פירוש על ברכות 3:4

בעל קרי – Ezra (444 BCE) decreed that a person who suffered a nocturnal emission/pollution should not read from the Torah, whether he saw the emission as an unavoidable accident or whether it occurred willingly until he immerses himself [in a Mikveh/ritual bath], and not because of [ritual] defilement or ritual purity since the words of the Torah cannot receive defilement but in order that Sages should not be found with their wives like chickens.

Introduction According to Leviticus 15:16 a man who has had a seminal emission is impure for one day. This does not, however, impede his ability to recite blessings and study Torah. According to the rabbis, Ezra added to the Torah’s ruling that men who had a seminal emission could not recite the words of the Torah or pray until they had immersed. The intention of this decree seems to have been to keep talmud scholars from having too frequent sex with their wives. The Talmud states that this decree was already no longer observed by Talmudic times. Our mishnah talks about how one who has had a seminal emission should act when it comes to reciting the Shema and other prayers and blessings.

מהרהר – He recites the Shema to himself when the time arrives for the recitation of the Shema.

One who has had a seminal emission utters the words [of the Shema] in his heart and he doesn’t say a blessing, neither before nor after. One who has had a seminal emission and has not yet had the opportunity to go to the mikveh should recite the Shema in his heart and not say it out loud. Since he can recite it “in his heart,” as we learned in 2:3, there is a way to recite it without transgressing Ezra’s decree. However, the blessings before and after are only considered to be “derabanan”, of rabbinic authority. Hence, the rabbis did not require him to recite them at all, neither the blessings before the Shema nor those after.

ואינו מברך לפניה ולאחריה – And even meditating to himself since these blessings are not a Torah-requirement (the blessings before and after the Shema), the Rabbis did not require it of him.

Over food he says a blessing afterwards, but not the blessing before. Rabbi Judah says: he blesses both before them and after them. The blessings after the food are considered to be “deoraita” or Toraitic origin, due to Deuteronomy 8:10, “And you shall eat, and you shall be satisfied and you shall bless the Lord your God.” Since they are “deoraita” the authority of Ezra’s decree, considered to be “derabanan” does not uproot them. They must be recited by the one who has had a seminal emission. In contrast, the blessing before is only derabanan and hence is not recited. Rabbi Judah disagrees with both of the above rules that the one who has had a seminal emission does not recite the blessings before or after the Shema or food. He holds that he is still obligated to recite these blessings. Commentators disagree over whether or not Rabbi Judah thinks that he recites the Shema out loud.

ועל המזון מברך לאחריה – Since it is an obligation of the Torah (the recitation of the Blessing following the Meal).

But he does not recite the blessing before, since it is not a Torah-requirement, and the Halakha has already been decided that [the requirement of] immersion has been voided, and those who have had a nocturnal emission recite the Shema in the normal manner and engage in Torah [study] and pray, reciting all the blessings and he should not contest the legality of the matter.