Pesachim 206:1

קאי עלייהו רב ייבא סבא א"ל הב לן וניבריך לסוף אמרו ליה הב לן ונישתי אמר להו הכי אמר רב כיון דאמריתו הב לן וניבריך איתסרא לכו למישתי מאי טעמא דאסחיתו דעתייכו

[and] R'Yeba Saba<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The elder; or, aged.');">¹</span> waited on them. Said they to him, 'Give us [wine] and we will say Grace.'

אמימר ומר זוטרא ורב אשי הוו יתבי בסעודה וקאי עלייהו רב אחא בריה דרבא אמימר בריך על כל כסא וכסא ומר זוטרא בריך אכסא קמא ואכסא בתרא רב אשי בריך אכסא קמא ותו לא בריך

Subsequently<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Before reciting Grace.');">²</span> they said, 'Give us [wine] and we will drink.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' They changed their mind and did not wish to recite Grace yet.');">³</span> Said he to them, 'Thus did Rab say: Once you have said, "Give us [wine] and we will say Grace, It is forbidden to you to drink.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Until after grace.');">⁴</span>

אמר להו רב אחא בר רבא אנן כמאן נעביד אמימר אמר נמלך אנא מר זוטרא אמר אנא דעבדי כתלמידי דרב

What is the reason? Because you let it pass out of your minds.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This proves that Grace constitutes an interruption, and so the blessing over the wine must be repeated after Grace; and Raba acted in accordance with this ruling.');">⁵</span> Amemar and Mar Zutra and R'Ashi were sitting at a meal and R'Aha the son of Raba waited on them.

ורב אשי אמר לית הילכתא כתלמידי דרב דהא יו"ט שחל להיות אחר השבת ואמר רב יקנ"ה

Amemar recited a separate blessing for each cup; Mar Zutra recited a blessing over the first cup and over the last cup;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., after Grace, as Raba did.');">⁶</span> [but] R'Ashi recited a blessing over the first cup and no more. Said R'Aha B'Raba to them: in accordance with whom are we to act? -Amemar replied: I made a [fresh] decision [each time].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' After each cup I intended drinking, no more. Hence when I did drink another it was a new act of drinking, and so I repeated the blessing each time. Consequently my action does not involve a general ruling.');">⁷</span>

ולא היא התם עקר דעתיה ממשתיא הכא לא עקר דעתיה ממשתיא

Mar Zutra replied: I acted in accordance with Rab's disciples. But R'Ashi maintained: The law is not as Rab's disciples for surely when a Festival falls after the Sabbath, Rab ruled: [The order is] Yaknah.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra p. 541, n. 10. Thus the benediction for wine is not recited twice, one on account of kiddush and again on account of habdalah. Hence the same applies to two cups in general.');">⁸</span> But that is not so: there<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Where Rab ruled that once they had declared their intention of saying Grace they might not drink again without blessing.');">⁹</span>

כי מטא לאבדולי קם שמעיה ואדליק אבוקה משרגא א"ל למה לך כולי האי הא מנחא שרגא א"ל שמעא מדעתיה דנפשיה קא עביד א"ל אי לא שמיע ליה מיניה דמר לא הוה עביד א"ל לא סבר ליה מר אבוקה להבדלה מצוה מן המובחר

he had detached his mind from drinking;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' His decision to say Grace proved that.');">¹⁰</span> [whereas] here he had not detached his mind from drinking. When he came to perform habdalah,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This is a continuation of the passage narrating .R. Jacob b. Aha's visit to Raba, which had been parenthetically interrupted by the somewhat similar story about Amemar and his companions. The meal in question took place toward the end of the Sabbath, and at the termination of the Sabbath Raba performed habdalah.');">¹¹</span>

פתח ואמר המבדיל בין קודש לחול בין אור לחשך בין ישראל לעמים בין יום השביעי לששת ימי המעשה א"ל למה לך כולי האי והאמר רב יהודה אמר רב המבדיל בין קודש לחול זו היא הבדלתו של רבי יהודה הנשיא

his attendant arose and kindled a torch at a lamp.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the blessing over light.');">¹²</span> Said he to him, 'Why take all this trouble? Surely the lamp is standing before us!'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Then let the blessing for light be said over the lamp itself.');">¹³</span>

א"ל אנא כהא סבירא לי דאמר ר"א אמר רבי אושעיא הפוחת לא יפחות מג' והמוסיף לא יוסיף על ז' אמר ליה

'My servant has acted of his own accord,' replied he.' Had he not heard it thus from you,'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'The Master'.');">¹⁴</span> he retorted, 'he would not have done it.' Said he to him: 'Do you then not hold, [To employ] a torch for habdalah is the best way of performing the precept? ' Then he commenced [habdalah] and recited: 'He who makes a distinction between holy and non-holy, between light and darkness, between Israel and the nations, between the seventh day and the six working days.' Said he to him: 'Why do you need all this? Surely Rab Judah said in Rab's name: "He who makes a distinction between holy and non-holy," was the formula of habdalah as recited by R'Judah ha-Nasi? ' 'I hold with the following,' answered he.' For R'Eleazar said in R'Oshaia's name: He who would recite but few [distinctions] must recite not less than three; while he who would add, must not add beyond seven.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., not less than three points of distinction and not more than seven must be recited in the habdalah.');">¹⁵</span> Said he to him: