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Berakhot 35 for kids: A Blessing for Every Bite

ברכות ל״ה

🍇 This daf teaches which blessing to say over different foods, like fruit, bread, and wine. The Gemara searches the Torah for why we must bless food, and then explores why wine and oil get special treatment.

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Stories from Berakhot 35

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Rashi and Tosafot on Berakhot 35 in simple English

Rashi on Berakhot 35a, in English Tab translation (17)
  1. How does one recite a blessing... except for wine — Because of its importance, they established for it its own blessing; and likewise for bread.
  2. Who creates various kinds of herbs — Because included within the category of 'fruit of the ground' are herbs and seeds, such as legumes, and Rabbi Yehuda requires a distinct blessing for each species.
  3. Gemara: sanctified for praises — This is written regarding a fourth-year sapling, implying two 'praises' [hillulim], meaning it requires praise when you eat it, when you eat it in the fourth year, once it becomes permitted to be eaten.
  4. This verse is needed [for something else] — Hillulim is read as related to ḥillul (redemption); one of the two teachings comes to instruct: redeem it and then eat it — take it out to non-sacred status through redemption, if you wish to eat it outside Jerusalem; and the other teaches you that the law of fourth-year fruit was stated only regarding a vineyard, as it says 'sanctified for hillulim' — something for which praise is recited requires redemption, and this is wine.
  5. That they say — the Levites recite a song over the offering in the Temple only over wine, when they pour the libations on the altar.
  6. This works out well according to the one who [taught]... — this entire passage is the conclusion of the question, and it means: This works out well according to the one who taught 'fourth-year sapling' [in the Mishnah], who holds that all fruits of a tree fall under the law of fourth-year produce, and does not derive from here that something requiring praise requires redemption — so for him one extra 'hillul' remains available to derive the law of blessing.
  7. What can be said — this hillul is needed to teach that redemption applies only where there is praise.
  8. One taught 'fourth-year vineyard' — wherever the Mishnah has the term 'fourth-year sapling,' he taught 'vineyard.'
  9. This works out well if he derives it by means of a verbal analogy — he derives his law from the verbal analogy, and so he has one extra 'hillul' remaining available for [the law of] blessing.
  10. We found [a source] for the blessing after eating — just as we find concerning Grace after Meals, as it is written: 'And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless' (Deuteronomy 8:10).
  11. He is liable for gleanings [olelot] — '[and] you shall not glean your vineyard' (Leviticus 19:10); what is olelot? Any cluster that has no 'shoulders' and no 'tip' [side branches], but is only a single row of grapes.
  12. Let the standing grain prove it — for we find that the Merciful One required a blessing, as it is written: '...a land... you shall eat bread' etc. (Deuteronomy 8), immediately followed by 'and you shall eat and be satisfied and bless.'
  13. An aspect of the altar — wine for libations and fine flour for meal offerings.
  14. The seven species — those stated regarding the land: wheat, barley, etc. (ibid.), after which it is written 'and you shall eat and be satisfied and bless.'
  15. Since they require first fruits — as it is stated in tractate Menachot (84b): it says here 'land' — 'when I come into the land' (Deuteronomy 26:3), and it says elsewhere 'a land of wheat and barley' — just as there it refers to the praise/quality of the land, so too here it refers to the praise/quality of the land.
  16. Rather, it is a matter of logic — for both positions have a difficulty: for the one who taught 'vineyard' and derives the blessing from the seven species, there is the difficulty that they require first fruits; and for the one who taught 'fourth-year sapling,' one can object: this works for something grown by planting, but from where do we derive a blessing for something not grown by planting? Rather, it is simply logical — since one derives benefit, he must give thanks to the One who created it.
  17. He has committed misuse [of sacred property] — like one who derives benefit from consecrated property, as it is written 'the earth and its fullness are the Lord's,' as we will say below.
Tosafot on Berakhot 35a, in English Tab translation (10)
  1. Lemma — 'How does one recite blessings' (כיצד מברכין): It is not valid to ask here, as one does at the beginning of this tractate (page 2), 'where does the tanna stand' (i.e., what precedes this to justify starting with 'how'), because here it is a matter of logic to recite a blessing, as the Gemara concludes, that it is forbidden to derive benefit from this world without a blessing. Alternatively, one can say that the mishna is connected to the mishna of 'one whose dead relative lies before him' (page 20b), which teaches that a man who had a seminal emission recites a blessing after eating but not before. Here too it is similarly relevant to discuss reciting a blessing over every item, so the mishna says: how does one recite blessings.
