Berachos 35b

ברכות ל״ה ע״ב

Berakhot 35b

Learn Berachos 35b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Berachos 35b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Blessings on benefit, Torah and work, and the ברכות on wine and olive oil

Overview

The גמרא finishes an earlier point: a person may enjoy the world only after saying a בְּרָכָה. רבי חנינא בר פפא compares enjoying without a בְּרָכָה to robbing God and כנסת ישראל. Two verses about grain lead to a famous מחלוקת between רבי ישמעאל, who says to combine Torah with work, and רבי שמעון בן יוחאי, who says to devote oneself fully to Torah. אביי reports that most people succeeded with רבי ישמעאל's way, and רבא sent his students home in ניסן and תשרי. A teaching about earlier and later generations stresses making Torah קבע and work עראי, and contrasts those who sought out מעשר with those who avoided it. The גמרא then returns to the משנה and asks why wine gets its own ברכה but olive oil does not. After several attempts, it concludes that wine both satisfies and gladdens, though it still does not get ברכת המזון. Finally, the גמרא asks how one could ever say בורא פרי העץ on olive oil. It settles on oil drunk mixed into אניגרון, a definition that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (42)

1. ConclusionAfter a blessing
2. StatementBenefiting without a blessing is compared to theft
3. ProofIdentifying the father and mother in the verse
4. QuestionWho is the destructive companion?
5. ResponseThe comparison is to ירבעם
6. ChallengeTwo verses describe the grain differently
7. ResolutionThe two verses describe two different times
8. QuestionWhy does the Torah need to say "you shall gather your grain"?
9. Responseרבי ישמעאל: combine Torah with ordinary work
10. Challengeרבי שמעון בן יוחאי: if you farm all year, what happens to Torah?
11. StatementWhen Israel does God's will, others do their work
12. Conclusionאביי: experience favored רבי ישמעאל's way
13. Statementרבא asks his students to stay home during ניסן and תשרי
14. StatementEarlier generations made Torah fixed and work occasional
15. StatementEarlier generations brought produce in the main way to obligate it in tithes
16. Proofרבי ינאי: produce is obligated only once it sees the front of the house
17. Statementרבי יוחנן: even a courtyard fixes the obligation
18. QuestionWhy does wine get a different blessing?
19. ChallengeOlive oil is upgraded too, but keeps the regular blessing
20. ResolutionThere is no fitting wording for a special oil blessing
21. RejectionBut we could say 'fruit of the olive tree'
22. Resolutionמר זוטרא: wine nourishes, oil does not
23. ChallengeA משנה suggests oil does count as nourishment
24. ChallengeEarlier discussion: the vow משנה seems to refute רב and שמואל
25. Resolutionרב הונא: the vow was 'anything that nourishes'
26. ChallengeSo oil does nourish
27. ResolutionNew difference: wine satisfies, oil does not
28. ChallengeChallenge from רבא: wine increases appetite
29. ResolutionA lot whets the appetite, a little satisfies
30. ChallengeChallenge from a פסוק: only bread satisfies
31. ResolutionWine has two qualities: it satisfies and gladdens
32. ChallengeIf wine is so good, it should get ברכת המזון
33. ResolutionPeople do not make a meal out of wine
34. QuestionWhat if someone makes wine his whole meal?
35. ResponseWait for אליהו; for now, one person's habit doesn't count
36. StatementBack to the main statement: olive oil gets בורא פרי העץ
37. ChallengeHow would someone drink oil? Plain oil is harmful
38. ProofProof from תרומה: drinking oil is harm, not benefit
39. ResolutionMaybe he eats the oil with bread
40. ChallengeWith bread, the bread is main and covers the oil
41. ResolutionThe case is oil drunk mixed into אניגרון
42. Statementרבה בר שמואל defines אניגרון and אנסיגרון