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From When May the Shema Be Said

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From When May the Shema Be Said

The Talmud opens with a question about a boundary in time. From when in the evening may the Shema be recited, and until when? The answers offered are given in terms of ordinary observable events, the appearance of the stars, the return of priests to eat their portion, the watches of the night, rather than by a clock, and the discussion that follows works through what happens when observations disagree and how a person who fell asleep should proceed. That opening sets the method for everything after it. A brief statement of law is followed by the question of who holds it, what an alternative view would be, what case would distinguish them, and what practical consequence follows, with the discussion ranging across other tractates for parallels.

Learning to read the Talmud largely means learning to follow that movement, which is why beginners are so often started here. The tractate is also unusually rich in narrative and non legal material. It contains extended treatment of dreams and their interpretation, prayers composed by named sages for particular moments, accounts of illness and consolation, and discussion of the blessings said over natural events. A book about blessings turns out to be about the whole of ordinary life, which is presumably the point of blessing things at all.

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