  2. Lemma — 'Redeem it and then eat it': This is difficult — why do we need a verse for this, since in the second chapter of Kiddushin (page 54b) we derive 'sanctified, sanctified' from second tithe? If so, let us derive it from second tithe [without needing this verse]. One can answer that were it not for the verse 'hillulim,' we might have said, on the contrary, that we should derive 'sanctified, sanctified' stringently from the Sabbatical year, which has no redemption. Rabbeinu Chaim Kohen explained further: had we derived it from there (second tithe), we might have thought it is exactly like second tithe, applying only when second tithe is in effect — i.e., in the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the Sabbatical cycle — but not in the third and sixth years, when specifically the poor man's tithe applies. Therefore the verse 'hillulim' teaches us [that redemption applies in those years too].
  3. Lemma — 'They say song only over wine': This means that song is not recited over any Temple service, such as the sprinkling of blood or the water libation, except over wine. But we certainly find song recited without wine, such as the Hallel sung during the slaughtering of the Paschal offerings (Tamid Nishchat, page 64a) — see there in Tosafot.
  4. Lemma — 'And according to the one who taught "fourth-year vineyard," etc.': Now we hold that the law of fourth-year fruit applies even outside the Land of Israel, but only to a vineyard, not to other trees, following the principle that wherever the law is lenient within the Land, the same leniency applies outside the Land. Nowadays, fourth-year vineyard produce is redeemed for the value of a perutah, then ground up and thrown into a river, as is explained in the She'iltot of Rav Achai (Parashat Kedoshim, paragraph 100).
  5. Lemma — 'And the olive too can be derived through the common factor': One could object: what of the objection that the common factor between the two cases is that they are both obligated in gleanings (leket), since in a vineyard there is the law of leket, which does not apply to an olive tree? One can answer that the Gemara is satisfied to raise this objection even granting that the common factor is significant enough to derive the law for the olive; nevertheless, it says that for other species we still have no source.
  6. Lemma — 'This works out well for the blessing after': Because the primary obligation is to bless afterward, as it is written, 'And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless.'
  7. Lemma — 'The blessing before, all the more so': This is not meant as a true kal vachomer (a fortiori argument), for if it were, the blessing before eating would be of biblical origin. But above, in the chapter 'Mi Shemeto' (Berakhot 21a), it is implied, regarding one who had a seminal emission, that the blessing before eating is not of biblical origin, and even Rabbi Yehuda disputes this only because he treats these [matters] as laws of common decency (Derech Eretz) (ibid. 22a).
  8. Lemma — 'Something whose growth is not from the ground, such as meat and milk': One could ask: why specifically meat — even vegetables [which do grow from the ground in a different sense] would not work either? One can answer that there is room to say that standing grain (kamah) would prove the point [that growth from the ground alone is insufficient, so another example is needed]. According to Rashi's reading, who has the text 'which is not fit for planting,' this works out well, since one cannot say that this is derived from other trees, as one could object: what is notable about those is that they are obligated in the laws of pe'ah (leaving the corner of the field).
  9. Lemma — 'Rather, it is logical that a person is forbidden to derive benefit, etc.': And the verse cited above is merely an asmachta (a scriptural support, not the actual source), whereas the Gemara initially thought it was a true, direct derivation.
  10. Lemma — 'Rather, it is logical that a person is forbidden to derive benefit, etc.' (repeated): And the verse cited above is merely an asmachta (a scriptural support, not the actual source), whereas the Gemara initially thought it was a true, direct derivation.
Rashi on Berakhot 35b, in English Tab translation (30)
  1. After a blessing — then the earth belongs to mankind.
  2. He steals from God — His blessing.
  3. And the community of Israel — for when Israel sins, the fruits are stricken.
  4. It is no transgression — and because he treats it lightly, others see him and learn from him to likewise benefit from the world without reciting a blessing; therefore this lenient person is called a companion to a destroyer.
  5. To Jeroboam ben Nevat — who sinned and caused Israel to sin; so too this person sins and causes others to sin.
  6. When they perform His will — the grain is theirs; but when they do not perform His will, He takes it back, showing them that it is His.
  7. The words as they are written — meaning that one should not engage in worldly labor.
  8. Conduct yourselves with them — together with words of Torah.
  9. The way of the world — for if you come to depend on others for your needs, you will ultimately be forced to abandon Torah study.
