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Berakhot 7 for kids: When God Prays

ברכות ז׳

🙏 This daf teaches that God prays for His own mercy to overcome anger, and that His anger lasts just a tiny moment each day. It also explores Moses's three requests to God, and how names like Reuven and Ruth hint at a person's future.

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Stories from Berakhot 7

Words to know

Rashi and Tosafot on Berakhot 7 in simple English

Rashi on Berakhot 7a, in English Tab translation (18)
  1. ונענע לי בראשו — He nodded His head to me, as one who accepts my blessing and answers 'Amen.'
  2. דעת בהמתו לא הוה ידע — [Meaning that Balaam] did not know his donkey's mind; this matter is explained in tractate Avodah Zarah, in the first chapter.
  3. מאי קרא — What is the verse [that shows His anger is like a moment]? As it is written: 'For His anger is but a moment, [and] in His favor is life' (Psalms 30:6).
  4. בתלת שעי קמייתא — During one of the moments of the first three hours [of the day].
  5. שורייקי — Streaks [of red]; in the vernacular, 'teyash' (Old French for stripe/streak).
  6. לצדיק לא טוב — [Meaning it is] not good to punish people.
  7. מרדות אחת — A single chastisement — meaning a rebuke or submission that a person takes to heart on his own.
  8. ורדפה את מאהביה וגו' — And when she sees that there is no one to help her, she will take it to heart and say: I will return to my first husband.
  9. תחת גערה במבין — [The verse means:] A rebuke to a man of understanding is better than striking a fool a hundred times. The accent is placed over the first taf [of 'teichat'] — not as in 'al tira ve'al teichat' (Deuteronomy 1:21), where the accent falls on the chet — but rather over the first taf, to indicate that this is a noun, which cannot be read as a verb meaning 'you shall subdue [another]'; rather, it means that [the rebuke] itself becomes accepted/humbled. Therefore its vocalization was changed, to show that it is a noun.
  10. ג' דברים בקש משה ונתן לו — For at the end of his request it is written: 'This thing also that you have spoken I will do' (Exodus 33:17).
  11. להודיעו דרכיו — [Moses asked] to be informed of the pattern of God's workings of judgment — for example, why a righteous person prospers, a wicked person suffers, a righteous person suffers, and a wicked person prospers.
  12. את אשר אחון — [Meaning] one upon whom My compassion is stirred for the moment, even though he is not deserving.
  13. כשרציתי — [Referring to] when I wanted [to reveal Myself to you], at the burning bush.
  14. לא רצית — [Referring to the fact that] you did not want [to look], as it says: 'And Moses hid his face' (Exodus 3:6).
  15. ופליגא — This is a dispute with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha, who says Moses was punished for this, against Rabbi Shmuel, who says he received a reward for it.
  16. לקלסתר פנים — Because the skin of his face shone [see Exodus 34:29].
  17. ותמונת ה' יביט — 'And he beholds the likeness of the Lord' — this refers to seeing [God's] back; so it is taught in Sifrei, in the portion of Beha'alotcha.
  18. קשר של תפילין — The knot of the tefillin is at the back [of the head], and we said above that the Holy One, Blessed be He, wears tefillin.
Tosafot on Berakhot 7a, in English Tab translation (2)
  1. Had I been angry, no remnant would have remained, etc. — You might ask: what could he (Balaam) have said in that single moment (of divine anger)? One can answer: he could have said the entire curse in that moment. Alternatively, since he would begin uttering his curse within that moment, it would still take effect and cause harm even afterward, even though its utterance continued beyond the moment itself.
  2. A certain heretic who lived in Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi's neighborhood... 'it is not proper conduct' — Even though it is taught elsewhere that heretics are to be 'lowered and not raised' (i.e., actively pushed down rather than helped), that applies to punishment carried out by human hands. But when it comes to punishment by Heavenly hands, it is not proper conduct to trouble and kill them through Heavenly means in a manner unlike the ordinary way of people. And if the text here reads 'idolater' instead of 'heretic,' this fits well, for elsewhere it states that idolaters and shepherds of small livestock are neither lowered nor raised (i.e., neither actively harmed nor helped).
Rashi on Berakhot 7b, in English Tab translation (17)
  1. My Lord [Adonai], God — written with the letters alef-dalet (the divine name Adonai), not the four-letter Name.
