MISHNAH-TOSEFTA BERAKHOT CHAPTER FOUR

This chapter introduces a new subject, rules for the recitation of the Prayer of Eighteen blessings. This standard liturgy is in fact nineteen blessings. According to tradition one of the blessings was a later addi­ tion. The service is also called the Amidah, the prayer recited while standing. Our chapter begins with the question of the time for the recitation, like its parallel counterpart earlier in chapter one, which dealt with the time for saying the Shema'. Similarly, as we shall see later, the next chapter, chapter five begins with a rule about the con­ centration needed during recitation of the Prayer, like its parallel coun­ terpart for the Shema', above in chapter two. The Prayer is recited three times on an ordinary day and a fourth time on Sabbaths, holidays and the new moon. Judah, an Ushan, glosses the Mishnah-passages throughout this chapter. This unit is not tighdy constructed around a single central idea. It moves loosely from one rule to another related theme of the recitation of the Prayer. 4: I spells out the limits of the time period for the recita­ tion of each Prayer. At the outset (4:2-4) the chapter presents several pericopae attributed to Y avneans about various issues related to the Prayer. 4:2 discusses the short prayer for the study hall. Further Yav­ nean material deals with the form of the Prayer itself in a dispute among three masters (4:3). How many blessings, it asks, make up the Prayer? The chapter next cites two more Y avnean rulings, one concerning the fixed form of the Prayer, followed by a second about a special prayer to be recited in a dangerous place (4:4). The section continues with a short unattributed unit on the proper orientation for the Prayer (4:5-6). One must face towards Jerusalem we are told, or if that is not possible, one must think of the Temple during one's recitation of prayer. The segment concludes with a Yavnean ruling glossed by an Ushan concerning the recitation of the Additional Prayer in a public context (4:7). All told, as we indicated, the unit patches together a variety of materials lacking a tight conceptual or thematic unity. It appears that 4: I and 4:7 serve to frame the chapter's two subunits, 4:2-4 and 4:5-6, all of which deal with the same gen­ eral topic, rules for the Prayer. MISHNAH-TOSEFI'A BERAKHOT CHAPTER FOUR 475

The Y avnean material evinces an understanding of the nature and structure of the Prayer which appears consistent with the early stages in the development of a system of rituals. Most traditional sources and historical analyses locate the origins of the Prayer at Y avneh. Our mate­ rials attributed to Y avneans do not contradict this suggestion. They take up such basic questions as the number of component blessings which comprise the Prayer (4:3), whether the Prayer should be fixed at all (4:4), and under what circumstances one must recite the Additional Prayer (4:7). The Ushan unit (4:1), in contrast, suggests that in that era the Prayer was a long-established standardized daily ritual. The relevant passages in T. develop one of M.'s main themes, i.e. that rules for the recitation of Prayer may be compared with rules for the rituals of the Temple cult (T. 3:1, 3:2, 3:3A). The remainder of the material comments on and supplements M. T. 3:7 supplies several alternative texts of the "short prayer" to be recited in a place of danger. T. 3:8 gives rules for reciting the Prayer of Sanctification on Sabbaths and festivals, apparently entirely out of context. T. 3:9 and 3:10-13 are additional independent units which intrude into the present context. 3:9 deals with insertions in the Prayer, the subject of M. 5:2, which it appears to supplement. 3:10-13 supply sev­ eral attributions which assign to Ushan masters and to the Houses of Hillel and Shammai, rules for special formulas for the Prayer on Sabbath and festivals. The remainder of the relevant passages in T. supplements M.

4:1 A. The Morning Prayer [may be recited) until midday. B. R. Judah says, "Until the fourth hour [of the day)." C. The Mtemoon Prayer [may be recited) until the evening. D. R. Judah says, "Until midaftemoon." E. The Evening Prayer has no fixed time. F. And the Prayers of the Additional Service [may be recited) through­ out the day. G. R. Judah says, "Until the seventh hour." This first pericope lists the latest times of day for the four recitations of the Prayer. The Ushan, Judah, glosses and disputes the times. Standardization of the hours for reciting the Prayer appears to have been a concern of the rabbis at Usha.