Berakhot ( he, בְּרָכוֹת, Brakhot, lit. "Blessings") is the first

tractate A tractate is a written work dealing formally and systematically with a subject; the word derives from the Latin ''tractatus'', meaning treatise. One example of its use is in citing a section of the Talmud, when the term '' masekhet'' () is used ...

of '' Seder Zeraim'' ("Order of Seeds") of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...

and of the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

. The tractate discusses the rules of prayers, particularly the Shema and the Amidah, and blessings for various circumstances. Since a large part of the tractate is concerned with the many ''berakhot'' ( en, blessings), all comprising the formal liturgical element beginning with words "Blessed are you, Lord our God….", it is named for the initial word of these special form of prayer. ''Berakhot'' is the only

in ''Seder Zeraim'' to have Gemara – rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah – in the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cent ...

. There is however

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

on all the tractates in ''Seder Zeraim''. There is also a

Tosefta The Tosefta ( Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...

for this tractate. The Jewish religious laws detailed in this tractate have shaped the

liturgies Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

of all the

Jewish communities Jewish ethnic divisions refer to many distinctive communities within the world's ethnically Jewish population. Although considered a self-identifying ethnicity, there are distinct ethnic subdivisions among Jews, most of which are primarily the ...

since the later Talmudic period and continue to be observed by traditional Jewish communities until the present, with only minor variations, as expounded upon by subsequent Jewish legal codes.

Subject matter

The Mishna of this tractate deals with aspects of the daily prayer services, primarily the laws about formal prayers and blessings, and only infrequently or incidentally with the content, theology, or rationales for these prayers. These aspects are discussed more at length in the

, Gemara, and passages in the

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

. Although the Talmud identifies some biblical basis for the topics dealt with in the tractate, the Mishnah organizes the material according to topics, with only occasional references to biblical sources. The laws regarding three liturgical categories addressed in this tractate are as follows: * recital of the Shema prayer every morning and evening * the central prayer of each service, recited standing silently, called the Amidah, or Tefilla in the terminology of the Talmud * blessings recited for the enjoyment of food, drinks and fragrances and on significant occasions or circumstances. The first three chapters of the tractate discuss the recital of the Shema, the next two the recital of the Tefilla, and the last four the various blessings. The biblical basis for the discussions in this tractate are derived from the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

(, and ) regarding the Shema; for the Grace after Meals from ; and from other Biblical references about the recital of prayers and the deduction that prayers should be recited three times daily ( and ).

Shema

The obligation to recite the Shema is a biblical command derived from the verses of the

in and that constitutes the way for a Jew to fulfill their obligation to affirm their acceptance of the "yoke of the kingship of Heaven" by declaring, "the Lord is One" (Deut. 6:4). The Talmud explain this as a specific commandment to recite the two paragraphs in which the requirement occur (Deut. 6:4–9, 11:13–21) to be performed twice per day, in the evening (''"when you lie down"'') and in the morning (''"when you rise up"''). The tractate defines the exact periods when the Shema should be said in the evening and the morning, specifies conditions for its recital, and who is exempt from this ''mitzvah'' ("commandment"). The Mishnah also mandates the addition of a third section to the Shema (), relating the commandment of ritual fringes and the daily obligation to acknowledge the

Exodus from Egypt The Exodus (Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the Bible), namely Ex ...

Prayer

The tractate deals with the principal rabbinic prayer, recited quietly, without interruption, and while standing and known as the ''Amidah'' or "standing prayer", or simply as ''Tefillah'' ("prayer"). Its original version comprised eighteen blessings all beginning with the standard formulation "Blessed are you, Lord our God…". A nineteenth blessing was added at a later stage of the Talmudic period. The Mishnah takes the structure and text of the prayer as a given and ''tefillah'' as a general concept refers to the regular prayers instituted by the members of the Great Assembly and the sages who followed them. Three daily prayer services were instituted: ''

Shacharit ''Shacharit'' ( he, שַחֲרִית ''šaḥăriṯ''), or ''Shacharis'' in Ashkenazi Hebrew, is the morning ''tefillah'' (prayer) of Judaism, one of the three daily prayers. Different traditions identify different primary components o ...

