Return to Sender (Berakhot 10b)

"The refutation of Rav Hisda is a conclusive refutation" (Steinsaltz, p. 69).  This phrase brought me up short just a little bit, since so much of the Talmudic discussion up to this point has been to explain, reconcile, domesticate, and otherwise minimize dissent, not summarily dismiss it.  But according to Steinsaltz this is "one of the most fundamental talmudic expressions," occuring "when the statement of an amora is powerfully refuted by a tannaitic source."   It literally means return, in the sense that his statement is thrown back to him.

But Hisda has a point.  If reciting the Shema after the third hour is a matter of reading Torah, the blessings that accompany the Shema are not Torah texts.    I wonder if the Mishnah's view that one who recites the Shema late is "like one who recites from the Torah" was formulated before the Shema acquired these additional blessings (i.e., Yotzer Or, etc.).

Beruriah (Berakhot 10a)

Rabbi Meir's wife Beruriah placates her husband's anger against some neighborhood thugs through a fresh interpretation of Ps. 104:35.   (Steinsaltz, p. 61).  Beruriah "was renowned not only for her character and personality, but also for her extensive Torah knowledge. . . . She disagreed with several Sages of her generation, and we find that the halakha in that dispute was ruled in accordance with her opinion."

The unvocalized word חטים can be read either as chotim (sinners) or chataim (sins).  When Beruriah points out that it doesn't say " sinners," the spelling of "sinners" is חוטים, an alternate spelling which could only mean "sinners," not "sins."  The shorter spelling found in the biblical text opens the door for her alternative interpretation.  In essence, she tells Rabbi Meir that, just as he has a choice about how to vocalize the text, he has a choice in his attitude toward these hooligans.  

The Biology of Grace (Berakhot 10a)

This section of Berakhot meanders into several discussions of the Psalms, including one ascribed to R. Simeon bar Yochai.    He is one of the Rabbis associated in later traditions with mystical ideas; indeed the magnum opus of kabbalah, the Zohar, was published in his name (although it was actually written much later).  So when I read in Berakhot his statement that King David “dwelled in five worlds and spoke a song [in each],”  I was expecting a journey through heavenly realms or levels of the soul.  What I read, however, was predominantly biological.

• He dwelled in the belly of his mother and spoke a song: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all my inwards bless his holy name” (Psa. 103: 1).

• He came forth into the world and looked at the stars and planets and spoke a song: “Bless the Lord, you angels of his, you mighty in strength that fulfill his word, hearkening to the voice of his word.  Bless the Lord, all you his hosts” (Psa. 103:20, 21).

• He sucked at the tit of his mother and looked at her breasts and spoke a song: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits’ (Psa. 103:2).”

• He saw the catastrophe that came upon the wicked and spoke a song: “Let sinners cease out of the earth and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul, Halleluyah” (Psa. 104:35).

• He looked upon the day of death and spoke a song: “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great, you are clothed with glory and majesty” (Psa. 104: 1).

The moral conflict, the drama of right and wrong decisions, is part of the picture, but does not predominate.   The pageant that Bar Yochai presents is dominated by the facts of birth, breath, nourishment, death, the wonder of worlds.