Pesachim — Daf 104b

ולית הלכתא כוותיה

עולא איקלע לפומבדיתא אמר ליה רב יהודה לרב יצחק ברי' זיל אמטי ליה כלכלה דפירי וחזי היכי אבדיל לא אזל שדר ליה לאביי כי אתא אביי א"ל היכי אמר א"ל ברוך המבדיל בין קודש לחול אמר ותו לא

אתא לקמיה דאבוה א"ל היכי אמר אמר ליה אנא לא אזלי אנא שדריתיה לאביי ואמר לי המבדיל בין קודש לחול א"ל רברבנותיה דמר וסררותיה דמר גרמא ליה למר דלא תימא שמעתיה מפומיה

מיתיבי כל הברכות כולן פותח בברוך וחותם בהן בברוך חוץ מברכת מצות וברכת הפירות וברכה הסמוכה לחבירתה וברכה אחרונה שבקרית שמע

שיש מהן פותח (בהן) בברוך ואין חותם בברוך ויש מהן שחותם בברוך ואין פותח בברוך והטוב והמטיב פותח בברוך ואינו חותם בברוך

But the law is not as he.1 ‘Ulla visited Pumbeditha. Said Rab Judah to R. Isaac his son, ‘Go and offer him a basket of fruit, and observe how he recites habdalah.2 He did not go, [however, but] sent Abaye. When Abaye returned, he [R. Isaac] asked him, ‘What did he say [in the habdalah]?’ ‘Blessed is He who maketh a distinction between holy and profane,’ replied he, ‘and nothing else.’ When he came before his father he asked him, ‘How did he recite it?’ ‘I did not go myself,’ replied he, ‘[but] I sent Abaye, and he told me [that he recited] " ‘ . . who makest a distinction between holy and profane".’ Said he to him, ‘Your pride and your haughtiness are the cause that you are unable to state the law from his own mouth.’ An objection is raised: In all blessings you commence with ‘blessed [art Thou’] and conclude with ‘blessed [art Thou],’ except in the blessings over precepts,3 the blessings over fruits,4 a blessing immediately preceding5 another, and the last blessing of the reading of the Shema’;6 in some of these you commence with ‘Blessed’ but do not conclude with ‘Blessed’, while in others you conclude with ‘Blessed’ but do not commence with ‘Blessed’; and [in the blessing] ‘Who is good and doeth good [unto all]’7 you commence with ‘Blessed’ but do not conclude with ‘Blessed’.8 [ water, vegetables etc. followed by two. whole, and p. 283 for the blessing immediately proceeding Blessings immediately ‘preceding others: e.g., those of the Amidah (the ‘Eighteen Benedictions’). As each ends with the formula, ‘Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who’ etc., the following does not commence with ‘Blessed’. Similarly, the blessing immediately preceding the Shema’ concludes with ‘Blessed’ etc., and the Shema’ together with the blessing which follows it is regarded as one long blessing; hence that too does not commence with ‘Blessed’. (That benediction itself ends with ‘Blessed art Thou’, etc.; hence the fourth one recited in the evening — v. n. 5 — which follows immediately after, likewise does not commence with ‘blessed’.) The third blessing of Grace after meals, though immediately following a conclusion containing the formula, ‘Blessed art Thou, O Lord’, etc., commence with ‘Blessed’, notwithstanding the above general rule, because it was instituted in memory of the Jews slain at Bethar in 135 C.E. which marked the ‘disastrous end of the Bar Cochba revolt; hence it was regarded as quite distinct and apart from the rest. It is indeed a lengthy benediction, but as much of it consists of synonyms for God it would be unfitting to repeat ‘Blessed art Thou’ in the conclusion.