Study Berakhot folio 16A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אהלים לנחלים, דכתיב: ״כנחלים נטיו כגנות עלי נהר כאהלים נטע וגו׳״ — לומר לך: מה נחלים מעלין את האדם מטומאה לטהרה — אף אהלים מעלין את האדם מכף חובה לכף זכות.
tents juxtaposed to streams, as it is written: “As streams stretched forth, as gardens by the riverside; as aloes [ahalim] planted by YHWH, as cedars by the water” (Numbers 24:6)? The Talmud vocalizes the word ohalim, tents, rather than ahalim. They are juxtaposed in order to tell you: Just as streams elevate a person from ritual impurity to purity after he immerses himself in their water, so too tents of Torah elevate a person from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit.
״הקורא למפרע לא יצא וכו׳״.
We learned in our Mishnah: One who recited Shema out of order did not fulfill his obligation. One who recited and erred, should return to the place in Shema that he erred.
With regard to an error in the recitation of Shema, the Talmud recounts: R' Ami and R' Asi were once tying a wedding canopy in preparation for the wedding of R' Elazar. He said to them: In the meantime, until you finish, I will go and hear something in the study hall, and I will come and say it to you. He went and found the tanna who recited mishnayot in the study hall, who was reciting this Tosefta before R' Yoḥanan:
קרא וטעה ואינו יודע להיכן טעה, באמצע הפרק — יחזור לראש. בין פרק לפרק — יחזור לפרק ראשון. בין כתיבה לכתיבה — יחזור לכתיבה ראשונה.
One who recited Shema and erred, and does not know where exactly he erred; if he was in the middle of a paragraph when he realized his error, he must return to the beginning of the paragraph; if he was between one paragraph and another when he realized his error but does not remember between which paragraphs, he must return to the first break between paragraphs. Similarly, if one erred between writing and writing, i.e., between the verse: “And you should write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9) in the first paragraph and the identical verse (Deuteronomy 11:20) in the second paragraph, he must return to the first writing.