Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot

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31.20
Singer, p. 280, "Blessed art Thou. ..Who givest food unto all."
31.21
Ibid. "We thank Thee" and p. 282 "And rebuild Jerusalem." These two benedictions are to be condensed into one.
31.22
There would then be no opportunity for the labourers to waste time under the pretext of saying the entire Grace.
31.23
See p. 67 n. 5. The remainder of this Gemara is repeated from fol. 11 a, p. 68.
32.1
M.: Hast thou not taught as...?
32.2
I.e. a reputation for excessive piety by reading the Shema' on such an occasion, which might not be justified by other acts of his.
32.3
The laws of mourning (here abelut, the mourning before the burial, which is stricter than abelut, mourning after burial) are derived from Deut. xxvi. 14. Being a Pentateuchal ordinance, how could he set them aside for the personal reason he gives ?
32.4
This verse relates to a time of mourning, and it mentions only "a bitter day" ; from this he deduced that the "bitterness" does not apply in the night.
32.5
It is still customary for the friends who attend the funeral to form themselves into two rows through which the mourners pass, receiving words of condolence.
32.6
Said after the meal on returning from the cemetery.
32.7
The formula is: May the Omnipresent comfort you in the midst of the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
32.8
So Jastrow; Krauss, p. 74, "the inner-room."
32.9
I.e. I gave you a plain hint that I did not wish to receive your condolence.
32.10
What higher praise could be spoken of any man?
32.11
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
32.12
Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.
32.13
Not given to the sons of Jacob who founded the tribes called by their same.
32.14
Lit. "with lips of joyful songs" ("songs," being an unspecified plural, equals two), i.e. a song in this world and a song in the world to come. Bacher considers that the derivation is based upon the spelling of the word for "joyful songs." רננות instead of רנות. A. P. A. II. p. 15 n. 3.
32.15
I.e. after "Blessed... Who blessest Thy people Israel with peace"; Singer, p. 54.
32.16
Bacher would give the word the meaning "our dwelling-place"; A. P. A. I. p. 244 n. 7.
32.17
The Rabbinic name for Paradise.
32.18
M. adds : and have compassion upon us.
32.19
In J. T. it is Hiyya b. Abba.
32.20
This prayer is now included in the Service for the Sabbath before the New Moon; cf. Singer, p. 154.
32.21
See Singer, p. 7.
32.22
Rabbi Judah the Prince was an intimate friend of the Roman Procurator in Judea. Although the latter placed a number of his men at Rabbi's disposal to protect him, yet he prayed to God for help against his adversaries, not relying upon human aid.
33.1
The "household above" is the angelic host whose dissensions lead to quarrels on earth. The "household below" is either mankind generally or the Sages of Israel.
33.2
But for the prestige it brings them. Cf. Abot iv. 7: "Make not of the Torah a crown wherewith to aggrandise thyself, nor a spade wherewith to dig. So also used Hillel to say, He who makes a worldly use of the crown of the Torah shall waste away. Hence thou mayest infer that whosoever derives a profit for himself from the words of the Torah is helping on his own destruction." Singer, p. 196. See Schechter, Aspects, pp. 159 ff.
33.3
The evil impulse in man ; cf. I Corinth, v. 7.
33.4
Religious oppression.
33.5
Some edd. read : to humble them before and behind us.
33.6
M. adds : Raba the whole of the year and of.
33.7
It figures now in the Service of the Day of Atonement ; Singer, p. 263.
33.8
This sentence is omitted in M. as well as in the Prayer Book version ; see Singer, p. 54.
33.9
M. inserts here : Return their recompense upon their head; destroy them and humble them before me. And do Thou deliver me from calamities and adverse times, and from all kinds of punishments which are hastening to break forth upon the world.
33.10
M. inserts here : A certain disciple used to add at the conclusion of his prayer : Close mine eyes from looking on evil, mine ears from hearing idle words, my heart from reflecting on wickedness, and my reins from thinking of transgression. Make my feet to walk to Thy commandments and righteous ways ; and may Thy mercies be turned upon me so that I may be of those spared for life in Jerusalem.
33.11
"Said: R. Meir" added by M., probably correctly. See D.S. ad loc., A.T. II. p. 13 n. 1. This reference to R. Meir connects the series of prayers with the series of aphorisms which follows.
33.12
Jabneh (in Greek, Jamnia) is identical with Jabneel (Josh. xv. 11), and is situated in S. Palestine, near the coast. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the town sprang into great prominence, inasmuch as the Great Sanhedrin transferred its sittings there from Jerusalem ; and Rabban Johanan b. Zakkai founded a School which became famous. See Neubauer, pp. 73ff., J. E. vn. p. 18.
33.13
Cunning in devising ways of manifesting his fear.
33.14
By greeting them without waiting for their salutation, as Rabban Johanan did.
33.15
Some edd. read : all that learn thereafter.
33.16
He who learns only to display his knowledge by contradicting others is not one who practises Torah for its own sake.
33.17
See above p. 109 n. 2.
33.18
cf. Matt. xxii. 30.
33.19
I.e. their beholding God was the equivalent of eating and drinking. Thus it is said of Moses that, during his stay on Mt Sinai, he neither ate nor drank (Exod. xxxiv. 28) but was nourished from the lustre of the Shekinah. See Exod. Rab. 3:1.
33.20
"Our Rabbis have taught" is wanting in edd., but added by M.
33.21
The verse is given a complimentary sense which it does not possess in the context.
33.22
Since they are exempted from many religions duties incumbent upon men. See fol. 20 b, p. 132.
33.23
The reference is to the Schools at a distance from their homes. The classic example is that of 'Akiba's wife who induced him to leave her to prosecute his studies, and he remained away twenty-four years. See Ketubot 62 b.
