M. IV. 1; T. III. 1-3. The Three Times of Prayer

Tractate Berakoth, by , by A. Lukyn Williams, [1921], at sacred-texts.com

II.—PRAYER, ESPECIALLY THE PRAYER PAR EXCELLENCE (THE "EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS").

The Three Times of Prayer.

M.IV. 1. THE Morning Prayer [may be said] until midday. R. Judah says [only] till the fourth hour. ² The Afternoon Prayer until the evening. ³ R. Judah says [only] till half the afternoon. ⁴ The Evening Prayer has no fixed law, and the Additional Prayers ⁵ may be said the whole day. ⁶

T.

III. 1. Just as a fixed law was given ⁷ for reciting the Shma‘, so did the Majority set a time for the Prayer. Why did they say: The Morning

p. 29

T.

[paragraph continues] Prayer [may be said] until midday? Because the T. morning continual burnt-offering was offered until midday. ¹ R. Judah says: Until the fourth hour. And why did they say: The Afternoon Prayer until the evening? Because the continual burnt-offering between the evenings ² was offered until the evening. R. Judah says: Until the division of the afternoon? The eleventh hour minus a quarter. ³

2. The evening prayer has no fixed law. R. Eleazar bar Jose ⁴ says: [It ends] with the closing of the gates. ⁵

3. If a man has prayed the additional prayers either while the morning continual burnt-sacrifice is offered, or up to a time when the morning continual burnt-sacrifice is no longer offered—he has accomplished his duty. R. Aqiba says, if his prayer flows freely in his mouth, it is a good sign for him, but if not, it is a bad sign for him. He used to say: ⁶ Everyone in whom the mind of man finds pleasure, the mind of God ⁷ finds pleasure [also]; if the mind of man does not find pleasure in him the mind of God 7 does not find pleasure in him.

Everyone whose own mind finds pleasure in what he does ⁸—it is a good sign for him; if his own mind does not find pleasure in what he does it is a bad sign for him.

Footnotes

28:2 the fourth hour. Until the end of it, which is the third part of the day (Bartenora), say so a.m.

28:3 the evening. i.e. sunset, say 6 p.m.

28:4 half the afternoon. The afternoon (Minchah) lasts from the ninth hour and a half, say 3.30 p.m., for two and a half hours, so that the half of this would be about 4.45 p.m. (cf. Bartenora).

28:5 the Additional Prayers. Special prayers for Sabbaths and Feast days (SA, pp. 559-573, 233-238). Special sacrifices are ordered in Num. 28²⁹.

28:6 the whole day. B adds, "R. Judah says [the Additional Prayers may be said] until the seventh hour," say 1 p.m.

28:7 The Vienna MS. and the common text read, "Just as the Law appointed a fixed law," and this may be right.

29:1 was offered until midday. "The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning" (ba bôqer), clearly not later than midday (Ex. 29³⁹)

29:2 between the evenings. Exod. 29³⁹, R. V. margin.

29:3 the eleventh hour minus a quarter. 4.45 p.m. see mishna, note.

29:4 Eleazar bar Jose. Eleazar, son of Jose the Galilean (p. 55), a mishna teacher of the third generation, c. 130-160 A.D.

29:5 the closing of the gates. Presumably the Temple gates were closed at dusk.

29:6 See Aboth III. 53 (15), where however the saying is attributed to R. Hananiah ben Dosa.

29:7 God. Lit.: the Place, in Whom are all things, "for He is the Place of the world, and the world is not His place." See C. Taylor on Aboth. II. 18 (17); Lukyn Williams on Col. 1¹⁷.

29:8 what he does. Lit.: "what is his," but the reference seems to be not to his possessions, but to his occupations and actions.