Translation:Talmud/Seder Zeraim/Tractate Berakhot/5a

If he is a scholar, then it is not necessary. Abaye says: Even a scholar should recite one verse of supplication, as for instance: Into Thy hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, Thou God of truth.^[1]

R. Levi b. Hama says in the name of R. Simeon b. Lakish: A man should always incite the good impulse [in his soul]^[2] to fight against the evil impulse. For it is written: Tremble and sin not.^[3] If he subdues it, well and good. If not, let him study the Torah. For it is written: 'Commune with your own heart'.^[4] If he subdues it, well and good. If not, let him recite the Shema'. For it is written: 'Upon your bed'. If he subdues it, well and good. If not, let him remind himself of the day of death. For it is written: 'And be still, Selah'.

R. Levi b. Hama says further in the name of R. Simeon b. Lakish: What is the meaning of the verse: And I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written that thou mayest teach them?^[5] 'Tables of stone': these are the ten commandments; 'the law': this is the Pentateuch; 'the commandment': this is the Mishnah; 'which I have written': these are the Prophets and the Hagiographa; 'that thou mayest teach them': this is the Gemara.^[6] It teaches [us] that all these things were given to Moses on Sinai.

R. Isaac says: If one recites the Shema' upon his bed, it is as though he held a two-edged sword in his hand.^[7] For it is said: Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand.^[8] How does it indicate this? — Mar Zutra, (some say, R. Ashi) says: [The lesson is] from the preceding verse. For it is written: Let the saints exult in glory, let them sing for joy upon their beds,^[9] and then it is written: Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand. R. Isaac says further: If] one recites the Shema' upon his bed, the demons keep away from him. For it is said: And the sons of reshef^[10] fly ['uf] upward.^[11] The word 'uf refers only to the Torah, as it is written: Wilt thou cause thine eyes to close [hata'if]^[12] upon it? It is gone.^[13] And 'reshef' refers only to the demons, as it is said: The wasting of hunger, and the devouring of the reshef [fiery bolt] and bitter destruction.^[14] R. Simeon b. Lakish says: If one studies the Torah, painful sufferings are kept away from him. For it is said: And the sons of reshef fly upward. The word 'uf refers only to the Torah, as it is written: 'Wilt thou cause thine eyes to close upon it? It is gone'. And 'reshef' refers only to painful sufferings, as it is said: 'The wasting of hunger, and the devouring of the reshef [fiery bolt]. R. Johanan said to him: This^[15] is known even to school children.^[16] For it is said: And He said: If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His eyes, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee which I have put upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord that healeth thee.^[17] Rather [should you say]: If one has the opportunity to study the Torah and does not study it, the Holy One, blessed be He, visits him with ugly and painful sufferings which stir him up. For it is said: I was dumb with silence, I kept silence from the good thing, and my pain was stirred up.^[18] 'The good thing' refers only to the Torah, as it is said: For I give you good doctrine; forsake ye not My teaching.^[19] R. Zera (some say, R. Hanina b. Papa) says: Come and see how the way of human beings differs from the way of the Holy One, blessed be He. It is the way of human beings that when a man sells^[20] a valuable object to his fellow, the seller grieves and the buyer rejoices. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, is different. He gave the Torah to Israel and rejoiced. For it is said: For I give you good doctrine; forsake ye not My teaching.

Raba (some say, R. Hisda) says: If a man sees that painful sufferings visit him, let him examine his conduct. For it is said: Let us search and try our ways, and return unto the Lord.^[21] If he examines and finds nothing [objectionable], let him attribute it to the neglect of the study of the Torah. For it is said: Happy is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest out of Thy law.^[22] If he did attribute it [thus], and still did not find [this to be the cause], let him be sure that these are chastenings of love. For it is said: For whom the Lord loveth He corrects.^[23]

Raba, in the name of R. Sahorah, in the name of R. Huna, says: If the Holy One, blessed be He, is pleased with a man, he crushes him with painful sufferings. For it is said: And the Lord was pleased with [him, hence] he crushed him by disease.^[24] Now, you might think that this is so even if he did not accept them with love. Therefore it is said: To see if his soul would offer itself in restitution.^[25] Even as the trespass-offering must be brought by consent, so also the sufferings must be endured with consent. And if he did accept them, what is his reward? He will see his seed, prolong his days.^[26] And more than that, his knowledge [of the Torah] will endure with him. For it is said: The purpose of the Lord will prosper in his hand.^[27]

