Berakhot 15

What means that which is written, 'But as for me, let my prayer be unto Thee, O God, in an acceptable time' (Ps. Ixix. 14)? When is an 'acceptable time'? At the time when the congregation prays."

R. Jose b. R. Hannina derived it from the following : "Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I answered thee" (Is. xlix. 8).

R. Aha b. R. Hannina derived it from the following : "Behold, God despiseth not the mighty" (Job xxxvi. 5); and it is written, "He hath redeemed my soul in peace so that none came nigh me ; for they were many with me" (Ps. Iv. 19).

There is a teaching to the same effect : R. Nathan said : Whence is it that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not reject the prayer offered by many? As it is said, "Behold, God despiseth not the mighty"; and it is written, "He hath redeemed my soul in peace so that none came nigh me ; for they were many with me." The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Whoever occupies himself with Torah, practises benevolent acts and prays with the congregation, I ascribe it to him as though he had redeemed Me and My son [Israel] from [exile] among the peoples of the world."

R. Simeon b. Lakish said : Whoever has a Synagogue in his town, and does not enter it to pray, is called "an evil neighbour"; as it is said, "Thus saith the Lord, As for all Mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit" (Jer. xii. 14). More than that, he causes exile to come upon himself and his sons ; as it is said, "Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them" (ibid.).

It was said to R. Johanan, "There are old men to be found in Babylon." He was astonished and exclaimed, "It is written 'that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land' (Deut. xi. 21); but not outside the land [of Israel] !" When they told him [that the old men are in the Synagogue early and late,] he said, "It is this which helps them [to live long]."

This is like what R. Joshua b. Levi said to his sons : Rise early and stay up late to enter the Synagogue, so that you may prolong your life. R. Aha b. R. Hannina asked, What is the Scriptural authority for this ? "Happy is the man that hearkeneth to Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors" (Prov. viii. 34), after which it is written, "For whoso findeth me findeth life" (ibid. v. 35).

Rab Hisda said : A man should always enter two doors in the Synagogue and then pray ; as it is said, "Waiting at the posts of My doors." "Two doors" [literally], dost imagine ! But say [the meaning is], A man should penetrate into the Synagogue a distance which equals the width of two doors, and then offer prayer.

"For this let every one that is godly pray unto Thee in the time of finding" (Ps. xxxii. 6). R. Hannina said: "In the time of finding" refers to [the choice of] a wife ; as it is said, "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a great good" (Prov. xviii. 22).

In the West when a man marries, they say to him, "Masa' or Mose' ?" — Masa', as it is written, "Whoso findeth [masa'] a wife findeth a great good"; Mose', as it is written, "And I find [mose'] more bitter than death the woman" etc. (Eccles. vii. 26).

R. Nathan said : "In the time of finding" refers to Torah; as it is said, "For whoso findeth me findeth life, and obtaineth favour of the Lord" (Prov. viii. 35).

Rab Nahman b. Isaac said : "In the time of finding [meso']" refers to death ; as it is said, "The issues [tosa'ot] of death" (Ps. Ixviii. 21).

There is a teaching to the same effect : Nine hundred and three varieties of death have been created in the world ; as it is said, "The issues of death." Tosa'ot has that numerical value. The severest of them all is croup, and the lightest is the kiss of death. Croup is like a thorn in a ball of clipped wool which tears backwards. Others say it is like the whirling waters at the entrance of a canal. The kiss of death is like taking a hair out of milk.

R. Johanan said : "In the time of finding" refers to burial. R. Hannina said: What is the Scriptural authority for this? "Who rejoice unto exultation and are glad, when they can find the grave" (Job iii. 22). Rabbah b. Rab Shela said : Hence the popular saying : "Let a man pray for peace even to the last shovelful of earth."

Mar Zotra said : "In the time of finding" refers to a privy. In the West, they said that the interpretation of Mar Zotra was the best of all.

Raba said to Rafram b. Pappa : Let the master tell us some of those excellent things which thou reportest in the name of Rab Hisda, relating to the Synagogue.

He replied, Thus said Rab Hisda : What means that which is written, "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion [Siyyon] more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Ps. Ixxxvii. 2)? The Lord loveth the gates distinguished [mesuyyanim] for Halakah more than Synagogues and Houses of Study.

That agrees with what R. Hiyya b. Ammi said in the name of 'Ulla : Since the day the Temple was destroyed, there is left to the Holy One, blessed be He, in His Universe the four cubits of Halakah alone.

And Abbai said ; At first I used to study at home and pray in Synagogue, but after hearing the statement of R. Hiyya b. Ammi in the name of 'Ulla — "Since the day the Temple was destroyed, there is left to the Holy One, blessed be He, in His Universe the four cubits of Halakah alone" I only pray where I study.

R. Ammi and R. Assi, although there were thirteen Synagogues in Tiberias, used to pray only between the pillars where they studied.

R. Hiyya b. Ammi said in the name of 'Ulla : Greater is he who enjoys the fruit of his labour than the fearer of Heaven ; for with regard to the fearer of Heaven it is written, "Happy is the man that feareth the Lord" (ibid. cxii. 1), but with regard to him who enjoys the fruit of his labour it is written, "When thou eatest the labour of thy hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee" (ibid, cxxviii. 2) — "happy shalt thou be" in this world, "and it shall be well with thee" in the world to come. It is not written, "and it shall be well with thee" about the fearer of Heaven.

R. Hiyya b. Ammi also said in the name of 'Ulla : A man should always reside in the same place as his teacher, for so long as Shimei the son of Gera lived, Solomon did not marry the daughter of Pharaoh.

But there is a teaching : A man should not reside [in the same place as his teacher]!

There is no contradiction ; the former referring to the pupil who submits to his master, the latter to him who does not.

Rab Huna b. Judah stated that R. Menahem said in the name of R. Ammi : What means that which is written, "They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed" (Is. i. 28)? This refers to one who leaves a Scroll of the Law [unrolled] and goes out [from the Synagogue].

R. Abbahu used to go out between man and man.

Rab Pappa asked : How is it between verse and verse [may one go out]?

The question remains [unanswered].

Rab Sheshet used to turn his face [away from the Scroll] and study, saying, "We with ours, they with theirs."

Rab Huna b. Judah stated that R. Menahem said in the name of R. Ammi : A man should always finish his Parashah with the congregation, twice the Hebrew text and once the Targum —