'' during the morning hours until four hours of the day have passed, and corresponding to the morning daily sacrificial offering at the

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jeru ...

, ''

Mincha Mincha ( he, מִנחַה, pronounced as ; sometimes spelled ''Minchah'' or ''Minḥa'') is the afternoon prayer service in Judaism. Etymology The name ''Mincha'', meaning "present", is derived from the meal offering that accompanied each sacri ...

'' during the afternoon, corresponding to the afternoon sacrificial offering and ''

Ma'ariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or night. It consists primarily of the evening ''Shema'' and ''Amidah''. The service will often begin with two verses from Psalms ...

'' in the evening after nightfall. The times for these services are also connected in the tractate to the practices of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. On days when an additional offering was sacrificed in the Temple, namely Shabbat,

Festivals A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

, the intermediate days of the Festivals and the New Moon, an additional prayer service,

Musaf Mussaf (also spelled Musaf or Musof) is an additional service that is recited on Shabbat, Yom Tov, Chol Hamoed, and Rosh Chodesh. The service, which is traditionally combined with the Shacharit in synagogues, is considered to be additional to th ...

, was recited between the morning and afternoon services. The Mishnah and subsequent discussion in the Gemara consider the designated times for the three services; occasions when the full eighteen blessings, or an abbreviated versions should be recited; circumstances in which a person does not have to pray as normally required facing towards the Temple in Jerusalem; traditions about the required state of mind when praying and the role of the ''Shaliach tzibbur'' (" representative of the congregation") who leads the repetition of the prayer when a '' minyan'' ("quorum") is present.

Blessings

A "berakhah" is a formal liturgical unit that is usually formulated with the opening words "Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe..." The tractate discusses the blessings for specific occasions, and the Tosefta states that the theological rationale for this is a recognition that a person should not benefit from the world without first acknowledging that God is the source of the abundance. The tractate formulates and describes the use of a number of categories of blessings, for the following: * enjoyment (''birkhot ha'nehenin''), recited in appreciation of physical enjoyment including various blessings over food, drink and fragrances; different blessings are assigned for vegetables, fruit, wine, baked goods, bread, and those items which do not directly come from produce of the earth, such as milk, meat, fish and eggs. * performing a positive commandment (''birkhot hamitzvot'') such as the lighting of Sabbath candles, usually before the performance of the mitzvah, except for '' netilat yadai'im'' ("ritual washing of hands"), immersion in a '' mikveh'' to attain ritual purity, and the immersion of a convert, when the blessing is recited after the mitzvah is performed. * seeing awe-inspiring natural phenomena (''birkhot ha're'iya'') of various types, such as upon seeing the ocean, great mountains, a rainbow or lightning; or seeing a place where miracles occurred for the Jewish people or for individuals, as well as for places where tragic or catastrophic events occurred. * special time bound events (''birkhot ha'zman'') of two primary types — when performing a regular, but infrequent commandment such as the celebration of a Festival, or for an unusual occurrence, such as the redemption of a first born; and when enjoying something for the first time, such as wearing new clothes or eating a type of fruit for the first time in a season, and in general upon experiencing any unusual benefit or joy. In addition to the blessings to be recited before eating, the tractate discusses the blessing ordained in the Torah (), known as ''

Birkat Hamazon Birkat Hamazon ( he, בִּרְכַּת הַמָּזוׂן, The Blessing of the Food), known in English as the Grace After Meals ( yi, ; translit. ''bentschen'' or "to bless", Yinglish: Bentsching), is a set of Hebrew blessings that Jewish ...

'' ("the Grace after Meals"), to be recited after eating food; while the Torah obligation applies only to a meal that satisfies a person's hunger, the rabbis of the Mishna required that it be recited after eating a ''k'zayit'' measure of bread. When three or more men have eaten together, one of them is required to invite the others to recite the Grace after Meals in what is known as the '' zimmun'' ("invitation to bless"). The tractate formulates the ''berakha m'ayn shalosh'' ("blessing abridged from the three blessings" of the Grace after Meals), recited for food or drink made from any of the seven species —

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

, fig,

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...

s, olive (oil), and

date Date or dates may refer to: *Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner ** Group dating *Play date, a ...

