22 passages1516 CEHebrew / AramaicPublic Domain
Individual passages from Ein Yaakov, Berakhot, indexed for close reading, source verification, and myth source-checking.
The opening of tractate Berachoth asks a precise question of practice: from what hour in the evening may one recite the Shema? The Torah commands reciting these words "when you lie...
The Gemara here, preserved in Ein Yaakov's collection on Berakhot, is pressing on the exact wording of the opening Mishnah, the earliest code of rabbinic law, which fixes the time ...
"Until the end of the first watch," said R. Eliezer. Let us see: with whom does R. Eliezer agree? If he hold that the night is divided into three watches, then let him say "until t...
How does R. Eliezer arrive at these conclusions? Does he apply the signs to the beginning or to the end of each watch? If he applies his signs to the beginning of each watch, then ...
This teaching is preserved in the Ein Yaakov, the classic anthology of the aggadic, non legal portions of the Talmud, here drawn from the opening tractate Berakhot. The statement i...
Rabbi Yosei stepped into a ruin to pray, and Elijah waited at the door. The place was not safe. In Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:9, Rabbi Yosei is walking on the road when he enters one o...
The Talmud in Berakhot records a teaching that reads like a warning from a horror story: "For three reasons shall no person enter a ruin." The three dangers listed are suspicion, s...
Our Rabbis have taught: "The night has four watches," so says Rabbi. R. Nathan says "Three." What is R. Nathan's reason? It is written (Judges 6:19) "And Gidon, and the hundred men...
The passage from Ein Yaakov, the popular collection of the aggadic, non-legal portions of the Talmud, preserves a teaching about how one must conduct oneself in the presence of the...
David did not trust himself to wake before dawn. He let the wind wake him. In Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:13, the sages ask how David could say, "At midnight I rise to thank You" (Psalm...
[It is written] (Ps. 66:1) A prayer of David, preserve my soul, for I am pious. R. Levi and R. Isaac both explain this passage. One said : "Thus said David before the Holy One, pra...
(Ib. b) We are taught: The sages made a fence to their words [to protect their ordinances], lest a man coming from the field in the evening, would say: "I will go home, eat a littl...
R. Elazar b. Abina said : "He who recites Te-hila l' David (Ps. 145) three times a day may be sure of an inheritance in the world to come." What is the reason? Shall I say because ...
Michael reaches his destination in one flight. Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:19 turns angelic speed into a hierarchy of heavenly urgency. Rabbi Elazar says the verse "then flew to me one ...
The fight begins inside the heart, and the first weapon is not anger. It is Torah. In Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:21, Resh Lakish gives a battle plan against the yetzer hara, the evil i...
Moses did not come down from Sinai with only stone. In Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:22, Resh Lakish reads one verse as an entire library. God says, "I will give you the tablets of stone,...
We are taught that R. Simon b. Jochai said: "Three precious gifts the Holy One, praised be He! bestowed on Israel, and none of them was bestowed without affliction. The gifts are, ...
A disciple recited before R. Jochanan: "Whoever occupies himself with the study of the Torah and with the practice of loving kindness and (Ib. b.) buries his children [during his l...
This account from Ein Yaakov, the classic collection that gathers the narrative and ethical portions of the Talmud, treats the laws of the zimmun, the formal invitation to bless Go...
This discussion preserved in Ein Yaakov, the great anthology of the aggadic passages of the Talmud, turns on a question of how to judge a person by the way he offers a blessing. Th...
Buried in the Ein Yaakov's collection from Berakhot is a teaching that sounds more like ancient medical advice than religious law: "The rabbis taught that asparagus is good for the...
Rabbi Yochanan made a promise that sounds almost too good to be true: "Whoever blesses over a full cup is granted an inheritance without boundaries." The teaching, preserved in Ein...
