Berachot 9b

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[Berachot 9b]

 [10] MISHNAH.

FROM WHAT TIME MAY ONE RECITE THE SHEMA IN THE MORNING?
FROM THE TIME THAT ONE CAN DISTINGUISH BETWEEN BLUE {techelet} AND WHITE.
R. ELIEZER SAYS: BETWEEN BLUE AND GREEN {karti}.

UNTIL SUNRISE [hanetz hachama].
R. JOSHUA SAYS: UNTIL THE THIRD HOUR OF THE DAY,
FOR SUCH IS THE CUSTOM OF KINGS, TO RISE AT THE THIRD HOUR.
IF ONE RECITES THE SHEMA' LATER HE LOSES NOTHING, BEING LIKE ONE WHO READS IN THE TORAH.

Gemara: 

A tanna taught [J: rather, in our gemara, this seems to be the gemara's analysis]: Between the blue in to the white in it.

To explain: From when he recognizes in the tzitzit between a band of white in it to a band of blue in it. For we said in Menachot, perek haTechelet (daf 43b) [the pasuk states] 'and you shall see it, and you shall recall'. That is, you shall see this mitzvah and recall a different mitzvah. And which is this? Kriat Shema. As they taught [in a Mishna], 'From what time may one recite the Shema in the morning? From the time one can distinguish between blue and white.'

We learn in the Yerushalmi in our perek, they taught {tnei}: between the blue in it and the white in it. What is the reason of the Rabbanan {in our Mishna}? 'and you shall see it, and you shall recall' -- from that which is in proximity to it. What is the reason of Rabbi Eliezer {in our Mishna}? 'And you shall see it', such that you should be able to distinguish two colors. To explain: between two colors which are similar to each other, such as techelet and karti.

A tanna taught: Rabbi Meir said: such that one can distinguish between a wolf and a dog. Rabbi Yehuda Akiva says: such that one can distinguish between a donkey and a wild donkey. Others say: such that one can see his friend from 4 cubits away and recognize him.

Yerushalmi: With what are we dealing? If he is a person he knows, then he will recognize him even farther away. And if it is not a person he knows, then even at a closer distance, he will not recognize him. Rather, we are dealing with someone who he knows and does not know, like this one who comes to visit at various intervals.

Rav Huna said: the halacha is like "Others."

Abaye said: For donning tefillin, like "Others." For reading the Shema, like the Vatikin {strong in piety}.



For Rabbi Yochanan said: The Vatikin would finish it {reading the Shema} with sunrise.
A brayta also says so: the Vatikin would finish it with sunrise, so as to juxtapose geula {the bracha after Shema} with prayer {=Shemoneh Esrei} and he would end up praying by day.

Rabbi Zera said: What is the source? Tehillim 72:5:

ה יִירָאוּךָ עִם-שָׁמֶשׁ; וְלִפְנֵי יָרֵחַ, דּוֹר דּוֹרִים.

5 They shall fear Thee while the sun endureth, and so long as the moon, throughout all generations.

{but not taken as 'while to sun endures' but 'together with the sun's arrival'}

"For reading the Shema, like the Vatikin" -- to explain, the mitzvah is best performed by beginning reading Shema in such manner as to finish it together with sunrise, so as to juxtapose Geulah to tefillah immediately at sunrise.


And Abaye admits that the beginning of the time of kriat Shema is when one can distinguish between blue and white, like the stama of our Mishna, and that the time extends for three hours, as becomes clear later on at the end of perek Mi Shemeitu (daf 22b), that they teach in a Mishna there:

IF HE WENT DOWN TO IMMERSE HIMSELF, IF HE IS ABLE TO COME UP AND COVER HIMSELF AND RECITE THE SHEMA' BEFORE THE RISING OF THE SUN, HE SHOULD GO UP AND COVER HIMSELF AND RECITE, BUT IF NOT HE SHOULD COVER HIMSELF WITH THE WATER AND RECITE.

And we say upon it in the gemara (daf 25b)

 May we say that the Mishnah teaches anonymously the same as Rabbi Eliezer, who said that [the Shema' may be recited] until the rising of the sun?  You may even say that it is the same as Rabbi Yehoshua,  and perhaps [the Mishnah] means this to apply to the wathikin, of whom Rabbi Yochanan said: The vatikin used to finish the recital with the rising of the sun.

Thus it is implied explicitly that the vatikin held like Rabbi Yehoshua, but that they hurried to read it at sunrise, in order to juxtapose geulah to tefillah at sunrise. And so is implied in the Yerushalmi of our perek. For we learn in the Yerushalmi (7b): The one who holds 'such that he is able to see his friend at a distance of four cubits and recognize him' holds like the one who holds 'between blue and white', but they said that its [best] mitzvah performance is with sunrise, so as to juxtapose geulah to tefillah and end up praying by day. Rabbi Zera said: I will say its reason: Tehillim 72:5:

ה יִירָאוּךָ עִם-שָׁמֶשׁ; וְלִפְנֵי יָרֵחַ, דּוֹר דּוֹרִים.

