Tractate Berakhot of the Talmud of Eret—-Israel: 0021

1:
Since in the mishnah we found Rabban Gamli'el instructing his sons to recite Shema after midnight our mishnah continues and explains that this ruling does not apply only to the Shema, but wherever the sages say that a certain mitzvah must be performed by midnight in fact it may be performed until the break of dawn heralds the start of a new day. Our mishnah gives examples: 'the incineration of fat and limbs' and 'sacrifices that must be eaten the same day'.

2:
There were two public sacrifices offered in the Bet Mikdash every day of the year on behalf of the totality of the Jewish people, one soon after dawn and the other mid-afternoon. Ideally, the meat from these sacrifices would be completely incinerated by the fire on the altar. However, most often there were parts of the sacrifice that were not completely consumed by the fire. Particularly this was true of the fatty parts of the suet and the skeletal bones. Any remains of the sacrifices had to be fully incinerated by the end of the same day. So before midnight priests would have to ascend the altar and poke around the animal remains to make sure that they were completely consumed.

3:
Parts of certain private sacrifices, sacrifices brought by individuals, had to be eaten by the priests and/or the person who brought them to be offered. The meat from such sacrifices had to be eaten the same day as it was slaughtered.

4:
In both examples brought by our mishnah the sages say that the mitzvah must be carried out by midnight whereas actually it could be performed until the break of dawn.

5:
The Gemara now notes that there are two versions of this part of our mishnah. One version is as we have quoted above, but there is another version which adds a third example: the mitzvah of eating the paschal lamb at the Seder service (when the Bet Mikdash still existed). The Gemara explains that Rabbi Eli'ezer does not include the example of the paschal lamb and the rest of the sages do include it. So, why does Rabbi Eli'ezer not include the eating of the paschal lamb in his version of our mishnah? The answer is that he believes that the Torah itself requires us to complete the eating of the paschal lamb by midnight — and no later! For Rabbi Eli'ezer this particular mitzvah may not be 'extended' until dawn.

6:
Rabbi Eli'ezer derives his ruling from a comparison of two verses in the Torah where, he claims, one of the verses sheds light on the other. One verse in the Torah [Exodus 12:8] reads:

A few verses later [Exodus 12:12] we read:

(In verse 29 of that same chapter we learn that this occurred at midnight.)

So Rabbi Eli'ezer reasons that just as 'night' in verse 12 refers to midnight so does the word 'night' in verse 8 refer to midnight — and no later.

7:
Rabbi Ḥuna says that the version of the mishnah that includes the eating of the paschal lamb is wrong, because even the sages hold that the paschal lamb must be eaten by midnight (and there is no extension until dawn). This becomes apparent from another mishnah [Pesaḥim 10:9], where the sages declare that "the paschal lamb after midnight rends the hands ritually impure" — and so it must be eaten before midnight. (This is why, to this day, we must eat the afikoman at the Seder service before midnight, because the matzah replaces the paschal lamb which is no longer available to us.)

8:
The Gemara now simply explains that 'sacrifices that must be eaten the same day' refers to a certain category of sacrifices which are 'sacrifices of lesser sanctity'.

9:
The Gemara now concludes by explaining the rationale that informs the ruling of the sages that these mitzvot must be performed by midnight even though strictly speaking they may be carried out until the break of dawn. If someone has brought a sacrifice and he must eat some of the meat that duty must be carried out 'that same day'. If that person thinks that he has until dawn to eat the meat he might end up eating it after dawn — and that is a sin that incurs excision, the complete extinction of the soul at the moment of physical death. If he thinks the duty must be performed by midnight even if he oversteps the time limit a little he will not have incurred this dire punishment.

10:
We have now — after 21 shiurim! — completed our study of the first mishnah of this tractate. God willing, in our next shiur we shall move on to the second mishnah of Chapter 1.