(honey) — which are listed in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Land of Israel.For all other foods, besides bread or the products of the seven species, a one blessing ''berakha acharona'' ("blessing recited after eating or drinking") is recited. The tractate also discusses the various requirements for '' Kiddush'', the sanctification prayers recited over wine on Shabbat and Festivals, and ''

Havdalah Havdalah ( he, הַבְדָּלָה, "separation") is a Jewish religious ceremony that marks the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushers in the new week. The ritual involves lighting a special havdalah candle with several wicks, blessing a cup of ...

'', the blessings for the ceremony recited at the end of the Shabbat and Festivals.

Structure and content

The tractate consists of nine chapters and 57 paragraphs (''mishnayot''). It has a Gemara – rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah – of 64 double-sided pages in the standard

Vilna Edition Shas The Vilna Edition of the Talmud, printed in Vilna (now Vilnius), Lithuania, is by far the most common printed edition of the Talmud still in use today as the basic text for Torah study in yeshivas and by all scholars of Judaism. It was typeset b ...

of the

and 68 double-sided pages in the

. There is a

of six chapters for this tractate. Tractate Berakhot in the Babylonian Talmud has the highest word per daf average due to its large quantity of aggadic material. Some of these passages offer insights into the rabbis' attitudes towards prayer, often defined as a plea for divine mercy, but also cover many other themes, including biblical interpretations, biographical narratives, interpretation of dreams, and folklore. An overview of the content of chapters is as follows: * Chapter 1 determines the time and the manner of the reading of Shema in the evening and in the morning, and the number of blessings which precede and follow the reading; the controversy between the

Houses of Hillel and Shammai The House of Hillel (Beit Hillel) and House of Shammai (Beit Shammai) were, among Jewish scholars, two schools of thought during the period of tannaim, named after the sages Hillel and Shammai (of the last century BCE and the early 1st century CE) ...

regarding whether to stand, recline or sit during the recital; and the blessings before and after the Shema. * Chapter 2 addresses the appropriate inner intention and attention (''

kavanah Kavanah, kavvanah or kavana (also pronounced /kaˈvonə/ by some Ashkenazi Jews) (כַּוָּנָה; in Biblical Hebrew kawwānā), plural kavanot or kavanos (Ashkenazim), literally means "intention" or "sincere feeling, direction of the heart". ...

'') for the recital of the Shema; whether reading it silently is considered a valid recital; whether incorrect pronunciation or other mistakes invalidate the recital; permission for laborers to say the Shema while working; and exemptions from recital due to inability to recite it with ''kavanah'', such a recently married man; a series of parables regarding Rabban Gamliel are cited to explain why exemptions may be acceptable. * Chapter 3 continues to discuss total or partial exemption from this duty, such as for mourners, women, slaves, and minors, and the obligation of a person in a state of ritual uncleanness (''tumah'') to recite the Shema, Amidah and other blessings. * Chapter 4 discusses the main prayer, the ''Shemoneh Esrei'' (literally "eighteen") or '' Amidah'' (literally "standing"), or simply ''

Tefillah Jewish prayer ( he, תְּפִלָּה, ; plural ; yi, תּפֿלה, tfile , plural ; Yinglish: davening from Yiddish 'pray') is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with i ...

'' ("prayer") as it called in the Talmud, and considers the appropriate time-frames in which to recite this prayer in the morning, afternoon and evening; the abbreviated Amidah’s wording and when it is recited; reciting the Amidah while riding or driving; and the additional service ("musaf") recited on Sabbaths and Festivals. * Chapter 5 considers the necessity of preparing for prayer, praying with "kavanah" during the Amidah and the prohibition against interrupting one’s prayer during the Amidah, guarding against error, especially regarding additions to or deviations in the form of the prayer; insertion of specific supplications such as for rain; and the course of action when the reader ('' shaliach tzibbur'') makes a mistake while reciting the Amidah for the congregation. * Chapter 6 examines the principle that before eating any kind of food, one must recite a blessing, and determines the form of blessing before and after various kinds of food. * Chapter 7 discusses the procedures for the concluding blessings known as ''

