Amen, amen! - Brakhot 53b

Rabbi Yosi says: Greater is he who answers 'amen' than he who says the blessing. Said Rabbi Nehorai to him: By heaven it is so! The proof is that while the common soldiers go down and open the battle, it is the mighty ones who go down to win it!

Another chapter is finished, leaving just one to go before the end of our first masechet (let's have a seudah!). But I was struck by the debate on 53b about whether it's better to lead the blessing or say amen. While Rav and Rav Huna urge their children to just grab the cup and say birkat hamazon, Rabbi Yosi and Rabbi Nehorai provide an interesting counterpoint, with an unusual image.

The person leading the beracha, according to this metaphor, are like the front line of an attack, leading a foray. This requires courage and determination certainly, but it may also be a little foolhardy, leaving you in a vulnerable position. Without the giborim, the mighty ones, to reinforce your position, the war would never be one.

As a community leader and future rabbi, as well as being someone who prefers leading services to joining them, this idea is both challenging and inspiring. I am far more likely to be the one grabbing the cup and saying the blessing, getting up on the bimah and leading the davening, but Rabbi Nehorai reminds me of a few key facts:

             -A leader with no community will not succeed. The community are our reinforcements, our giborim, as we go to war.

             -Not only is there no shame in just saying amen, in fact by supporting the community atmosphere, you are contributing to a vital job. Your presence, with your participation, qualifies you as a mighty warrior.

As you go into Yom Kippur, and get ready to wage war against our sins, remember the teaching of Rabbi Nehorai - and look to your giborim for support.

Just Tuck In - Brakhot 44a

With the start of the new semester and imminent high holidays, I haven't had much time to post here. But today's daf made my smile because it seemed entirely appropriate that after a chapter of discussing blessings before eating different kinds of food, we learn all about how much some rabbis loved to eat a certain kind of fruit dish.

R. Abbahu used to eat of them [so freely] that a fly slipped off his forehead. R. Ammi and R. Assi used to eat of them till their hair fell out. R. Simeon b. Lakish ate until his mind began to wander, and R. Johanan told the household of the Nasi, and R. Judah the Prince send a band of men for him and they brought him to his house.

Perhaps a warning against over indulgence, it seems a fitting tone for close to the end of such a food-focused chapter.

Shana tova!

Fear of God vs Fear of Man - Brakhot 28b

"May it be [God's] will that the fear of heaven shall be upon you like the fear of flesh and blood."

On his deathbed, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai is visited by his students and begins to cry, explaining that if he were only going to see a human king then he would certainly cry - but he is in fact goign to stand before the King of Kings whose judgements last forever.

But when asked for a blessing, he offers the above blessing, that the fear of heaven should be to his students like the fear of human beings.

So which is primary? Fear of God or fear of mortals? In this story, Rabbi Yochanan seems to switch between the two.

It seems that perhaps we are seeing two perspectives, one when close to death, and one as a way to live one's life. Rabbi Yochanan is on his deathbed, and so from his perspective it's the intangible, wrath of the divine that he most fears.

But for his students, he offers them a more tangible basis for their faith and for their future good behaviour, to be at least as afraid of God as you are of human beings. For earthly life, earthly fear is the proper foundation on which to build ethical action.