Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Berachos 6

After a hiatus for most of Sidrei Kodshim and Taharos, Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf returns with a few observations on Berachos 6.

On the bottom of Berachos 5b and continuing to the top of Berachos 6a, the quotes a limud of Abba Binyamin who teaches that if two people go together into a shul to pray and one finishes before the other, he should wait for his friend because if he does not, his tefillos will be torn apart in his face. The gemara further explains that one who acts this way causes the Shechina to leave.

Tosafos on the top of 6a (d'h Hamispallel) quotes Rabbenu Tam who explains that the people of that era had synagogues in the distant fields and therefore there was good reason to wait for the other person to finish. This made me think about the deah which states that the Boruch Hashem L'Olam tefilla was added so that people who came late to shul could catch up with the tzibur and then finish davening together and leave together.

Tosafos also recounts that the Ri would lengthen his tefillah so that everyone would leave before him and that if someone came late, he would learn a sefer until that person too would finish his tefilla. Tosafos comments that even at present (in their time) it was good to accept this stringency.

One other quick observation I would like to make is the Rashi which talks about the gemara's use of the verb "malei" or fill. Rashi says that when the gemara uses the verb malei here, it means put a little in the eye. Rashi then explains that whenever the gemara discusses putting something in the eye it always uses the verb malei, since it does not take much to fill up the eye.

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2 comments:

Yaakov said...

I missed this welcome back hope to see more thanks

Neil T said...

Thanks so much. Iy"h this will become a regular feature again.