'', (blessing for the sustenance) following a formal meal, usually defined by eating bread, at which three or more have eaten together, and the '' zimmun'' – invitation to join the grace. * Chapter 8 formulates the rules for the washing of hands in connection with a meal, reciting grace over the wine-cup; '' Kiddush'', the sanctification of Shabbat and

Jewish holidays Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...

and ''

'', the concluding ceremony of Shabbat; it also notes the disputes between the Houses of Shammai and Hillel regarding blessings recited at meals, especially to the order of their recital. * Chapter 9 discusses various special blessings that can be made for many occasions, such as upon coming across a place where a miracle was performed or places of religious significance, or upon hearing thunder or seeing natural phenomena such as lightning or a rainbow, experiencing life-milestones, and deliverance from danger; additionally, various additional instructions are given to ensure respect for the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compou ...

and the

name of God There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word ''god'' (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or speci ...

in personal greetings and to resist

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

by stressing a belief in the world-to-come.

Placement in the Order Zeraim

The topics of tractate Berakhot, relating to prayers and blessings, are seemingly quite different from the agricultural laws of the other tractates of this Order and several rationales have been proposed for this placement: According to

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Tora ...

, because food is the foremost necessity for life, the laws concerning its production and use – the Order Zeraim – was placed at beginning of the Mishnah. However, to first express gratitude to God for these gifts, the one non-agricultural tractate which opens this order is Berakhot. Another explanation given is the fact that since reciting the Shema in the evening is the first religious duty of the day, this may account for the placement of the tractate at the beginning of the first Order of the Mishnah – the important principle implied in the first question of the tractate, "From what time is it allowed to read the evening Shema?" is that the day is calculated from evening to evening and thus the Mishnah begins with the first '' mitzvah'' – commandment – that a Jew is obligated to fulfill every day. The

itself ( Shabbat 31a), cites an explanation given by Resh Lakish, who homiletically states that the first six terms in a verse in

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

() refer to the six orders of the Mishna – and the first word, "''emunah''" (faith), corresponds to Zeraim. This is seen as an explanation for why the regulations regarding prayers and blessings – and especially those concerning the recital of the Shema prayer – the Jewish declaration of faith in the

One God Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford ...

– came to be grouped with agricultural laws, which are seen both as an expression of faith through reliance on God and, according to the commentator

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

, (1040 – 1105 CE), as an expression of faithfulness in social relationships, by the provisions of dues to the poor, the priests and the

Levites Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew de ...

as described in the other tractates of this Order.

Historical context and influence

Composed towards the end of the Mishnaic period (c. 30 BCE - 200 CE) in the Roman province of

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

, the Mishnah of tractate Berakhot contains traditions covering the full range of sages from the period, from the Second Temple period until the end of the period of the

Tannaim ''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים , singular , ''Tanna'' "repeaters", "teachers") were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the ''Tannaim'', also referred to as the Mis ...

. This tractate, along with other literature from the Second Temple era, especially the liturgical texts of the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

, has provided scholars with a better understanding of the place of Jewish prayer in the broader evolution of Jewish worship of the time when it coexisted alongside the sacrificial worship of the

. The tractate also provides significant information about the eating customs of the Jews in Babylon (chapter 6), and of the Jews in

Roman Palestine Syria Palaestina (literally, "Palestinian Syria";Trevor Bryce, 2009, ''The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia''Roland de Vaux, 1978, ''The Early History of Israel'', Page 2: "After the revolt of Bar Cochba in 135 ...

, which were largely modeled on those of the Romans (chapter 8) by the time the Mishna was written (c. 200 CE). Initially, the prayers instituted by the Talmudic rabbis were primarily learned and transmitted orally and prayer texts may have been flexible within these accepted structures. Only around the fourth century CE does synagogue architecture in the Land of Israel begin to consistently reflect the physical orientation towards Jerusalem required by rabbinic worship. By that time, prayer had become a function of the synagogue, with a '' shaliach tzibbur'' ("leader of the congregation") who recited the prayers out loud to enable those incapable of praying properly on their own to fulfill their obligations to participate by listening and responding "

amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and ...