33.24
At the conclusion of their studies.
33.25
M. : Rabbi.
33.26
I.e. enjoy the good things of life.
33.27
In the investigation of Torah.
33.28
Allufim means "oxen" (so R.V. here), but also "leaders."
34.1
"Like the Nazarene" is omitted in the later editions through fear of the Censor. "Spoiled (or, cooked) food in public" means, laid himself open to suspicion of heresy by his public declarations. See Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, pp. 60 f.
34.2
By the "stout-hearted" is here understood the pious who are "far from righteousness" in the sense that they cannot rely upon it for their sustenance, but have to labour with their arm.
34.3
"From Mount Horeb" should probably be omitted, being a reminiscence of Abot vi. 2 (Singer, p. 205). Cf. Bacher, A.B.A. p. 11 n. 58.
34.4
I.e. Hannina b. Dosa who was renowned as an ascetic and thaumaturgist. See fol. 33 a, 34 b, pp. 219, 230, 232.
34.5
The carob-tree or locust was the food of the poorest and of ascetics (cf. Matt. iii. 4), and despised by the people. The Midrash declares: When the Children of Israel are obliged to eat carobs, they become repentant; Levit. Rab. xxxv. 6.
34.6
The inhabitants of Gobia in Babylon. A tradition identities them with the Netinim of the Bible, the descendants of the Gibeonites (hence, Gobeans) who were made hewers of wood and drawers of water in the days of Joshua. See Kiddushin 70 b.
34.7
M. : Abbai.
34.8
A town in Babylon. It possessed a famous School of which Rab Ashe was Principal, and twice a year — before the Passover and New Year — crowds came there to hear the Torah expounded.
34.9
Ab is the fifth month of the year. On the 9th of this month, both Temples were destroyed and the day is observed as a solemn fast.
34.10
In this matter and cease work. Consequently Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel's teaching here contradicts his teaching in our Mishnah.
34.11
To remove the contradiction, B. Johanan suggests that in the quoted Mishnah, it is the Rabbis, not Rabban Simeon, who say "Everyone should regard himself as a disciple of the wise."
34.12
Consequently it would not be presumptuous for one who was not a disciple to abstain from work.
34.13
Waiting to relieve the bearers.
34.14
Having already borne the coffin.
34.15
See p. 106. The reference in the next sentence is to a row two-deep.
34.16
Edd. print here Mishnah III (p. 131) unnecessarily, since it is treated separately.
34.17
A meal was taken reclining on the left elbow on a couch as a mark of comfort and ease. Cf. Oesterley and Box, p. 391 n. 1.
35.1
"Reading Shema' and Tefillah" is added by M. and is found in Semahot x (cf. Mo'ed Katon 23 b) from which this quotation is taken. Tefillin is not mentioned becaase the phylacteries are not worn on the Sabbath.
35.2
M. : Rabban Gamaliel.
35.3
Shema' and Tefillah.
35.4
Between Rabban Simeon and the other Rabbis that the former raises this point.
35.5
When this, as it sometimes does in Jewish law, becomes a duty, then Rabban Simeon does not allow it to be an exception to the rule that all signs of mourning must be discarded on the Sabbath.
35.6
In contradiction to the inference drawn from our Mishnah.
35.7
Not to the mourner who eats in another room or in a neighbour's house ; thus the Baraita presents no contradiction.
35.8
Rejecting Rab Pappa's solution, Rab Ashe declares that "lying before him" is not to be understood literally, but means the duty of burial is still his.
35.9
When he said "before me," Abraham was addressing the sons of Heth and was not in the actual presence of the body.
35.10
The Jewish custom is not to leave the body alone until burial, there being somebody always present to "watch." See Oesterley and Box, p. 332. The reason is to protect the body from mice. Cf. below.
35.11
There is none so poor as the dead. Cf. fol. 3 b, p. 10 n. 4.
35.12
They do not take it in turn to watch and pray.
35.13
Sit on them to escape on his ass.
35.14
In time of danger he may pack the scroll into the saddle-bag and ride on the ass.
35.15
M. adds: a distance of four cubits.
35.16
An act of respect shown to the dead stands in a higher scale, according to Rabbinic teaching, than to the living, because it is disinterested. On the phrase "Deal kindly and truly with me" (Gen. xlvii. 29) the Rabbis comment that "kindness of truth" is that performed to the dead; Gen. Rab. xcvi. 5.
35.17
"Upon the graves" is added by M. The "fringes" are the Sisit attached to the corners of the garment.
35.18
So literally; R.V, : a valiant man.
36.1
Pointing the word mekabbes el "the gatherer for God."
36.2
By "Moab" is here understood David who was descended from Ruth the Moabitess and provided the site for the Temple.
36.3
To harden his body in order the better to master the intricacies of the Torah (= slay a lion).
36.4
On the Sifra see p. 71 n. 6. It is regarded as the most difficult of the Halakic commentaries on the Pentateuch and is therefore called "a lion." He mastered this work on a winter's day, i.e. in a short space of time.
36.5
M. adds : But was he dead ? He was living !
36.6
They were named Judah and Hezekiah; cf. A. P. A.I. pp. 48 f.
36.7
To till their inheritance.
36.8
Who had died recently.
36.9
A Roman coin. The silver denarius is here intended, which was worth a twenty-fourth of the golden denarius, about 7d.
36.10
It was the New Tear's night when God began His annual judgment of the world.
36.11
In the heavenly court of justice.

Tractate Berakot by A. Cohen, Cambridge University Press, 1921. Via Sefaria (sefaria.org), Sefaria-Export. Version source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH002182132 Licence: Public Domain. Source.