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However, the con!icting interests of his "nancial and the liturgical topics dealt with in the tractate, the political careers led to his downfall, caused by the collapse of organizes the material according to a topical sequence, with Menem’s economic policy and the political and economic cri- only occasional allusions to scriptural sources. Study of other ses that ensued. Beraja was held responsible for the losses of literature from the Second Commonwealth, especially the li- the Banco Mayo, which had bitter consequences for the - turgical texts from Qumran, allows us to better understand ish community. Beraja was placed in preventive custody in the place of rabbinic prayer in the broader evolution of Jew- December #$$% and at the beginning of #$$& was still await- ish worship of the time. ing trial. He accused the president of the Argentinean Cen- Mishnah focuses primarily on three liturgical tral Bank during the crash of Banco Mayo – Pedro Pou – of categories: (1) the Shema; (#) the Te#llah; (%) miscellaneous discrimination and . to be recited on speci"ed occasions, especially on Beraja served in several international Jewish organiza- the enjoyment of food and other physical pleasures. A “bless- tions and was the vice president of the ing” is a formal liturgical unit that is usually recognizable by and the president of the Latin American Jewish Congress its opening “Blessed are you, Lord our God [Sovereign of the and the Fedración Sefaradí Latinoamericana ('()(*+). He Universe] ….” promoted the creation of important new projects, like the Shema Universidad Hebrea Bar Ilan and a Jewish video-cable sta- Early rabbinic and apparently pre-rabbinic tradition inter- tion (+*(,-), which did not last. He was the recipient of the preted the command (Deut. 4:4, 7) “And these words, which I Award for in the Diaspora from command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart … when thou the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for liest down, and when thou risest up” and the similar expres- . sions in Deuteronomy 11:17–16 as explicit directives to recite [Efraim Zaido. (#/0 ed.)] the passages in which those expressions occur (Deut. 4:8–6, 11:1%–#1) daily in the evening and morning. 3is obligation was , ISAAC (d. 122#), and preacher in the understood to be the ful"llment either of a separate precept, Aleppo community. 3e support and encouragement of Elijah of the broader requirement to study , or as a declaration Silbirah enabled Berakhah to pursue his studies until he be- of one’s acceptance of the “yoke of the kingship of Heaven” in came a noted scholar. His Berakh Yiẓḥ ak (Venice, 124%), a book declaring “the Lord is one” (Deut. 4:8) and the “yoke of com- of homiletics, contains several sermons for each weekly Read- mandments” in Deuteronomy 11:1, as understood by Rabbi ing of the Law; they deal mostly with halakhic problems. He *Joshua ben Korḥ a (Ber. #:#). A third section was added to the o5en mentions Maimonides’ Yad ha-Ḥ azakah, Samuel Eliezer Shema, at least in its morning recitation: Numbers 1&:%2–81, *Edels, the tosafot, and the responsa of *Isaac b. Sheshet. In dealing with the commandment of ritual fringes. 3e Mishnah addition to halakhic problems, he deals with such questions (1:&) sees this as ful"llment of the obligation to mention the as the kavvanah and joy with which one should perform Egyptian Exodus daily, though this seems doubtful. In both the mitzvot. Some of Berakhah’s responsa were published in its morning and evening versions, the Shema is embedded in S.R. Laniado’s Beit Dino shel Shelomo (Constantinople, 122&). a framework of blessings that relate to the natural transition of Abraham Antibi, one of his many pupils, eulogized him at the times of day, the divine love for Israel that was expressed his death. Berakhah’s sons Ḥ ayyim and Elijah were also rab- in the giving of the Torah (of which the Shema is a part), and bis in Aleppo. hopes for redemption. !"#$"%&'()*+: Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 1$64 no. &%#1; D. 3e "rst three chapters of the Mishnah deal with the reg- Laniado, Li- Asher ba-Areẓ (= Aram-Zobah, i.e., Aleppo; ulations for reciting the Shema. Topics include: the designated 16&#), %2. times when it may be recited, the appropriate physical pos- tures, the accompanying blessings, laws about interruptions BERAKHOT (Heb. ĦċđėĤøăč Ā : “, Blessings”), "rst and irregularities in the recitation (e.g., if it was inaudible or tractate of the Mishnah, Tose5a, Palestinian and Babylonian in the incorrect sequence), and instances when a person is . On its placement at the head of the order Zera’im, exempted from the obligation. which deals with agricultural laws, see *Zera’im. 3e tractate deals with aspects of the daily liturgy (as dis- Te,llah tinct from the prayers of holy days, ritual readings of scripture, Mishnah chapters 8–& deal with the te#llah, the central rab- etc.). In keeping with the general objectives of the Mishnah, it binic prayer whose standard version consists of 17 blessings is concerned primarily with the laws governing formal prayers and was to be recited in the evening, morning, and a5ernoon. and blessings, and deals only rarely or peripherally with the 3e structure and text of the prayer are presupposed, but not content, theology, or rationales for these prayers. 3ese lat- set out, in the Mishnah. Although the sages linked the insti- ter dimensions are discussed more extensively in the Tose5a, tution of prayer at "xed times to the practices of the biblical Talmuds, and cognate passages in midrashic works. Although patriarchs and the schedule of daily sacri"cial o.erings, the the was able to identify some biblical foundation for content and set times of the mandatory te#llah are considered

ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume ! !"" 4564567 to be of rabbinic origin, albeit in!uenced heavily by biblical English Translation and Commentary. Berakhot ("%$-); J. Heinemann, themes. Topics dealt with by the Mishnah include the desig- Prayer in the Talmud: Forms and Patterns ("%,,); I. Elbogen, Jewish nated times for the three services, occasions when the full "# Liturgy: A Comprehensive History ("%%.). blessings or an abbreviated versions should be recited, occa- [Eliezer L. Segel (*/0 ed.)] sions when one may forgo the normal physical requirements of standing facing towards the Jerusalem Temple, -like BERBERS, indigenous North African tribes who originally traditions about the preference for spontaneity and a reverent spoke dialects of the Berber language. Medieval Arab writers state of mind, and some prayer customs that are forbidden, ascribed the ancestry of the Berbers to *Goliath the Philistine evidently because of heterodox associations. and maintained their Canaanite origin. 'e Phoenician colo- Blessings nization of Africa, the long Carthaginian domination, and the Chapters $ through % of the Mishnah are devoted to the bless- survival of Punic, a language closely related to Hebrew, sup- ings that accompany speci&ed occasions. 'e Tose(a ():") sup- ported these legends which spread among the Berbers them- plies theological and scriptural rationales for this practice: “A selves. Similar tales are found in the writings of Greek and person should not taste anything before reciting a , Latin authors and in the Talmud which spread the legend that as it says [Ps. *):"] ‘'e earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness the Canaanites immigrated of their own free will to North Af- thereof.’ One who enjoys the bene&ts of this world without a rica. It is said that the survivors of the Jewish revolt in *Cyre- blessing has committed a trespass,” etc. 'e halakhah in the naica (""-–""$ 1.2.) found refuge among the Berbers of West- Mishnah requires that the precisely appropriate blessing be ern *Libya. Scholars have frequently claimed that the ’ recited for each occasion. Accordingly, di+erent blessings are desire to proselytize found a favorable atmosphere among the designated for fruits of the earth, fruits of trees, bread, other Berbers from the &rst to the seventh centuries. African Chris- baked goods, wine, “the ” of Deuteronomy #:#; tianity, whose early converts were Jews, clashed with Jewish and guidelines are provided for choosing the correct blessings proselytism. Archaeological discoveries, epigraphs, and writ- when there are numerous foodstu+s. ings of the Christian scholars Tertullian and St. Augustine, Chapter , discusses the procedures for the concluding indignant at the growing Berber conversions to , at- blessing a(er a formal meal or banquet, especially the “invi- test to these facts. 'e persecutions by the Byzantines forced tation to bless” (zimmun). Jews to settle among the Berbers in the mountain and desert Chapter # consists of a list of disputes between the Houses regions. Ibn Khaldun con&rmed the existence of a large num- of Shammai and Hillel related to blessings recited at meals. ber of proselyte Berbers at the time of the Arab conquest of Some of these disputes, or the reasons underlying the respec- Africa. 'e Islamization of these countries, however, did not tive positions, remain obscure, and several were transmitted in abolish all previous beliefs. Christianity was abandoned rap- di+ering versions in baraitas in the Tose(a and Talmuds. idly; Judaism continued to exist and – from Tripolitania to Chapter % contains a miscellaneous collection of bless- *Morocco – modern ethnographers and anthropologists en- ings for various occasions, including places of religious sig- countered small groups whom they called “Jewish Berbers.” ni&cance, wonders of nature, life-milestones, and deliverance 'ese isolated groups of Jews lived in the high mountains of from danger. North Africa until the last few decades. Some scholars desig- 'e Mishnah contains traditions covering the full range nated them as the descendants of Berber proselytes. In most of the tannaitic generations, including material dating from cases they eventually intermingled with the rest of the popu- the era (e.g., ":" cites the evening puri&ca- lation. However, the survival of such groups to the present is tion practices of the priests as a reliable sign of the advent of now doubted. nightfall). It is di3cult to evaluate Jewish life in Berber society be- Both the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds contain cause Berbers did not have a written history. Berber history full tractates for Berakhot. 'e Babylonian is the longest in was completely oral. 'us, information on Jewish life comes the Talmud (by word count), owing to its extensive collec- from travelers who visited the Atlas Mountains, from a few tion of aggadic material, much of it appearing as loosely con- written sources, and from interviews with people who lived nected digressions. Although some of these passages o+er in these areas. Two main sources are Higgid Mordechai, writ- valuable insights into the ’ attitudes towards prayer (of- ten by Mordechai Hacohen, a Jewish scholar from Tripoli who ten de&ned as a plea for divine mercy), the material covers wrote about the Jews in Jabel Nafusa, south of Tripoli, and a vast assortment of themes, including biblical expositions, a statistical study carried out between "%$" and "%$) by the hagiographical narratives, dream interpretation, and a great Mossad, the Israeli secret service, during the “Yachin Opera- deal of folklore. tion,” in which the Mossad organized the of the Jews !"#$"%&'()*+: N. Sacks, $e Mishnah with Variant Read- in the area. ings: Order Zera’im ("%,"); A. Houtman, Mishnah and Tose%a: A Syn- Jews coexisted within Berber society. 'ey had complete optic Comparison of the Tractates Berakhot and Shebiit ("%%$); Tz. autonomy, communal organizations, and the possibility of Zahavy (trans.), Berakhot ("%#%); A.Z. Ehrman, $e Talmud: With practicing their religion. Jews were mainly occupied in trade

!"" ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume #