then talk about the weather before consuming the bread. We quickly meander, however. The Talmud quotes Rava bar Shmuel in the name of Rabbi Chiya in the debate around talking after a blessing. We then study a few unrelated statements also made by Rava bar Shmuel in the name of Rabbi Chiya. Importantly, we learn if you want to really empty your bladder when you pee, you should sit, not stand. The commentators note that this is true because when we pee standing up, we are concerned about drops hitting our feet and we hold back. This leads to a debate about whether peeing on soft ground has the same effect as peeing on hard ground.

At this point we encounter a new Mishnah which begins our debate about what to do if we recite the wrong blessing by accident over a food. The Mishnah notes that if we state the Shehakol blessing (number 6 in this list) when we should have recited a more specific blessing, then we are ok because the Shehakol blessing is so generic it suffices for everything. No one seems to ask why not have just this one blessing nor is any reason given why we require more specific blessings over certain foods. The Genmara reviews this passage and debates whether the commandment is only fulfilled if we recite the rabinically sanctioned blessing or can someone who intends to bless food, but does so incorrectly, still have fulfilled the commandment. There is no reconciliation of this debate. We do learn, however, that blessings can be said in any language and, as long as the blessing contains a name of God and acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty, then it is valid.

We then get another Mishnah which introduces a debate about whether we should bless food that results from a curse. We also debate what blessing we should recite when multiple foods are present at one meal. Foods that are cursed include moldy bread or cheese, spoiled wine, etc. These debates are not resolved in today’s Daf.