Berakhot 040
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BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
RABIN MISHNAH STUDY GROUP
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If a bridegroom wishes to recite it on the first night, he may do so. Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el says that not everyone who wishes to assume the Name may do so.
EXPLANATIONS:
1:
This last mishnah of Chapter Two returns us to the issue discussed in Mishnah Five. The view of Tanna Kamma is that if a bridegroom on the first night of his marriage does not wish to avail himself of the status of being "excused" granted him in Mishnah Five, he is at liberty to ignore that excusal, and the recite the Shema. Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el (the son of Rabban Gamli'el, but not particularly "a chip off the old block") disagrees. His view is that if the generality have been excused a certain mitzvah by the rabbis it would seem to be overweening pride if an individual deliberately ignores that "excused" status. It is as if he were proclaiming that he is made of sterner stiff than the rest of Jewry. 2: DISCUSSION:
In Berakhot 039 I called the servant of Rabban Gamli'el, Tavi, "a worthy man". Ron Wegsman points out that other have explained this term to mean medakdek bemitzvot. The reader is referred to Tractate Sukkot 2:1, where Tavi is described as a talmid ĥakham [sage] for sleeping under the bed in the Sukkah. Apparently Tavi was knowledgeable about Jewish practice and observed mitzvot, at least in a certain way. This seems to me to have interesting implications and not at all "straightforward".
RAMBAM, GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO MISHNAH COMMENTARY (continued):
The members of the second group are many as well. They also take the words of the rabbis literally, assuming that the rabbis meant exactly what they said, but they scorn and deride them. They scoff at the rabbis, thinking that they are wiser, more erudite, and that the rabbis were ignorant fools, unwise to the ways of the world. Most of those who have fallen into this line of thought are people who claim to be doctors and scientists. They consider themselves to be intelligent philosophers! They are, in fact, even more silly than the first group; and they are a confounded lot who have the audacity to compare themselves to the truly great, whose wisdom is recognized among the wise. Had these people prepared themselves with a background in the sciences so that they might know how to present metaphysics and had they specialized in practical philosophy – they might have then been in a position to determine whether the rabbis were wise or not. And they would then have understood what they were trying to say.
The members of the third group are so few – God knows! – that one can just about call them a group as one can call the sun a species! These are people who are convinced of the greatness of the rabbis and their level of intelligence, and who realize that the words of the rabbis are about very real things. They, too, know what is possible and what impossible, and they also know that the rabbis were not talking rubbish! They realize that the midrashic material of the rabbis can have both a literal and an esoteric meaning, and that wherever their words have a meaning that is factually impossible they are to be taken as figures of speech. RECOMMENDATIONS RECEIVED FOR SIDDURIM [PRAYER-BOOKS]:
When I was just learning the siddur, as an adult, I found that the Artscroll was the most useful because its annotations and its "stage directions" were more complete than any other siddur. I also found the Metsudah to be very useful with its linear and word-for-word translation. It helped me to learn both the phrasing of the prayers and their meaning. One has to keep in mind that both are "traditional" siddurim and some of the prayers have been changed by CJ. – Derek Fields
The siddur that I selected is *The Complete Metsudah Siddur*. Its major virtue is that it features the linear translation of the Hebrew text into English on a line by line basis. The right side of each line is in Hebrew script while the left side of the line is the English translation. This siddur has all of the non-high Holiday liturgy plus plus… and also includes the 150 psalms (not translated) at the back, pirkei avot, songs for Shabbat, brachat for special occasions (like miraculous escapes) and so on. It is fairly well organized and includes numerous commentaries and guides for what to do with various prayers. The reader though should realize that there are two versions of this siddur. One is Sephardi, and the other is Ashkenaz. Another problem to be confronted is that the siddur is Orthodox. Unfortunately, no one could point out an equivalent linear translation of the Conservative siddur. The real downside, which I have found in practically every siddur is the translation. Too many liturgical lines are transmitted into English not according to their exact translation, but rather according to some dogmatic interpretation. Finally, there are a number of instructions given to the reader in the Metsudah siddur which are reflective of the current tendencies to resurrect long lost arcane traditions that only the extremely super observant Jewish mind would contemplate. – Rémy Landau. As one who, not that many years ago, was in the position of the anonymous correspondent, I would like to recommend the ArtScroll Siddur. It is complete, and contains detailed explanations (down to the level of where and how to bow during T'fillah) As my rabbi pointed out to me, the siddur is not without its flaws, from a Conservative viewpoint. The example he used is ArtScroll's explanantion of shir haMa'alot, where by insisting on Dovid HaMelekh's authorship of all of Tehillim, the editors completely slight the transcendant emotion that must have accompanied the return to Zion and inspired the Psalm. – Jeff Silver I can recommend two siddurim: The Art Scroll Siddur is very orthodox, but does have the clearest explanations of what one does when and how, and I find the translations more satisfying than many others. The one danger is that there is so much information it could become overwhelming. The Siddur Sim SHalom can get a little too revisionist for my tastes, but is the main siddur I've used and is fairly clear about what one does and how. The book To Pray as A Jew By Donin is written from an orthodox perspective but is an excellent orientation. – Elizabeth Weinberg. A great siddur is the Ben-Zion Bokser edited siddur. I first used it 20 years ago on my Ramah trip to Israel. I do not know if it is still in print – Steven Koppel The Artscroll sidur is extremely helpful in explaining what to do at any given point in the service, as well as what the prayers mean. It is written, however, from a very orthodox perspective, so keep that in mind when reading its extensive commentary. If you are looking for a sidur which enables you to understand the Hebrew words you are reciting, try the Metsudah siddur – it uses a linear translation, which makes it very easy to check the meaning of words you do not know. This is also an orthodox siddur. – David Freidenreich I would recommend you to "shop around." I began by using Siddur Sim Shalom and still tried many others until coming back to Sim Shalom. More importantly, I would recommend (highly) buying R' Rueven Hammer's book – "Entering Jewish Prayer" and R' Chaim Halevy Donin's "To Pray as a Jew." Perhaps, also Milgram's "Jewish Prayer." – Jason Alan Miller
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