  10. Is it possible — asked rhetorically: could it really be as you say?
  11. In the days of Nisan — the harvest season.
  12. In the days of Tishrei — the treading of the winepresses and olive presses.
  13. Through the gatehouse — through the gates of the courtyard and house.
  14. Untithed produce is not obligated in tithes — by Torah law; but it is forbidden by rabbinic law to eat it as a regular meal.
  15. The front of the house — the entrance and exit doorway.
  16. It is called 'olive' — so the blessing would be 'Who creates the fruit of the fruit,' since the produce (oil) is called by the name of the olive, and this is not a natural creation but one made by human hands; whereas regarding the vine, the vine itself is the tree and the grapes are its fruit.
  17. Wine nourishes — therefore it is significant enough to warrant its own blessing.
  18. And Rav Huna said — the teaching that one is permitted water and salt but forbidden other foods and drinks is not referring to someone who vowed 'food is forbidden to me,' since 'food' refers only to the five species of grain (wheat, barley, spelt, oats, and rye); rather, it refers to one who vowed 'all that nourishes me is forbidden.' Although other items are not called 'food,' they do nourish — except for water and salt — showing that oil, too, nourishes.
  19. Sustains — considered more significant than mere 'food.'
  20. But isn't it written: 'And wine gladdens the heart of man' — implying from the verse's continuation ('and bread sustains man's heart') that wine only gladdens, not sustains? The Gemara answers: it is not as you say; rather, bread sustains but does not gladden, while wine both sustains and gladdens.
  21. If so — that wine both nourishes and sustains, it should be considered 'food' requiring the three blessings of Grace after Meals; yet we later state in this chapter (Berakhot 37a) that anything from the seven species other than grain requires only one blessing, according to the Sages.
  22. It causes harm — to the body itself, and this is not an act of eating requiring a blessing, since Scripture associates the blessing with 'and you shall eat.'
  23. As it was taught — that it is not fit for consumption.
  24. One who drinks oil of teruma — unintentionally.
  25. He pays the principal — the rule that applies when one causes damage to another through his property.
  26. Ve'ein meshalem chomesh — And he does not pay the additional fifth: for regarding the fifth added for eating consecrated food it is written, 'And if a man eats of a sacred item in error' (Leviticus 22:14), which excludes one who merely damages it (rather than eating it) from this penalty.
  27. Al yedei hapat — Through bread: meaning on account of the condiment eaten together with bread.
  28. Al yedei anigron — Through anigron: this is a type of food into which oil is placed, and it is mentioned in several places in the Mishnah.
  29. De'amar Rabbah bar Shmuel — As Rabbah bar Shmuel said: he is cited here only to clarify for us what this anigron actually is.
  30. Maya de'silka — Water of beets: water in which chard (beet greens) was boiled.
Tosafot on Berakhot 35b, in English Tab translation (4)
  1. Here, after a blessing — And similarly in the chapter Kol Kitvei (Shabbat 119a) it is said that when they would set the table they would say: 'The earth and its fullness are the Lord's,' and when they would clear the table they would say: 'The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, and the earth He has given to mankind.'
  2. Here, at a time when Israel performs God's will, as it says 'And you shall gather your grain' — And if you ask: but below, this verse is applied to a time when Israel does not perform God's will? One can answer that here it certainly refers to a time when they do perform His will, whereas there they do not perform it so fully, since they are not completely righteous. Alternatively, one can say that this [verse] differs from the discussion below, which comes to explain the distinction between 'performing' and 'not performing' [God's will], whereas here 'performing' and 'not performing' are treated the same.
  3. Through the back entrance (not the main gate) — Rashi explains that this [exemption] applies by Torah law, but by rabbinic law even a courtyard determines the obligation [to tithe], as is implied in the chapter HaYotzei Dofen (Niddah 47b): 'Which courtyard obligates [produce] in tithing...' and this is likewise proven in the chapter HaMevi (Beitzah 35a).
  4. Much is dragged along — From this it is implied that it is forbidden to drink wine on the eve of Passover from the time of Minchah onward, and if one wishes to drink, he must drink a great deal, since 'a lot draws along a lot.'

Sources

Kid summary and story cards written by Tab from the William Davidson Edition English (Sefaria, CC BY-NC 4.0).

Tab translation (machine-assisted) of Rashi and Tosafot, from the Vilna Edition Hebrew (public domain) on Sefaria. May contain mistakes.

In the app, the Gemara text comes from Sefaria (William Davidson Edition, CC BY-NC 4.0; Hebrew/Aramaic Vilna Edition). Rashi and Tosafot Hebrew: Vilna Edition (public domain) via Sefaria.

Also spelled: Berachot, Brachos, Berachos, Brachot 35.