  2. This time I will thank the Lord — Because she saw through divine inspiration that Jacob would establish twelve tribes through four wives, when she gave birth to her fourth son she thanked God, since her share exceeded what was due to her according to that calculation (three sons each).
  3. See [the difference] between my son and the son of my father-in-law — She named him in reference to the future, as we will explain below, perhaps relating to proselytes/converts.
  4. Ruth — the Moabite — She is mentioned here because the Gemara is discussing the interpretation of names.
  5. Why do the nations rage — What benefit is it to them? This shows that in His eyes it is a trivial matter.
  6. One whose heart smites him — one who fears because of the transgressions he has committed.
  7. He says so — This explains: 'do not contend with evildoers' does not mean do not quarrel with them; rather it means do not compete with their deeds by saying, 'I will do so too.'
  8. And it says, 'Let your heart not envy sinners, but [fear] the Lord all the day' — Could one say this means do not quarrel with the wicked, but only with those who fear the Lord? Rather, you must explain it as: let your heart not envy to act as they do.
  9. They will flourish — they will succeed. Its parallel is found in: 'therefore his prosperity will not endure' (Job 20:21).
  10. Your judgments are far above, removed from him — Your judgments are distanced, far from his presence.
  11. He blows upon them — with His breath He drives them away like straw.
  12. And I will appoint a place — the end of the verse continues: 'and the sons of wickedness shall not afflict him anymore.'
  13. It is written 'to afflict him' — in the Book of Samuel.
  14. And it is written 'to destroy him' — in Chronicles (I 17).
  15. At first — When the Temple was built, it was built so that enemies would no longer afflict Israel.
  16. But in the end — When they sinned, affliction was decreed upon them, and their prayer shields them from destruction.
  17. I cannot endure — my strength has weakened.
Tosafot on Berakhot 7b, in English Tab translation (1)
  1. 'There was no person who called Him Lord' — The Tosafot asks: But isn't it written, 'Blessed is the Lord, God of Shem' (Genesis 9:26)? The answer is that there the word is not written with the letters alef-dalet (i.e., as 'Adonai'), but rather as the Tetragrammaton, which is a different form; so Noah did not actually use the term 'Lord' (Adon). The Tosafot further asks: Why did the Gemara not cite the earlier verse, 'My Lord, God, what will You give me' (Genesis 15:2), which appears before 'By what shall I know' (Genesis 15:8)? The answer is that the Torah's sections are not necessarily written in chronological order ('there is no earlier or later in the Torah'), and the section of the Covenant between the Pieces (Bein HaBetarim) actually occurred earlier. This must be so, since Abraham was seventy years old at the Covenant between the Pieces, while the section beginning 'After these things' (Genesis 15:1) took place after the war of the kings, as Rashi explains in his Torah commentary — and at the war of the kings Abraham was seventy-three years old. This is calculated as follows: the total years of Sodom's existence were fifty-two, as stated in the first chapter of Tractate Shabbat (11a). Subtract twelve years during which they served Chedorlaomer and thirteen years of rebellion, leaving twenty-six years of peaceful settlement. At the overthrow of Sodom, Abraham was ninety-nine years old, since the overthrow occurred one year before Isaac's birth. Subtracting the twenty-six years of peaceful settlement going backward, Abraham comes out to have been seventy-three years old at the war of the kings. Thus the portion of the Covenant between the Pieces preceded the portion 'After these things' by three years, and that portion (Covenant between the Pieces) concludes with 'and he counted it to him as righteousness' (Genesis 15:6). Therefore the Gemara cited the verse 'By what shall I know' (Genesis 15:8), since it is the earlier of the two statements. Based on this, Rashbam resolves a difficulty: in one place the text implies it was night, as it says 'count the stars' (Genesis 15:5), while afterward it says 'and the sun was about to set' (Genesis 15:12), implying it was day. Rather, this proves that these are indeed two separate sections, not stated at the same time, consistent with the principle that there is no strict chronological order in the Torah.

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 7.