La prière du matin peut être récitée jusqu'à midi. R. Yehudah dit: Jusqu'à la quatrième heure. [Car, selon les rabbins, l'holocauste quotidien peut être sacrifié jusqu'à midi; et, selon R. Yehudah, jusqu'à la quatrième heure du jour. «Jusqu'à la quatrième heure», c'est jusqu'à la fin de la quatrième heure, un tiers de la journée lorsque la journée dure douze heures. Et son heure est toujours jusqu'à la fin d'un tiers de la journée selon la durée relative ou la brièveté de la journée, comme indiqué ci-dessus en ce qui concerne le Shema. Et la halakha est selon R. Yehudah.] La prière de l'après-midi peut être récitée jusqu'au soir [c'est-à-dire jusqu'à ce qu'il fasse noir.] R. Yehudah dit: Jusqu'à la mi-chemin de la journée (plag haminchah). [Le temps de minchah ketanah ("le petit minchah") est de neuf heures et demie jusqu'à la tombée de la nuit— deux heures et demi —de sorte que le fléau haminchah, qui représente la moitié de cela, dure une heure et quart (avant la tombée de la nuit). La décision à cet égard est que l'on peut suivre l'une ou l'autre pratique. S'il souhaite suivre les sages et réciter la prière de l'après-midi jusqu'au soir, il peut le faire, à condition qu'il ne récite pas la prière du soir à ce moment-là. Car puisqu'il le considère comme un jour en ce qui concerne la prière du minchah, il ne peut pas le considérer comme le soir aux fins de la prière du soir. Et s'il souhaite suivre R. Yehudah, ne réciter la prière de l'après-midi que jusqu'au fléau haminchah, une heure et quart avant la tombée de la nuit, il peut le faire; et à partir de ce moment, il peut réciter la prière du soir.] La prière du soir n'a pas d'heure fixe. [Son heure est toute la nuit. Il est enseigné: «il n'a pas d'heure fixe», plutôt que: «son heure est toute la nuit», car la prière du soir est facultative, correspondant, comme elle le fait, au moment de la consommation des membres et des morceaux de graisse—toute la nuit. Et ce dernier est facultatif; car une fois que le sang a été aspergé, l'offrande est acceptée, même si les membres et les morceaux de graisse deviennent impurs ou se perdent. Aujourd'hui, cependant, elle (la prière du soir) a été acceptée comme obligatoire.] Et la prière moussaf ("supplémentaire") peut être récitée toute la journée. [S'il tarde à le réciter jusqu'à la septième heure, il remplit l'obligation, mais il est qualifié de «délinquant». Et c'est la halakha.] R. Yehudah dit: Jusqu'à la septième heure.
Bartenura on Mishnah Berakhot
תפלת השחר עד חצות – Since the morning daily offering is offered until noon, according to the Rabbis, and according to Rabbi Yehuda, is not offered other than up until the fourth hour of the day. “Until the fourth hour” is until the end of the fourth hour which is one-third of the day at the time when the day has twelve [equivalent] hours, and so is its time is forever, until the end of the first third of the day, according to the length or shortness of their daytimes, as we have written above regarding the [recitation of the] Shema. And the Halakha follows Rabbi Yehuda.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
Introduction
The fourth and fifth chapters of Berakhot are about the “Tefillah” the central prayer which we today call the “Amidah” or the “Shmoneh Esrei”, due to its eighteen benedictions (actually nineteen, one was added in later). The Tefillah (henceforth I will refer to it as the Tefillah, the common term in rabbinic literature) is the central piece of rabbinically created liturgy. While its precise time of creation is not known, it seems to have coalesced into full fruition and taken prominence after the destruction of the Second Temple. The first three blessings are praises of God, the next 13 are petitions and the final three are expressions of gratitude. On Shabbat and holidays the petitions are not recited and there is rather one, or on Rosh Hashanah, three, intermediate blessings.
The Tefillah is recited three times a day. The earliest hint to praying three times a day can be found in Daniel 6:11. There are various reasons to explain why thrice daily prayer but the one that strikes me as most convincing is that there are three natural times to the day: 1) sunrise; 2) midday, when the sun begins its descent; 3) nightfall. Other reasons, such as to correspond to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are probably best seen as reasons provided after the number had already been determined. The first two tefillot, Shacharit and Minchah, correspond to the two daily Tamid offerings, the Shacharit Tamid and the Minhah Tamid. But there was no real offering at night, so the connection between three prayers and the Temple service is weak.
Our mishnah begins by discussing when all three daily Tefillot (plural of Tefillah) must be recited.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Berakhot
תפלת המנחה עד הערב – until it gets dark.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
The morning Tefillah ( is until midday. Rabbi Judah says until the fourth hour. The sages say that the morning Tefillah can be recited until midday (the sixth hour). Note that this is long after the Shema had to have been recited, a topic discussed above in 1:4. According to the first opinion there, the Shema had to be completed by sunrise, and according to Rabbi Judah by the third hour. Neither of these times would connect the Shema with the Tefillah. It seems that in mishnaic times the two prayers were not really connected. That connection began probably in the talmudic period.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Berakhot
עד פלג המנחה – the time of the “small Minha” which is from nine-and one-half hours [into the day] until the nighttime, which is [the equivalent of] two-and-one-half hours. Hence it is found that “Plag HaMinha” is one half of this measure which is one and one-quarter hours, and that the determined law/practice [in this matter] is that he who followed [the Sages] followed them, and he who followed [Rabbi Yehuda] followed him, and he who wants to follow the words of the Sages and recite the afternoon prayer until the evening should do so, as long as he does not recite the evening prayer at that time, since he considers that daytime period for the matter of reciting the afternoon service, he is not able to consider it nighttime and to recite] the evening service. But, if he comes to act according to the words of Rabbi Yehuda, that he should not recite the afternoon service other than until “Plag HaMinha” (i.e., 4:45 pm), which is an [halakhic] hour-and-a-quarter before the nighttime, he should do so, and from that point onwards, he may recite the evening service.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
The afternoon Tefillah ( until evening. Rabbi Judah says: until the middle of the afternoon. The Minhah Tefillah can be recited until evening, according to the first opinion. Rabbi Judah says it must be recited by the “middle of the afternoon.” The “afternoon” begins at 9 ½ hours (this is the time that the Minhah sacrifice was offered) and continues until evening (the 12th hour). Therefore, the middle of that time is 10 ¾ hours.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Berakhot
אין לה קבע – Its time [the evening service] is all night long, but when it [the Mishnah] teaches, “Ein Lah K’vah/It has no fixed time,” and it doesn’t teach, “its time is all night long” – it comes to teach us that the evening service is optional, since it was [considered] parallel to the offering of the limbs and fats which are offered all night, and these are optional, since when the blood is poured, the sacrifice is accepted, even though the limbs and fats were defiled or lost. However, nowadays, it (the recitation of the evening service), has been accepted as obligatory.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
The evening prayer has no fixed time. Maariv, the evening Tefillah, has no time limit.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Berakhot
ושל מוספין כל היום – But if he recited [Musaf] later after the seventh hour, he has fulfilled his religious obligation, but he is called a sinner, and this is the Halakha.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
The time for the additional prayers ( is the whole day. Rabbi Judah says: until the seventh hour. Additional prayers (Mussaf) are those recited on Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh and holidays (Pesah, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). According to the first opinion, they may be recited at any time during the day, and according to Rabbi Judah they can be recited only until the seventh hour.
