Translation:Talmud/Seder Zeraim/Tractate Berakhot/3a

There is a contradiction between R. Meir [of one Baraitha]^[1] and R. Meir [of the last Baraitha]?^[2] — Yes, two Tannaim transmit different versions of R. Meir's opinion. There is a contradiction between R. Eliezer [of the last Baraitha]^[3] and R. Eliezer [of the Mishnah]?^[4] — Yes, two Tannaim transmit two different versions of R. Eliezer's opinion. If you wish I can say: The first clause of the Mishnah^[5] is not R. Eliezer's.^[6]

UNTIL THE END OF THE FIRST WATCH. What opinion does R. Eliezer hold? If he holds that the night has three watches, let him say: Till four hours [in the night]. And if he holds that the night has four watches, let him say: Till three hours? — He holds indeed, that the night has three watches, but he wants to teach us that there are watches in heaven^[7] as well as on earth. For it has been taught: R. Eliezer says: The night has three watches, and at each watch the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and roars like a lion. For it is written: The Lord does roar from on high, and raise His voice from His holy habitation; 'roaring He doth roar'^[8] because of his fold. And the sign of the thing is:^[9] In the first watch, the ass brays; in the second, the dogs bark; in the third, the child sucks from the breast of his mother, and the woman talks with her husband. What does R. Eliezer understand [by the word watch]? Does he mean the beginning of the watches? The beginning of the first watch needs no sign, it is the twilight! Does he mean the end of the watches? The end of the last watch needs no sign, it is the dawn of the day! He, therefore, must think of the end of the first watch, of the beginning of the last watch, and of the midst of the middle watch. If you like I can say: He refers to the end of all the watches. And if you object that the last watch needs no sign, [I reply] that it may be of use for the recital of the Shema', and for a man who sleeps in a dark room^[10] and does not know when the time of the recital arrives. When the woman talks with her husband and the child sucks from the breast of the mother, let him rise and recite.

R. Isaac b. Samuel says in the name of Rab: The night has three watches, and at each watch the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and roars like a lion and says: Woe to the children, on account of whose sins I destroyed My house and burnt My temple and exiled them among the nations of the world.

It has been taught: R. Jose says, I was once traveling on the road, and I entered into one of the ruins of Jerusalem in order to pray. Elijah of blessed memory appeared and waited for me at the door till I finished my prayer.^[11] After I finished my prayer, he said to me: Peace be with you, my master! and I replied: Peace be with you, my master and teacher! And he said to me: My son, why did you go into this ruin? I replied: To pray. He said to me: You ought to have prayed on the road. I replied: I feared lest passers-by might interrupt me. He said to me: You ought to have said an abbreviated prayer.^[12] Thus I then learned from him three things: One must not go into a ruin; one may say the prayer on the road; and if one does say his prayer on the road, he recites an abbreviated prayer. He further said to me: My son, what sound did you hear in this ruin? I replied: I heard a divine voice, cooing like a dove, and saying: Woe to the children, on account of whose sins I destroyed My house and burnt My temple and exiled them among the nations of the world! And he said to me: By your life and by your head! Not in this moment alone does it so exclaim, but thrice each day does it exclaim thus! And more than that, whenever the Israelites go into the synagogues and schoolhouses and respond: 'May His great name be blessed!'^[13] the Holy One, blessed be He, shakes His head and says: Happy is the king who is thus praised in this house! Woe to the father who had to banish his children, and woe to the children who had to be banished from the table of their father!

Our Rabbis taught: there are three reasons why one must not go into a ruin: because of suspicion,^[14] of falling debris and of demons. — [It states] 'Because of suspicion'.^[15] It would be sufficient to say, because of falling debris'? —

Notes

1. Where he says: When people come home for their Sabbath-meal, which is after twilight.
2. Which fixes a time which is before twilight.
3. Which fixes sunset as the time-standard.
4. Which fixes as time-standard, the appearance of the stars (when priests enter to eat terumah).
5. Where the beginning of the time is fixed.
6. R. Eliezer's ruling being merely with reference to the terminus ad quem.
7. Among the ministering angels.
8. So literally. Thus 'roaring' is mentioned three times in the text.
9. I.e., of each watch.
10. That has no windows to admit the daylight.
11. The Tefillah
12. V. infra 29a.
13. The principal congregational response in the doxology, the Kaddish v. P.B. p. 37.
14. That a woman may be waiting for him there.
15. The Gemara now proceeds to explain why all the three reasons must be mentioned.