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Birchot HaTorah: Difference between revisions
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==Obligation== | ==Obligation== | ||
# One should be very careful to say Birchot HaTorah before learning.<Ref>Shulchan Aruch 47:1</ref> The brachot should be said with great [[Simcha]] (happiness) for being fortunate enough to be chosen and be privileged with the Torah. <ref>Mishna Brurah 47:4 </ref> | # One should be very careful to say Birchot HaTorah before learning.<Ref>Shulchan Aruch 47:1</ref> The brachot should be said with great [[Simcha]] (happiness) for being fortunate enough to be chosen and be privileged with the Torah. <ref>Mishna Brurah 47:4 </ref> | ||
# Before one learns Torah one must recite the Birchot HaTorah <ref> Ramban in Sefer HaMitzvot of the Rambam adds Birkat HaTorah as a Mitzvah Deoraita based on Gemara Brachot which learns these brachot from the pasuk ''“Ki Shem Hashem Ekrah Havu Godel LeElokenu"''. See Ramban there and Minchat Chinuch 430:5 who classify these brachot as brachot of praise. Because of the dispute in the | # Before one learns Torah one must recite the Birchot HaTorah <ref> Ramban in Sefer HaMitzvot of the Rambam adds Birkat HaTorah as a Mitzvah Deoraita based on Gemara Brachot which learns these brachot from the pasuk ''“Ki Shem Hashem Ekrah Havu Godel LeElokenu"''. See Ramban there and Minchat Chinuch 430:5 who classify these brachot as brachot of praise. Because of the dispute in the rishonim as to whether these brachot are Deoraita or Derabanan the rule of [[Safek Brachot LeHakel]] still applies. </ref> | ||
==The Text of the Brachot== | ==The Text of the Brachot== | ||
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# One should be particularly careful about saying the Birchot HaTorah because they show one's appreciation of Hashem’s gift of Torah to the Jewish people. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 47:1. Gemara Nedarim 81a it is maintained that because the Jews did not say Birchot HaTorah the fist Bet HaMikdash and [[Israel]] was destroyed. The Bach 57:1 explains that their intention was to learn Torah just to learn the knowledge and be arrogant in their wisdom. They did not internalize the holiness of Torah into their body and soul and this caused Hashem’s Shechina to be removed. </ref> | # One should be particularly careful about saying the Birchot HaTorah because they show one's appreciation of Hashem’s gift of Torah to the Jewish people. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 47:1. Gemara Nedarim 81a it is maintained that because the Jews did not say Birchot HaTorah the fist Bet HaMikdash and [[Israel]] was destroyed. The Bach 57:1 explains that their intention was to learn Torah just to learn the knowledge and be arrogant in their wisdom. They did not internalize the holiness of Torah into their body and soul and this caused Hashem’s Shechina to be removed. </ref> | ||
# Some hold Birchot HaTorah are a Biblical Mitzvah and some consider it a Rabbinic institution. <Ref>Mishna Brurah 47:1 </ref> | # Some hold Birchot HaTorah are a Biblical Mitzvah and some consider it a Rabbinic institution. <Ref>Mishna Brurah 47:1 </ref> | ||
# Someone who is in doubt as to whether they have already recited Birchot HaTorah, preferably should hear someone else make the brachot ( | # Someone who is in doubt as to whether they have already recited Birchot HaTorah, preferably should hear someone else make the brachot (the listener should have intent to be fulfilling his obligation by listening to the other person making the brachot and the speaker should have intent to fulfill his own as well as the listeners obligation by reciting the brachot), otherwise one should have intent to fulfill the obligation with the bracha of Ahavah Rabba or Ahavat Olam and learn right after [[davening]]. If that is not possible, according to Ashkenazim, one may make the bracha of the Asher Bacher Banu. <Ref>Mishna Brurah 47:1 </ref> However, according to Sephardim, if one can not hear the bracha from someone else or have intent that one's bracha of Ahavat Olam fulfills one's obligation, one should not say the brachot.<reF>Yalkut Yosef 47:2 writes that since there are some who hold Birchot haTorah are derabbanan if one is in doubt one should not say the bracha based on the klal of [[safek brachot lehakel]].</ref> | ||
# One has to make Birchot HaTorah for any learning including Torah, | # One has to make Birchot HaTorah for any learning including Torah, Midrash, Mishna, and Gemara. <ref> [[Brachot]] 11b, Shulchan Aruch 47:2, Yalkut Yosef 47:2 </ref> | ||
# Women are also obligated in making the Birchot HaTorah. <ref> | # Women are also obligated in making the Birchot HaTorah. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 47:14, Magen Avraham 47:17 explains that it is because women have to learn the Halachot relevant to them. Minchat Chinuch 430:5 says that women can make these brachot because it is a praise of Hashem for giving us the Torah. The Gra 47:18 argues that women should not have to make the brachot since they are exempt from Torah learning. However he allows women to make the brachot like any other mitzvah from which women are exempt, Ashkenazic custom is to allow them to make a bracha. </ref> | ||
==What Type of Learning Requires Birchot HaTorah?== | ==What Type of Learning Requires Birchot HaTorah?== | ||