R. Jacob b. Idi and R. Aha b. Hanina differ with regard to the following: The one says: Chastenings of love are such as do not involve the intermission of study of the Torah. For it is said: Happy is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest out of Thy law.^[28] And the other one says: Chastenings of love are such as do not involve the intermission of prayer. For it is said: Blessed be God, Who hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.^[29] R. Abba the son of R. Hiyya b. Abba said to them: Thus said R. Hiyya b. Abba in the name of R. Johanan: Both of them are chastenings of love. For it is said: For whom the Lord loveth He corrects.^[30] Why then does it say: 'And teachest him out of Thy law'? Do not read telammedennu, [Thou teachest him] but telammedenu, [Thou teachest us]. Thou teachest us this thing out of Thy law as a conclusion a fortiori from the law concerning tooth and eye.^[31] Tooth and eye are only one limb of the man, and still [if they are hurt], the slave obtains thereby his freedom. How much more so with painful sufferings which torment the whole body of a man! And this agrees with a saying of R. Simeon b. Lakish. For R. Simeon b. Lakish said: The word 'covenant' is mentioned in connection with salt, and the word 'covenant' is mentioned in connection with sufferings: the word 'covenant' is mentioned in connection with salt, as it is written: Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking.^[32] And the word 'covenant' is mentioned in connection with sufferings, as it is written: These are the words of the covenant.^[33] Even as in the covenant mentioned in connection with salt, the salt lends a sweet taste to the meat, so also in the covenant mentioned in connection with sufferings, the sufferings wash away all the sins of a man.

It has been taught: R. Simeon b. Yohai says: The Holy One, blessed be He, gave Israel three precious gifts, and all of them were given only through sufferings. These are: The Torah, the Land of Israel and the world to come. Whence do we know this of the Torah? — Because it is said: Happy is the man whom Thou chastenest, o Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law.^[34] Whence of the Land of Israel? — Because it is written: As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee,^[35] and after that it is written: For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land.^[36] Whence of the world to come? — Because it is written: For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light, and reproofs of sufferings are the way of life.^[37]

A Tanna recited before R. Johanan the following: If a man busies himself in the study of the Torah and in acts of charity

Notes

1. Ibid. XXXI, 6.
2. In the Talmud the good impulses and evil impulses of a man are personified as two genii or spirits dwelling in his soul, the one prompting him to do good things and the other one to do wicked things. The meaning of this saying here is that a man has always to make an effort and to fight against the evil instincts.
3. Ibid. IV, 5. The word uzdr is translated, not as tremble, but as fight, incite to fight.
4. Ibid.
5. Ex. XXIV, 12.
6. MS.M. Talmud, v. B.M., Sonc. ed., p. 206, n. 6.
7. To protect him against the demons.
8. Ps. CXLIX, 6.
9. Ibid. v. 5.
10. E.V. 'sparks'.
11. Job V, 7.
12. I.e., if thou neglect it (the Torah). E.V. 'Wilt thou set thine eyes etc.'.
13. Prov. XXIII, 5.
14. Deut. XXXII, 24.
15. That the Torah is a protection against painful disease.
16. Who study the Pentateuch, where it is plainly said.
17. Ex. XV, 26.
18. Ps. XXXIX, 3. E.V. 'I held my peace, had no comfort, and my pain was held in check'.
19. Prov. IV, 2.
20. Out of poverty and not for business.
21. Lam. III, 40.
22. Ps. XCIV, 12.
23. Prov. III, 12.
24. Isa. LIII, 10.
25. Ibid. The Hebrew word for 'restitution' is asham which means also 'trespass-offering'.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Ps. XCIV, 12.
29. Ps. LXVI, 20.
30. Prov. III 12.
31. V. Ex. XXI, 26, 27. If the master knocks out the tooth or eye of his slave, then the slave has to be set free.
32. Lev. II, 13.
33. Deut. XXVIII, 69. These words refer to the chapter dealing with the sufferings of Israel.
34. Ps. XCIV, 12.
35. Deut. VIII, 5.
36. Ibid. v. 7.
37. Prov. VI, 23.