Study Berakhot folio 52A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ורבי יהושע היא, דאמר: אין משגיחין בבת קול.
and this Tosefta is in accordance with the opinion of R' Yehoshua, who said, with regard to the bat kol that emerged and proclaimed that the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of R' Eliezer in the case of the oven of akhnai (Bava Metzia 59b), that one disregards a Heavenly Voice. Just as he disregarded the bat kol in his dispute with R' Eliezer, so too, one disregards the bat kol that proclaimed that the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel.
וסברי בית שמאי דברכת היום עדיפא? והתניא: הנכנס לביתו במוצאי שבת, מברך על היין ועל המאור ועל הבשמים, ואחר כך אומר הבדלה. ואם אין לו אלא כוס אחד, מניחו לאחר המזון ומשלשלן כולן לאחריו.
As to the substance of these statements, the Talmud asks: Do Beit Shammai hold that the blessing over the day takes precedence? Wasn’t it taught in a baraita: One who enters his house at the conclusion of Shabbat recites a blessing over the wine, then over the candle, then over the spices, and recites havdala after that? And if he has only one cup of wine, he leaves it for after the last Shabbat meal and arranges all of the blessings: Grace after Meals, the blessings of havdala and the blessing over wine together after that. Evidently, the blessing over wine precedes the primary havdala blessing.
והא, ממאי דבית שמאי היא? דלמא בית הלל היא?!
The Talmud asks: And this baraita, from where is it ascertained that it is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Shammai? Perhaps it is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel. Beit Shammai’s opinion cannot be challenged with an unattributed baraita.
לא סלקא דעתך, דקתני מאור ואחר כך בשמים, ומאן שמעת ליה דאית ליה האי סברא — בית שמאי, דתניא אמר רבי יהודה: לא נחלקו בית שמאי ובית הלל על המזון שבתחלה ועל הבדלה שהיא בסוף, על מה נחלקו — על המאור ועל הבשמים. בית שמאי אומרים: מאור ואחר כך בשמים, ובית הלל אומרים: בשמים ואחר כך מאור.
The Talmud responds: It cannot enter your mind that this baraita is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel, as it was taught at the beginning of the baraita: Light and spices after that. And who, did you hear, adopts that reasoning? Beit Shammai. As it was taught in a Tosefta that R' Yehuda said: Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel did not dispute that Grace after Meals is recited first and that havdala is recited last. With regard to what did they disagree? With regard to the blessings recited in the middle of havdala, the blessings over the light and over the spices. Beit Shammai say: Light and spices after that; and Beit Hillel say: Spices and light after that. Therefore, the baraita, where it is taught that the blessing over the candle precedes the blessing over the spices, must be according to Beit Shammai and it says that wine precedes havdala.