5 They shall fear Thee while the sun endureth, and so long as the moon, throughout all generations.

Mar Ukva said: The vatikin would arise and read it, so as to juxtapose their tefillah with sunrise.

And this that was stated in Yoma in perek Amar lahem haMemunah (daf 37b): She also made a candelabrum of gold; at the time the sun shone upon it, sparkled would shine from it, and all knew that the time of kriat Shema had arrived. And Abaye said: to the rest of the populace in Yerushalayim.

This implies that the beginning of the time of kriat Shema is after sunrise. There is to say that this was the time that was established for the hamon am {common folk}, who were not able to get up and hurry like the vatikin.

And if you say that behold, above, Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai in the name of Rabbi Akiva: there are times that a person reads Shema once before sunrise and once after sunrise; and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi paskens the halacha like him. Thus it is clear that the beginning time of the reading [of Shema] for the daytime is after sunrise, just like the Mishna in Yoma. And there is to say that even if Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi argues

with Abaye, the halacha is like Abaye, who holds like the vatikin, for he is the later [Amora]. Or alternatively, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi is not actually paskening like Rabbi Shimon, except in that which he holds that before sunrise he fulfills that of night, as was said above [daf 9a], that he [Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi] did not state this explicitly, but rather it was deduced from his words. For there were a couple of scholars who became drunk...

[Namely:

For it happened that a couple of scholars became drunk at the wedding feast of the son of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, and they came before  Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi  [before the rise of the sun] and he said: Rabbi Simeon is a great enough authority to be relied on in a case of emergency.

]

But in that that he [Rabbi Shimon] said that the beginning time of kriat Shema is after sunrise, he did not rule like him.

Alternatively, once can say that Rabbi Shimon himself admits that the time of kriat Shema of the daytime is before sunrise, and this that he did not put it as 'there are times that a person reads Shema twice before sunrise, and in so doing fulfills that of daytime and nighttime', which would be a greater innovation to state, there is to say that he comes to inform us that he does not fulfill that of nighttime after sunrise; or alternatively, as we explained above, that if he was anus [under duress], in one time, upon the nighttime and upon the daytime, he is not able to read both of them.

And Rabbenu Tam za'l explains that this 'finishing' [the Shema] means reading, and he rules that the time of kriat Shema is from sunrise until three hours, like Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who paskened the halacha like Rabbi Shimon in the name of Rabbi Akiva, like our Mishna in Yoma. And he explains Tehillim 72:5:

ה יִירָאוּךָ עִם-שָׁמֶשׁ; וְלִפְנֵי יָרֵחַ, דּוֹר דּוֹרִים.

5 They shall fear Thee while the sun endureth, and so long as the moon, throughout all generations.

that it means kriat Shema, that is to say, they accepted upon themselves the yoke of heaven.

And this does not appear correct, from that which it states 'so as to juxtapose geulah to tefillah', and it brings upon it the verse of יִירָאוּךָ עִם-שָׁמֶשׁ, which implies that the Scripture is speaking of tefillah. And so too later on, in perek tefillat haShachar (daf 29b), they bring it [that pasuk] regarding tefillah, that they deduce from it that the tefillah of Mincha is [עם] with dimdumei chama [the last appearance of the sun], since it is written [at the end of the same pasuk] וְלִפְנֵי יָרֵחַ, דּוֹר דּוֹרִים, and עם implies either before of after it. עם sunrise also encompasses before sunrise. And עִם-שָׁמֶשׁ [in the pasuk] implies after the shining of the sun [sunrise]. And also, the language of gomrin ['they finish' rather than 'they read'] does not imply what he explained.

And also the Rif za'l rules like as I have explained. For he writes upon the statement of Abayei:

And so is the halacha. However not every person is capable of being so exact and doing like these words. And even so, it is a mitzvah to read {Shema} a bit before sunrise so as to not pray until after sunrise, so that you only pray after sunrise [such that it comes out that he prays with the day, even though he does not pray with sunrise] specifically.

Rabbi Yossi ben Elyakim testified in the name of the holy community of Yerushalayim: whoever juxtaposes geulah to tefillah is not damaged all that day.

To explain: like the vatikin. And so is implied later on [at the end of 9b]:

Once he succeeded in joining ge'ullah with tefillah {and a smile did not leave his lips the whole day}.

Rabbi Yochanan said: At first one says Hashem Sefatai Tiftach and at the end he says Yihyu Leratzon imrei fi.