Berachos 31b

ברכות ל״א ע״ב

Berakhot 31b

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

Open Berachos 31b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Lessons from חנה's prayer and her meeting with עלי

Overview

This amud learns many lessons from the story of חנה's prayer and her meeting with עלי. רבי אלעזר teaches that you must rebuke improper behavior, clear yourself when falsely suspected, appease and bless someone you wrongly suspected, and that praying drunk is like עבודה זרה, proven from the word בליעל. The גמרא then explains words in חנה's prayer: she was the first to call ה׳ 'צבאות', and a parable of a poor man at a king's feast shows her argument. Her doubled words 'אם ראה תראה' are read as a threat to become a סוטה. That leads to the argument between רבי ישמעאל and רבי עקיבא about what the תורה promises an innocent סוטה, ending with דברה תורה כלשון בני אדם. Next come the three 'אמתך' (נדה, חלה, הדלקת הנר) and four views of 'זרע אנשים'. From חנה's later words we learn not to sit near someone davening, and we hear how young שמואל ruled הלכה before עלי and was saved by his mother. The amud ends with teachings on fasting on שבת and on חנה and אליהו speaking boldly toward Heaven. The proof that ה׳ agreed with אליהו comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (43)

1. StatementFinishing the lesson: one must rebuke improper behavior
2. StatementFirst reading of 'No, my master': you are not a master in this matter
3. StatementSecond reading: 'Aren't you a master?' as a question
4. StatementOne who is falsely suspected must clear himself
5. StatementPraying while drunk is like serving idols
6. ProofThe proof: the word בליעל links to idol worship
7. StatementOne who wrongly suspects another must make peace and bless him
8. Statementחנה was the first to call ה׳ צבאות
9. StatementWhy חנה called ה׳ צבאות
10. StatementParable of the poor man at the king's feast
11. StatementReading the doubled words 'If You will surely see'
12. Statementחנה's plan: becoming a suspected wife to force the תורה's promise
13. ChallengeThe plan only works if the promise means a barren woman gets a child
14. ProofSource of the dispute: רבי ישמעאל says a barren woman will have children
15. Challengeרבי עקיבא's objection: every barren woman would do this
16. Statementרבי עקיבא's reading: better births, not children for the barren
17. QuestionWhat does the doubled 'אם ראה תראה' teach according to רבי עקיבא?
18. ResponseThe תורה speaks in the normal language of people
19. Statementחנה says 'Your maidservant' three times
20. StatementThe three מצוות חנה never broke
21. StatementThe next phrase: 'offspring of men'
22. QuestionWhat does 'offspring of men' mean?
23. Responseרב: an outstanding man
24. Responseשמואל: a son who anoints two kings
25. Responseרבי יוחנן: a son equal to משה and אהרן
26. Responseרבנן: a son who blends in among people
27. Statementרב דימי spells out what 'blending in' means
28. StatementDon't sit within four אמות of someone davening
29. Statementשמואל ruled הלכה in front of his teacher
30. ProofThe פסוק that shows it: slaughtering the bull
31. QuestionWhy would slaughtering lead to bringing the boy?
32. ResponseWhat really happened: שמואל says a non-כהן may slaughter
33. Questionעלי asks שמואל for his source
34. Responseשמואל's proof from the פסוק
35. StatementRight on the הלכה, but wrong to rule before his teacher
36. Conclusionחנה saves her son: 'For this boy I prayed'
37. Statementחנה's prayer 'on her heart': nothing in a woman was created for nothing
38. StatementFasting on שבת: a decree is torn up, but he is punished for missing עונג שבת
39. QuestionWhat is the fix for fasting on שבת?
40. ResponseFast again to make up for the שבת fast
41. Statementחנה spoke boldly toward Heaven
42. Statementאליהו also spoke boldly toward Heaven
43. QuestionHow do we know ה׳ agreed with אליהו?