Tractate Berakhot of the Talmud of Eret—-Israel: 0011

1:
The passage we shall study today completes a homily that was brought at the end of the previous passage. You will recall that

Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great and Rabbi Shim'on ben-Ḥalafta are walking in the early hours of the morning through the Arbel Valley in eastern Galilee. As they were walking along they noticed the very first rays of dawn lightening the eastern sky. Turning to his colleague Rabbi Ḥiyya says,

Master, such will be Israel's redemption: at first it will be little by little, but the longer it continues it will grow and grow.

The ultimate redemption of Israel will not be a sudden flash of divine glory, changing forever the arrangements of the world. It will be like the passage from darkest night into brilliant day: starting with the first faint rays of deliverance the light of salvation will gradually grow stronger and stronger until the world is bathed at last in brilliant sunshine.

2:
Today's passage begins with the now familiar technical question: what biblical passage suggested this homily to Rabbi Ḥiyya? The response is a series of quotations from the book of Esther (that we read on Purim). The story is well-known so I shall not even give a brief resumé. However, there are certain aspects of the interpretation of this homily that I think are worthy of more detailed discussion.

3:
It is well known that the book of Esther is the only book in the whole of the bible in which the name of God is not mentioned. Indeed, the whole story is devoid entirely of divine intervention. The salvation of the Jewish people is achieved not through direct heavenly preventive or punitive action: the Jews are saved directly through the agency of Esther and Mordechai. It is true that here and there we find hints or faint allusions to God or religion, but nothing even approaching an active deity. For instance, Mordechai adjures Esther to take her life in her hands and approach the king, because if she does not "salvation and rescue will come from elsewhere"; while Esther's response is not prayer it is a fast, which is surely an act of piety. (The sages, of course, understood "elsewhere" to be a reference to God.)

4:
So it is curiously interesting that the Gemara backs up the teaching of Rabbi Ḥiyya about Israel's redemption by referencing the story of Esther — or rather, the story of Mordechai — which is devoid of divine intervention. Rabbi Ḥiyya teaches that Israel's redemption will be gradual and incremental. And this is illustrated by reference to the stages of the unfolding of the drama in Shushan.

5:
At the beginning of the process "Mordechai sits in the king's gate" [Esther 2:19, 2:21, 5:13, 6:10]. In other words, he is outside the sphere of political activity. The story makes it clear that to begin with his only purpose in being in the king's gate is to have news of what has become of his adopted niece. It is also significant that Mordechai thus happens to be "in the right place at the right time" and overhears the plotting of Bigtan and Teresh to assassinate the king. And typically, although his report is noted and acted upon, the Shushan bureaucracy does not even acknowledge the Jew's role in the incident.

6:
The accident of the king's nocturnal wakefulness takes us to the next stage in the change in Jewish fortunes: Mordechai is dressed in royal robes and led — by Haman! — on the royal charger through the streets of Shushan and the king's favour and gratitude or publicly proclaimed. But, this positive change in Israel's fortunes is only momentary, and afterwards we find the situation as it was in the beginning: "And Mordechai went back to the king's gate" [Esther 6:12]. "Natural redemption", it seems, has its ups and downs.

7:
But ultimately Mordechai's plan "comes together", and after Haman's downfall he leaves the king's presence "in royal robes of blue and white, with a magnificent crown of gold and a mantle of fine linen and purple wool" [Esther 8:15]. Mordechai's personal triumph is also the salvation of Israel: "The Jews enjoyed light and gladness, happiness and honour" [Esther 8:16].

8:
Thus Israel's 'gradual redemption' is orchestrated by a man and achieved by a man and a woman, in a gradual process, and not in a "sudden flash of divine glory". Surely, then, it is no wonder that Rabbi Ḥiyya's homily is often quoted in connection with Israel's modern redemption.

9:
The passage we have studied this time is short, because the continuation of the discussion (which is pure aggadah) is rather lengthy and should be dealt with separately.

At the end of 0009 I wrote: "If anyone can explain to me how this passage relates to the previous discussion I would be very grateful, because I haven't the faintest idea!"

One participant was brave enough to try! Michael Epstein writes:

I write not thinking I have a worthwhile answer but in the spirit of when my Rabbi asks a question it is my responsibility to find some answer and to think about what might be helpful. So I googled the question… and came upon a question addressed to an orthodox rabbi about the best time to say Kriat Sh'ma and Sh'mona Esrei. The young student was questioning how to daven KS at sunrise and to be finished in time to say SE just after. It is admittedly far fetched – but perhaps one of the Rabbis was thinking ahead and asked a question about the next topic in the curriculum. Weak yes, an effort yes.

I respond:

Bravo Michael! A truly valiant attempt. But, unfortunately it does not really help in explaining the connection of the passage to what precedes and what follows. I suppose the the only really acceptable answer is that we have here an example of what I said in my introduction to the first shiur: the Yerushalmi shows signs of minimal editing; it is an unfinished work. But in one thing Michael is absolutely right: the custom of which he writes will be dealt with by the Gemara a few pages hence. (At the moment we have reached folio 4b; the matter raised by Michael awaits us on folio 6a.)

In 0010 I wrote:

Rabbi Yosé son of Rabbi Bon says, Anyone who claims that this 'first light' is a star is in error. Sometimes it is early and sometimes it is late.

Apparently it was generally assumed that Ayyelet ha-Shaḥar referred to a star of some kind that heralds dawn. (The planet Venus is visible just before daylight.)

Marty Berman writes:

I read Rabbi Yosé to be referring to Venus as sometimes it is early, i.e. before sunrise and sometimes it is late i.e. after sunrise.

Marty now brings information from the Internet.

Another ancient calendar marker was the first time that a certain star could be seen in the glow of morning twilight, rising ahead of the Sun. This phenomenon was called "heliacal rising"… First, the Sun rises ahead of the star. Then, the star is lost in the glow of sunrise. Finally, the star is visible ahead of the sunrise, and we have our marker…

I respond:

I too think that Ayyelet ha-Shaḥar refers to the heliacal rising of Venus — or, at least, many interpreted it so. (Those who choose to visit the Internet page quoted by Marty will see photos that illustrate the heliacal rising of a star.) Rabbi Yosé does not agree with this interpretation. Let us agree to disagree with his disagreement.

Over the next three weeks, for various personal reasons, these shiurim will be irregular. Please bear with me.