Tractate Berakhot of the Talmud of Eretz-Israel: 0005

1:
Having established that a sign that night has set in is the appearance of three stars none of which are visible by day, the Gemara now proceeds to examine the halakhically problematic period of time called twilight. This is the time of day which the sages here call "doubtful". In other words, twilight is a time of day that is neither really day nor really night. How is this period of time to be measured? When does it begin? When does it end?

2:
At the end of the previous shiur we saw that Rabbi Yosé holds that all three stars that herald the onset of darkness must be such as can be seen only at night. This opinion is now contrasted with the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah ben-Pazi. He holds that when one star is visible it is still day and when a second star becomes visible it is already night. (He may be holding to a literal understanding of the verse in Nehemiah: see 0004.) The Gemara now asks the obvious question: does Rabbi Yehudah ben-Pazi not hold that there is such a period as twilight? Is it possible that for him the change from day to night is virtually instantaneous? The Gemara also supplies a response: Rabbi Yehudah ben-Pazi does hold that there is a period called twilight. For him that period is the interval between the appearance of the first star and the appearance of the second star.

3:
This leads the Gemara to a more detailed discussion as to the parameters of twilight. When does day end and twilight begin? When does twilight end and night begin? Firstly the Gemara quotes a barayta which offers distinguishing signs that are not dependent on stars: when the eastern sky is still red from the setting sun it is still day; when the sky loses its reddish tinge and takes on a grey tint it is twilight; when the sky is completely black because of the absence of all light from the sun it is night.

4:
But a more exact definition is needed: when exactly does the onset of twilight begin? Rabbi is now quoted. He is, of course, Rabbi Yehudah the President of the Sanhedrin, the arranger of the Mishnah. He says that twilight begins when the sun starts to dip below the horizon. In other words, according to Rabbi when the bottom edge of the disc of the sun dips below the horizon the halakhic day has ended and twilight has begun. In the middle of the lunar month the moon starts to rise as the sun starts to set. (At other times in the month this is not so.)

5:
Rabbi Ḥanina disagrees with Rabbi. He holds that twilight begins when the top of the sun's disc dips below the horizon, not the bottom of the disc as Rabbi holds. This opinion of Rabbi Ḥanina is bolstered by the opinion of the Babylonian Amora, Shemu'el. He teaches that "the moon does not shine when the sun is setting nor does it set when the sun is rising". This, too, does not square with the opinion of Rabbi, for even in the middle of the month the moon does not appear until after the sun has set. The opinion of Shemu'el has extra weight because he was recognized by his colleagues as being an expert astronomer. In the Babylonian Talmud [Berakhot 58b] he boasts that the pathways of the sky are as clear to him as the pathways of his native town of Neharde'a.

6:
Rabbi Ḥanina now offers a kind of corroboration of his opinion, and his corroboration returns us to the teaching of the Mishnah. Let's imagine that a Kohen lives on the summit of Mount Carmel (today a rather select neighbourhood of Haifa). This priest wants to eat terumah with his supper. In order to do so he must bathe in a mikveh and then wait for dark to set in. This Kohen has a natural mikveh in the vicinity: the Mediterranean Sea. He sees the sun begin to set — and from the summit of Mount Carmel it is very clear when the sun begins to dip below the horizon. He goes down the mountainside in order to take his ritual bath in the sea and climbs the mountain again to go home and eat his supper. Rabbi Ḥanina says that he can do all this while it is still day, because twilight does not begin until the end of sunset.

7:
Anyone who knows Mount Carmel will be rather surprised at the time schedule suggested by Rabbi Ḥanina. The time that lapses from the beginning of sunset until the end of sunset is something like 15 minutes. It does not seem possible for a man to start down the mountainside at the start of sunset, to bathe in the sea and to return home all within 15 minutes! That is why the Gemara hedges a little: our Kohen could manage the feat if he takes short-cuts down the mountainside; but if he goes down by the main road he could never do it, and by the time he reaches the sea shore it would already be after the end of sunset and the beginning of twilight.

8:
It is interesting to note that the word the Gemara uses for 'main road' is a Latin word; or rather a corruption of a Latin word. And that same Latin word gives us the English word 'street'.

9:
The Rabbi Ḥanina whose view is presented here is probably not the Tanna, Rabbi Ḥanina, but — judging from the context — the Amora, Rabbi Ḥanina. He was a student of Rabbi Ze'ira and a colleague of Rabbi Yosé and lived during the fourth century CE. Ḥanina is a corruption of the Hebrew name Ḥananyah.

In 0003 I was asked about translations of the Yerushalmi into English. I responded that I was not familiar with any translations, but I did provide a reference to an article in Wikipedia that contained information about translations into English. Since then two people have written to me about this. Marim Charry writes:

In response to the question about an English translation of the Yerushalmi, what about Jacob Neusner's Talmud of the Land of Israel? According to the entry in the JTS Library online catalog, it includes Massekhet B'rakhot.

Elizabeth Petuchowski gives bibliographical information:

The Talmud of the Land of Israel. A Preliminary Translation and Explanation. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: 1982-1993. IX-XII, XIV-XV, XVII-XXXV.

I respond:

I thank you both. Please note that this translation is included in the Wikipedia list to which I referred. I am not familiar with it, so I cannot recommend it.

Tonight begins the Season of the Giving of Our Torah. I wish everybody a very joyous Shavu'ot and Ḥag Samé'aḥ.