Gemara Clarity

Berachos 47a

ברכות מ״ז ע״א

Berakhot 47a

Learn Berachos 47a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Berachos 47a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Showing honor and conducting a meal properly: deferring at doorways, waiting for the בוצע, answering אמן, who leads the זימון, and the משנה's cases of דמאי and מעשר ראשון

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a ברייתא: we do not make a show of letting a greater person go first on roads, on bridges, or at the after-meal hand-washing. In a story, רבין does not defer to אביי on the road but does at the בית הכנסת door, explaining with רבי יוחנן's rule that we defer only at a doorway fit for a מזוזה. The גמרא then turns to honor at a meal: guests wait until the בוצע tastes the bread, and רב ספרא teaches that a student must repeat his teacher's exact words. The בוצע waits until most people finish their אמן, and a ברייתא and בן עזאי teach how to say אמן properly. Two stories ask whether a latecomer can join a זימון and who leads it, and the הלכה is that the greatest person leads even if he came late. Finally the גמרא explains the משנה's foods: one who ate דמאי joins because he could become poor, and מעשר ראשון taken on the stalks is exempt from תרומה גדולה. רב פפא challenges that last rule, and אביי's answer from a פסוק continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְלֹא בְּיָדַיִם מְזוֹהָמוֹת.

and not with dirty hands.

רָבִין וְאַבָּיֵי הֲווֹ קָא אָזְלִי בְּאוֹרְחָא,

Ravin and Abaye were traveling on the road,

קַדְמֵיהּ חֲמָרֵיהּ דְּרַבִּין לִדְאַבָּיֵי

Ravin's donkey went ahead of Abaye's,

וְלָא אֲמַר לֵיהּ ״נֵיזִיל מָר״.

and he did not say to him, 'Let the Master go first.'

The steps (30)

  1. StatementThe last item in the list: no deferring over dirty hands
  2. Statementרבין does not let אביי go first on the road
  3. ChallengeAt the בית הכנסת door, רבין defers and אביי asks why only now
  4. Resolutionרבין explains: we defer only at a doorway with a מזוזה
  5. ChallengeChallenge: a בית הכנסת has no מזוזה
  6. ResolutionCorrection: a doorway fit for a מזוזה
  7. StatementAt a meal, guests wait for the one who breaks the bread
  8. Statementרב ספרא corrects the wording to 'taste'
  9. QuestionWhat difference does the exact word make?
  10. ResponseA student must repeat his teacher's exact words
  11. StatementWaiting at the shared dish and who reaches first
  12. StatementDo not break the bread until the אמן is finished
  13. Statementרב חסדא: wait only for most of the people
  14. Challengeרמי בר חמא: why is the majority different from the minority?
  15. Resolutionרב חסדא explains why he only waits for most people
  16. StatementWrong ways to answer אמן
  17. Statementבן עזאי on the punishment and reward for how one says אמן
  18. Statementרב tells a latecomer he cannot join the זימון
  19. Rejectionשמואל: we have not really finished eating
  20. Statementרב אחא says the main diner should lead, not the greatest
  21. ConclusionThe halacha: the greatest leads even if he came late
  22. ChallengeHow can eating דמאי count when it is forbidden?
  23. ResolutionHe could make himself poor, and then דמאי is allowed
  24. ProofProof: the poor may be fed דמאי
  25. Statementרב הונא: בית שמאי disagree about feeding the poor דמאי
  26. ChallengeWhy teach the obvious about first tithe?
  27. ResolutionThe case is a לוי who took his tithe while the grain was on the stalks
  28. Statementרבי אבהו's source: tithe taken on the stalks is exempt
  29. Challengeרב פפא: then exempt it even when taken from the pile
  30. Resolutionאביי begins: a פסוק speaks against you