Berakhot 152

Today's shiur is (very belatedly) dedicated to the memory of Richard Spronz, Yehuda ben Sara Leah ve-Moshe Zvi z"l, whose Yahrzeit was on 7 Marcheshvan last.

1:
In the Babylonian Talmud the whole of Chapter Nine is considered to be one mishnah, therefore there seems to be some latitude in other editions of the Mishnah as to how its various elements were separated. I have requoted part of the second mishnah also in this third mishnah since the topics are so closely connected.

2:
In the agricultural economy of Eretz-Israel in earlier times rainfall at the expected time and in the expected amounts was a blessing that brought with it promise of economic security. The absence of rain at a time when it was expected promised economic disaster. It should therefore not come as a surprise that our mishnah stipulates that a benediction (born of gratitude and relief) should be recited over rain that falls at the expected time. (After the summer drought, rain can be expected in Eretz-Israel around the beginning of Marĥeshvan – the month that starts about a week after the end of the festival of Sukkot. In earlier times, if it delayed overlong – past the end of the month – public fasts were declared until the rains came.)

3:
The Gemara [Berakhot 59b] discusses the fact that our mishnah can not be reasonably presumed to require a benediction every time that are a few drops of rain (since meagre drops bring no benefit). A baraita is quoted:

This is a colloquialism, that for us needs explanation. It means that one should recite the benediction "Praised be … He Who is good and does good" when the rain falls so hard that its drops make the water in the puddles on the ground splash upwards.

4:
This same benediction ("Praised be … He Who is good and does good") is also recited upon hearing good news in general. Its basic connotation is that God has been good to me (the reciter of the benediction) and also does good to others. We shall discuss later on the relationship of this benediction to another one taught in our mishnah, "Praised be God … Who has kept us alive, preserved us and allowed us to reach this occasion".

5:
Our mishnah also teaches that God must be praised when hearing bad news. In this way we teach ourselves to recognize that everything that happens is because of the will of God – not just what we would consider (from our selfish point of view) the good things in life. The first berakhah before the Shema every morning reads "Praised be God … Author of light, Creator of darkness, Maker of peace and Creator of everything". However, this is a deliberate and conscious misquotation from one of the prophets. The original text [Isaiah 45:7] refers to God as "Author of light, Creator of darkness, Maker of peace and Creator of evil". (The sages [Berakhot 11b] felt that it was "not nice" to require people to regularly refer to God as being responsible for the evil in this world, so they deliberately altered the end of the quotation in our daily prayers.) Here the prophet is attacking Zoroastrian dualism – the belief that there are two opposing forces at work in the cosmos, the god of good (Ahura Mazda) and the god of evil (Ahriman). In Jewish theology there is only one God, whose will is responsible for all things.

It may be appropriate for us, at this juncture, to discuss a theology of good and evil; but I shall only embark upon such an excursus if there are requests to do so.

6:
The berakhah upon hearing bad news is "Praised be … the truthful Judge". This berakhah is particularly associated with the bad news of the death of a loved one. A sign of grief in earlier ages and in a different culture was the tearing of one's clothes. This sign of grief is still observed at a funeral by the statutory mourners, and upon doing so they recite this berakhah justifying divine judgment.

To be continued.