". Around the essential main prayers of the ''Shema'' and ''Amidah'', other elements seem to have arisen, probably in the later Talmudic period during the time of the Amoraim. These included the recitation of

psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

and other collections of biblical verses known as '' pesukei dezimra'' ("verses of song") prior to the main prayers in order to set an appropriate frame of mind for praying (Berakhot 5:1), and the recitation of individual prayers after the Amidah. These began as private supplications, including personal requests ( Tosefot to Berakhot 3:10), but were gradually formalized. These elements took different forms in the Land of Israel and in Babylonia, as the findings of some of these texts in the

Cairo Genizah The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the '' genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat or Old Cairo, ...

have shown. During the Talmudic period, the norm developed that the ideal language for prayer was

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, although other languages were considered acceptable for many prayers (BT, Berakhot 13a). By the end of the Talmudic period, consensus existed as to the basic formulation of most prayers, though regional variations remained. By the end of the Talmudic period (c. 500 CE), two distinct prayer rites had developed, in the Land of Israel and in Babylonia. However, by the end of the period of the geonim (c. 1038 CE), the prayers of all the traditional

had largely conformed to the liturgy of the Babylonian Jewish community, and this has remained so until the present time, with only minor textual and structural variations among them.

Liturgical uses

Both the Babylonian Talmud (BT) and Jerusalem Talmud (JT) include original prayers, many of which have been included in the

Siddur A siddur ( he, סִדּוּר ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, '' ...

, the daily prayer-book. The prayers are mostly the same in form and content in both Talmuds. Many of the Talmudic sages arranged personal petitions that they would say at the conclusion of the Amidah, some of which are cited in this tractate ''Elohai'' ("My God"), the private meditation of the fourth century sage, Mar son of Ravina, as recorded in this tractate, has become universally accepted as the concluding meditation of the Amidah in the liturgies of all the Jewish communities. It begins with the words "My God, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from deceitful speech" and reflects the opening meditation of the Amidah "O Lord, open my lips so that my mouth may declare your praise" in that, having asked God to guide what to say in his presence, it now asks Him to guide what not to say in the presence of other human beings. ''Yehi Ratzon'' ("May it be Your will"), the personal prayer of the late second–early third century sage, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, as recorded in this tractate (), requesting protection from harmful events, people and temptations, which he recited every day after the morning service, has been incorporated at the beginning of the morning service in both the Ashkenazi and Sefardi

, albeit with minor textual variants in each. The second part of the Nishmat prayer, recited on Sabbath and Festivals, from the words "If our mouths were as full of song as the sea...we could not sufficiently praise You O Lord our God" is the text of a thanksgiving prayer for rain cited in this tractate (). Another prayer beginning with ''Elohai'' ("My God") and continuing with "the soul which you have given me is pure" is recorded in this tractate (BT, Berakhot 60b) expressing gratitude to God for restoring one’s spirit upon awakening in the morning and for providing the person with the requirements for life and health. This text is the introduction to the series of fifteen blessings recited in the early morning service in both the Ashkenazi and Sefardi liturgies, in accordance with the teaching on Berakhot 60b, that as one experiences the phenomena of the new day, one should bless God for providing them. The concluding statement of the tractate in both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud (BT, Berakhot 64a) is ''Amar Rabbi Elazar'' ("Rabbi Elazer said"), "Torah scholars increase peace in the world..." and it is recited at the end of the

Kabbalat Shabbat Jewish prayer ( he, תְּפִלָּה, ; plural ; yi, תּפֿלה, tfile , plural ; Yinglish: davening from Yiddish 'pray') is the prayer recitation that forms part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism. These prayers, often with i ...

service welcoming the Sabbath on Friday night in the Ashkenazi liturgy, and towards the end of the Musaf service on Sabbaths and Festivals in both the Ashkenazi and Sefardi liturgies.

References

External links

Full Hebrew and English text of the Mishnah for tractate Berakhot
on Sefaria {{Authority control Talmud