Berachos 31a

ברכות ל״א ע״א

Berakhot 31a

Learn Berachos 31a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Berachos 31a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Holding back excess joy, and the proper mindset, timing, direction and manner of תפילה

Overview

This amud opens with stories of חכמים who felt the joy at a wedding had gone too far. מר בריה דרבינא and רב אשי each broke an expensive cup. רב המנונא זוטי sang about death and asked where our תורה and מצוות are to protect us. רבי יוחנן, in the name of רבי שמעון בן יוחאי, rules that one may not fill his mouth with laughter in this world, and ריש לקיש lived by this all his life. The גמרא then turns to the right frame of mind for תפילה. It says to begin from a הלכה פסוקה, a settled ruling, or from שמחה של מצוה, and to part from a friend with a דבר הלכה, which it illustrates with a story about רב כהנא and רב שימי בר אשי. Next come the laws of how to pray: focus the heart, as רבי עקיבא did, and do not burden the ציבור. From דניאל, דוד, חנה and שלמה we learn to pray three set times a day, facing ירושלים, quietly, and with praise before requests. Finally, רב המנונא draws four הלכות from חנה's prayer, and רבי אלעזר begins a lesson from עלי's rebuke that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (37)

1. StatementThe expensive cup is broken and the guests grow serious
2. Statementרב אשי breaks a white glass cup at his son's wedding
3. Statementרב המנונא זוטי sings a song about death
4. QuestionThe guests ask what the chorus should be
5. ResponseThe chorus: where are the תורה and מצוות that protect us?
6. StatementNo filling one's mouth with laughter in this world
7. Statementריש לקיש never laughed fully again
8. StatementDo not go straight from a court case or open debate into prayer
9. QuestionWhat counts as a decided ruling?
10. Responseאביי's example: the women's stringency of seven clean days
11. Responseרבא's example: bringing grain in its chaff to avoid מעשר
12. ResponseA third example of a settled ruling: blood taken from a consecrated animal
13. ConclusionHow the חכמים and רב אשי actually prepared for prayer
14. StatementThe right mood for starting prayer: the joy of a מצוה
15. StatementHow to part from a friend: with a word of הלכה
16. ProofSupport from the early prophets, who ended with praise and comfort
17. ProofAnother ברייתא: part from a friend with a דבר הלכה
18. Questionרב כהנא walks רב שימי and asks about the palm trees
19. ChallengeA puzzling פסוק: how can people settle where no one passed?
20. Resolutionאדם הראשון decided which lands would be settled
21. Statementרב מרדכי walks רב שימי a long way
22. StatementOne who prays must aim his heart toward Heaven
23. Proofאבא שאול's hint from a פסוק
24. StatementHow רבי עקיבא prayed with the group and alone
25. QuestionWhy did he move so much?
26. ResponseBecause of his bows
27. StatementPray in a room with windows
28. Statementתפילה has set times, not all day
29. StatementPraying three times a day did not start in exile
30. StatementWe face ירושלים when we pray
31. StatementThe three תפילות are spread out over the day
32. StatementThe עמידה is said quietly
33. StatementPraise comes before requests, learned from שלמה
34. StatementNo requests right after אמת ויציב, but anything after the עמידה
35. Proofרב also allows long personal prayers after the עמידה
36. StatementFour הלכות of תפילה learned from חנה
37. Statementרבי אלעזר starts a lesson from עלי's rebuke of חנה