# Writing Torah even without reading, if one understands what | # Writing Torah even without reading, if one understands what one is writing, is considered learning for which one has to make Birchot HaTorah. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 47:3 based on Avudraham pg 32. Magen Avraham 47:1 adds that one has to understand what one is writing in order for it to be considered learning, but just copying over text is not learning. This is also the opinion of Buir Heitev 47:2 </ref> | ||
# According to Ashkenazim, because of a dispute one should not think Torah before making Birchot HaTorah, however | # According to Ashkenazim, because of a dispute one should not think Torah before making Birchot HaTorah, however it is permissible to do a Mitzvah even though it will cause one to think about the laws of the Mitzvah. <ref>Mishna Brurah 47:7 because of the Gra who argues on Shulchan Aruch. </ref> However, according to Sephardim thinking words of Torah does not require Birchot HaTorah and so it is permissible to think Torah before Birchat HaTorah. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 47:4 based on Shabbat 151a, Agur 2, and Tosfot 20b s.v. VeRav Chisda. This is also the opinion of Yalkut Yosef (vol 3 pg 81) that it is permissible to think Torah before Birchat HaTorah. </ref> | ||
# Hearing a speech of Divrei Torah from a person or an electronic device requires the | # Hearing a speech of Divrei Torah from a person or an electronic device requires the brachot. <ref> Yalkut Yosef 47:5 </ref> | ||
# Looking into a Sefer Kodesh and only reading with one’s eyes, even without saying the words, requires | # Looking into a Sefer Kodesh and only reading with one’s eyes, even without saying the words, requires brachot. <ref> Yalkut Yosef 47:6 </ref> | ||
# Telling someone a halacha without giving a reason is a dispute of the poskim | # Telling someone a halacha without giving a reason is a dispute of the poskim, one should be strict to say Birchot HaTorah beforehand. <ref> Rama on Shulchan Aruch 47:4 based on Ran (Shabbat 4b s.v. Makom, Avoda Zara 19b s.v. Tana) allows this because it is just like thoughts of Torah. However Yalkut Yosef 47:7 rules that because of a double doubt one should be strict to make brachot. </ref> | ||
# One who hears a | # One who hears a bracha may answer [[Amen]] before having recited these berachot themself. One also may answer Kedushah before reciting these brachot, even though the responses are themselves biblical verses. <ref> Sh"t Rivivot Ephraim 1:39:1 </ref> | ||
==Someone who | ==Someone who Forgot to Make the Brachot== | ||
# The | # The bracha of Ahavat Olam (the second bracha of [[Kriyat Shema|Birchot Kriyat Shema]]) exempts one’s obligation of Birchot HaTorah only if one learns immediately after tefillah. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 47:7 based on Brachot 11b says that one can fulfill one's obligation of reciting the brachot with the bracha before Shema. Mishna Brurah 47:15 in name of Levush says that one can finish tefillah and it is not considered an interruption. Beiur Halacha s.v. Im Lamad implies from the Or Zaruh that finishing tefillah is ok but talking would be an interruption. </ref> | ||
# If one forgot | # If one forgot whether one said the Birchot HaTorah (and had not yet said Ahavat Olam), Sephardim should not make a bracha, but Ashkenazim can make the Asher Bachar Banu bracha. <ref>Sephardim do not make a bracha because it is a [[safek brachot lehakel]] since it is a dispute in the rishonim whether Birchot HaTorah are Deoritta (Ramban) or Derabanan (Rambam). This is also the opinion of (Yalkut Yosef Hilchot Pesukei Dezimrah 47:2 pg 60). Ashkenazim can make the Asher Bachar Banu bracha as the Mishna Brurah 47:1 says in the name of the Shagat Aryeh. </ref> | ||
==How they | ==How they Are to Be Said== | ||
