Talmud Builders
    Login
    Course map
    Chapter 1 · Me'eimatai

    Nighttime and the Midnight Safeguard

    Lesson 1 of 64 26 min

    The Mishnah opens with the starting time and compares three endpoints. It subsequently explains midnight as a safeguard against transgression. Distinguish the time boundary from the precaution against delay and sleep.

    Lesson goals
    • 01Identify the starting marker.
    • 02Map the three opinions about the endpoint.
    • 03Separate the mitzva time from its safeguard.
    01

    Source and decoding

    Berakhot 2a
    מאימתי קורין את שמע בערבין? משעה שהכהנים נכנסים לאכול בתרומתן. עד סוף האשמורה הראשונה. דברי רבי אליעזר. וחכמים אומרים: עד חצות. רבן גמליאל אומר עד שיעלה עמוד השחר.

    When is the evening Shema read? From when priests enter to eat teruma. Rabbi Eliezer sets the end of the first watch, the Sages midnight, and Rabban Gamliel dawn.

    The Mishnah opens with the starting time and compares three endpoints. It subsequently explains midnight as a safeguard against transgression. Distinguish the time boundary from the precaution against delay and sleep.

    02

    Building the reasoning

    1. 1Identify the starting marker.
    2. 2Map the three opinions about the endpoint.
    3. 3Separate the mitzva time from its safeguard.
    Practice

    Return to the source and identify the starting marker. Then explain how the central distinction follows from the excerpt. Mark what is explicit and what is explained by the surrounding discussion.

    Lesson wrap-up

    The Mishnah opens with the starting time and compares three endpoints. It subsequently explains midnight as a safeguard against transgression. Distinguish the time boundary from the precaution against delay and sleep.

    Check your understanding

    Test yourself before marking the lesson complete.

    Question 1 of 1

    Who gives dawn as the endpoint?

    Next lessonPrayer on the Road and in a Ruin