Tractate Berakhot of the Talmud of Eret—-Israel: 0010

The sages, of course, interpreted the Hebrew phrase differently. For example, Rabbi Avraham Ibn-Ezra explains:

2:
Rabbi Ḥatzna claims that from the moment that Ayyelet ha-Shaḥar appears — whatever that might be — until dawn is the time it takes a person to march four Roman miles, more or less four kilometres. [See 0006.] He further says that from dawn until sunrise is another four Roman miles. He bases his claim on the fact that in the story of Lot's escape from the doomed town of Sodom [Genesis 19:23] the Torah says that

In other words, reasons Rabbi Ḥatzna, they left Sodom at dawn (because no decent person travels at night!) and arrived at Zo'ar at sunrise. The distance between Sodom and Zo'ar, again reasons Rabbi Ḥatzna, is about four Roman miles.

3:
Rabbi Ḥatzna does not say how he knows that the distance from Sodom to Zo'ar was about four kilometres. Today archeologists have no idea where the town of Sodom was, let alone the town of Zo'ar. Apparently, 1700 years ago there was some such knowledge (even if it was only lore). The sages argue that the 'facts' contradict Rabbi Ḥatzna: the distance between Sodom and Zo'ar is much greater than just four kilometres! Rabbi Ze'ira smooths over that difficulty by explaining that the angel who was leading Lot and his party to safety cleared all the rocks and rubble from their path, so they were able to move quickly.

4:
At any rate, Rabbi Ḥatzna is saying that the passage from night into day is anything but sudden: it is gradual. Just how gradual however is open to debate. The Gemara asks how can Rabbi Ḥatzna know that from first light to dawn is the time it takes to march four kilometres? Does he have a biblical basis for this information? The answer, it seems, lies in one's interpretation of the biblical text. The Torah does not say "as the sun rose upon the earth Lot reached Zo'ar." It says "and as the sun rose" etc. The word 'and' indicates that there is something else that is similar. From dawn till sunrise is as long as it takes to walk four kilometres; 'and' teaches that from first light until dawn is also the time it takes to walk four kilometres! QED.

5:
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.) However, Rabbi Yosé says that this is a wrong understanding of the text of Psalm 22. Ayyelet ha-Shaḥar is not a star, but a different kind of celestial phenomenon. Sometimes this phenomenon occurs earlier in the night and sometimes later. But it occurs as night begins its passage into day.

6:
The Gemara asks Rabbi Yosé: if it is not a star what is it? He replies that it is two rays of light that rise up out of the darkness of the eastern sky. These two rays of light herald the start of the process of the recession of the darkness of night as the rays of the sun wax stronger and stronger as the sun pushes its way up towards the horizon.

7:
The Gemara now brings an account of a conversation that took place between two sages who lived during the first third of the third century CE. Rabbi Ḥiyya the Great [see 0001] and Rabbi Shim'on ben-Ḥalafta are walking in the early hours of the morning through the Arbel Valley in eastern Galilee. This would suggest that the two sages were on their way from Tiberias to Tzippori. As they were walking along they noticed the very first rays of dawn lightening the eastern sky. Rabbi Ḥiyya uses the phenomenon of the gradually increasing light to suggest a lesson (which has since been much quoted, often quite out of context). Turning to his colleague he says,

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.

The next shiur in this series will be, God willing, on July 26th.