# The | # The brachot can be said standing or sitting. <ref> Yalkut Yosef 47:15 pg 94 </ref> | ||
# Some say that one can interrupt between the | # Some say that one can interrupt between the brachot and the learning, but it is correct not to do so, and so the practice is the say the Parshat [[Birkat Cohanim]] right after the brachot. <ref> Shulchan Aruch 47:9. Tosfot Brachot 11b s.v. Shkevar in name of the Ri, Rabbenu Yonah 5b, and Mordechai 31 hold an interruption is not a problem. Rambam (as understood by Bet Yosef) holds one may not make an interruption. Magen Avraham 47:8 says that one can say these psukim even before daylight unlike the Maharshal who says one does not read psukim of [[Birkat Cohanim]] at night. </ref> | ||
# It is good to recite one's | # It is good to recite one's bracha out loud, to enable others to respond [[Amen]]. However, this is not an obligation. <ref> Sh"t Rivivot Ephraim 1:39:2 </ref> | ||
==Interruptions | ==Interruptions That Would Require New Brachot== | ||
# One who stops from his learning with working, bathing, or sleeping, isn’t an interruption for his learning and he doesn’t make new [[Brachot]]. <ref> S”A 47:10. See Tosfot [[Brachot]] 11b. | # One who stops from his learning with working, bathing, or sleeping, isn’t an interruption for his learning and he doesn’t make new [[Brachot]]. <ref> S”A 47:10. See Tosfot [[Brachot]] 11b. | ||
* Tosfot Brachot 11a asks why a person | * Tosfot Brachot 11a asks why a person does not need to make another birchat hatorah when he stops his learning and goes back to learning. He answers that a person never gives up thinking about going back to learning because a person should learn whenever he has free time. The Rosh Brachot 1:13 and Hagahot Maimoniyot (Tefillah 7:9) agree. | ||
* The Agur (cited by Divrei Chamudot Brachot 1:76) explains that the reason there’s no interruption when it comes to birchat hatorah is because a person is always involved in activities that require following halacha. The observance of halacha keeps a person’s mind connected to learning. S”A 47:10 holds that going to work or going to the bathroom isn’t considered an interruption and you don’t need to make another birchat hatorah. </ref> | * The Agur (cited by Divrei Chamudot Brachot 1:76) explains that the reason there’s no interruption when it comes to birchat hatorah is because a person is always involved in activities that require following halacha. The observance of halacha keeps a person’s mind connected to learning. S”A 47:10 holds that going to work or going to the bathroom isn’t considered an interruption and you don’t need to make another birchat hatorah. </ref> | ||
# If one slept during the day for a long period of time one does not make Birchot HaTorah again upon [[waking up]]. Even though there is what to rely on to one to make the [[Brachot]], the Minhag HaOlam is not to make the [[Brachot]], and one should instead hear them from someone who is obligated to make them (both must have kavana, and after the Bracha, both learn some pesukim such as Parshat [[Birkat Cohanim]]). <Ref> S”A 47:11 quotes those who say that a fixed sleep during the day is a [[hefsek]], and then quotes those who say that it isn't a [[hefsek]]; the minhag follows the latter view. However, Eliyah Rabba 47:9 quotes many poskim who say that one should make a Beracha and agrees with them; Mishna Brurah 47:25 quotes many main acharonim who say to make a Birchas HaTorah, and concludes that one who does doesn't lose out. However, many contemporary poskim including Piskei Teshuvot 47:14, Halichos Shlomo [[Tefilla]] 6:6, Rivevos Ephraim 8:609:1, Ishei Yisrael 6:25, Karna Deigrata 1:133, Halachically Speaking (vol 3, article 1, pg 5), and Piskei Teshuvot 47:14 write that the minhag is not to make any Birchot HaTorah for sleeping in the day. </ref> | # If one slept during the day for a long period of time one does not make Birchot HaTorah again upon [[waking up]]. Even though there is what to rely on to one to make the [[Brachot]], the Minhag HaOlam is not to make the [[Brachot]], and one should instead hear them from someone who is obligated to make them (both must have kavana, and after the Bracha, both learn some pesukim such as Parshat [[Birkat Cohanim]]). <Ref> S”A 47:11 quotes those who say that a fixed sleep during the day is a [[hefsek]], and then quotes those who say that it isn't a [[hefsek]]; the minhag follows the latter view. However, Eliyah Rabba 47:9 quotes many poskim who say that one should make a Beracha and agrees with them; Mishna Brurah 47:25 quotes many main acharonim who say to make a Birchas HaTorah, and concludes that one who does doesn't lose out. However, many contemporary poskim including Piskei Teshuvot 47:14, Halichos Shlomo [[Tefilla]] 6:6, Rivevos Ephraim 8:609:1, Ishei Yisrael 6:25, Karna Deigrata 1:133, Halachically Speaking (vol 3, article 1, pg 5), and Piskei Teshuvot 47:14 write that the minhag is not to make any Birchot HaTorah for sleeping in the day. </ref> | ||
