Berakhot 018

1:
There is a special class of blessings which we call birkhot ha-mitzvot. The usual formula for these runs Barukh attah Adonai Eloheynu Melekh ha-Olam asher kid^eshanu b^emitzvotav v^etzivanu … – praising God for having given us the specific mitzvah that we are about to perform. In this sense the Shema is a liturgical curiosity: it is a mitzvah commanded by the Torah for which we do not recite a specific blessing. There is no blessing that runs asher kid^eshanu b^emitzvotav v^etzivanu al keriat Sh^ema [Who has made us holy … by commanding us to recite the Shema]. I do believe that such a blessing was found in the Cairo Genizah – but then many curiosities were found there and that does not mean that such a b^erakhah was in general liturgical use in a meaningful way. Others have suggested that the three words that precede the Shema when it is recited in private, El Melekh ne’eman – "God is a faithful Sovereign", are somehow the liturgical remains of an ancient b^erakhah that fell into disuetude. They suggest this on the basis of the fact that the initial letters of these three Hebrew words spell out the letters of the word Amen. However the origin of the custom of prefacing these three words when reciting the Shema in private is known, and can be traced back to Ĥassidei-Ashkenaz, supererogatory pietists in Medieval Germany and France; and their reasons had nothing whatsoever to do with a b^erakhah for the Shema. Therefore, the lack of such a b^erakhah remains a curiosity.

2:
What makes the recitation of the Shema a liturgical act as distinct from Torah-study pure and simple, is the framework of blessings that surrounds it. Furthermore, these blessings are not short liturgical formulae but fully developed liturgical compositions. As our mishnah tells us, the Morning Shema is preceded by two blessings and followed by one. The first of these two blessings is concerned with the creation of light and the second with the Torah and its study. The blessing that comes after the three parashot of the Shema has two main themes: firstly the affirmation of the credal validity of the Shema that has just been recited; and secondly the celebration of the centrality of the Exodus from Egypt in Israel's collective consciousness. The blessings that surround the Evening Shema have the same pattern. The first blessing that precedes the Shema in the evening is concerned with the transition from day to night, and the second with the Torah and its study (in a different formulation from the morning). After the Shema come two blessings, not one. The former parallels its morning counterpart but in a different formulation. The latter is a prayer for divine protection from the perils of the night.

To be continued.

Ed Frankel writes of his experience in practical teaching:

In studying the times for earliest recitation of Shema, I have had students amazed by the different systems, particularly the differences in regard to color vision. I don't know exactly how blue real tchelet is, nor am I sure what shade karti -leek green – is, but it would almost seem to me that if one thinks of these colors in terms of photographic gray scales, it would take less light to distinguish between white and any shade, than it would to distinguish between pastels. To help students see this, I have used a simple device. I needed a dimmer switch and sheets of white, pale blue and pale green paper. I started the class in pitch black, and had a child slowly increase light levels until students could distinguish colors, and then raise it more until they could distinguish between colors. Students raised their hands as they could note color changes. The experiment worked, but it raised halachic difficulties.

This account will be continued.

Next Shiur