Berachos 33a

ברכות ל״ג ע״א

Berakhot 33a

Learn Berachos 33a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Berachos 33a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Interrupting תפלה for danger, and where rain and הבדלה go in the עמידה

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the story of the חסיד who would not answer an officer during תפלה, using a קל וחומר from standing before a human king. The גמרא then limits the rule about a snake: one does not stop for a snake, but does stop for a scorpion or for approaching oxen. It ends that section with the story of רבי חנינא בן דוסא and the עַרְוָד, teaching that sin, not the creature, is what kills. A new משנה then places the mention of rain, the request for rain, and הבדלה in specific ברכות of the עמידה. רב יוסף and the רבנן explain why each addition fits its ברכה, which leads to a short praise of דעה and the מקדש. The גמרא next explains how הבדלה moved between תפלה and the כוס, and rules that saying it in one does not exempt the other. A ברייתא that seems to say otherwise is corrected to avoid a ברכה שאינה צריכה. Finally, רב ששת rules that one who erred in both places goes back to the beginning.

Opening lines

The steps (46)

1. QuestionWhat would happen if the officer answered?
2. ProofA human king becomes the comparison
3. ConclusionThe officer accepts the explanation
4. StatementThe rule about a snake during prayer
5. StatementA scorpion is treated differently
6. ChallengeA pit of snakes raises an objection
7. ResolutionWhy the snakes in the pit are different
8. StatementInterrupt prayer when oxen approach
9. ProofThe safe distance from an ox
10. StatementA strong warning to get away from an ox
11. StatementWhen the strong warning applies
12. Statementרבי חנינא בן דוסא and the creature in the hole
13. StatementThe dead creature becomes a lesson
14. StatementThe onlookers sum up the encounter
15. StatementWhere the two rain additions belong
16. StatementWhere to say the distinction prayer
17. QuestionWhy mention rain in that blessing?
18. ResponseRain is as great as reviving the dead
19. QuestionWhy the request for rain goes in the blessing of the years
20. ResponseRain is sustenance, so it goes in the blessing for sustenance
21. QuestionWhy הבדלה goes in the blessing of knowledge
22. Responseרב יוסף: הבדלה Needs Wisdom
23. ResponseThe רבנן: הבדלה Is About the Weekday
24. StatementKnowledge Is Great: It Opens the Weekday Blessings
25. StatementKnowledge Sits Between Two Names of ה׳
26. StatementNo Mercy for One Without Knowledge
27. StatementThe מקדש Also Sits Between Two Names of ה׳
28. StatementA person with knowledge is like one in whose days the Temple was built
29. ChallengeThen revenge should also be great
30. ResolutionYes, revenge in its proper place is great
31. Proofעולא's teaching on the two mentions of vengeance
32. StatementBack to the משנה: רבי עקיבא's view on הבדלה
33. QuestionWhy don't we know where הבדלה was placed?
34. Responseהבדלה moved back and forth between תפלה and the כוס
35. ProofA second report of רבי יוחנן's teaching
36. Proofרבה and רב יוסף give the same rule
37. Challengeרבא challenges the rule from a teaching about forgetting הבדלה
38. ResolutionFixing the wording: 'he says it' instead of 'he can say it'
39. Proofרבי יוחנן directly rules that the כוס is still required
40. QuestionThe reverse question: after הבדלה over a cup, is it still said in תפלה?
41. ResponseA logical argument: הבדלה over a כוס does not exempt you from saying it in תפלה
42. StatementA ברייתא praising הבדלה in תפלה and blessing one who does both
43. ChallengeThe ברייתא contradicts itself: doing both would be an unnecessary ברכה
44. ResolutionFixing the ברייתא: blessings come to one who says it in one and not the other
45. Questionרב חסדא asks about someone who erred in both places
46. Responseרב ששת rules that he goes back to the beginning