פירוש על ברכות 8:2

Gemara: "In actuality, [the Rabbis go according to] Rabban Gamliel who [only] said "until midnight" in order to distance man from sin, like that which it was taught: the Rabbis made a "fence" for their words in order that a man should not come from the field in the evening and say: "I will go to my house and eat a little, drink a little, and sleep a little, and afterwards, I will say Kriyat Shema and pray, [in actuality,] he is overcome with sleep and is found to be sleeping all of the night (and therefore misses saying Kriyat Shema), but a man who comes from the field in the evening, and enters the synagogue, if he is accustomed to read Torah [verses], he reads [them], and if he is accustomed to learning [mishnayot], he learns [them], and then [later he] says Kriyat Shema and prays, and [then he] eats his bread and recites the blessings [over it]. And anyone who violates the words of the Rabbis is liable to [court imposed] death. What is the difference that in every [other] place which does not teach that one is liable to [court imposed] death penalty and here [by Kriyat Shema the Rabbis stated] one is liable for the death penalty? If you want you can say because [one will be anxious to return home and when he comes home he will be overcome] by sleep [the Rabbis therefore made an injunction that one be extra vigilant to pray before one goes home], and if you want you can say that [this] excludes the one who says that the evening prayer is optional, thus it is concluded that [indeed it is] an obligation." See later in the Gemara (10b): "and Rebbi Yose says in the name of Rebbi Chanina in the name of Rebbi Eliezer ben Yaakov: "What does [the verse mean] when it says: "Do not eat with the blood," [it means] do not eat before you pray over your blood. Rebbi Yitzchak said in the name of Rebbi Yochanan who said in the name of Rebbi Yose in the name of Rebbi Chanina in the name of Rebbi Eliezer ben Yaakov: anyone who eats or drinks and afterwards prays, upon him the verse says: "and Me you have thrown behind your back." Do not read [the word] "gavecha (your back)" rather [read it as] "ge'echa (your pride)." HaKadosh Barchu said: "After [this one] has become haughty [and has satisfied his own needs first, only then does he] accept upon himself the Kingdom of Heaven." The Gemara elaborates that there is a negative commandment [derived from the verse:] "Do not eat with the blood," [which comes to teach that] one should [not] eat before Shacharit prayer service. This is not the case by the negative commandment to eat before reciting Kriyat Shema in the evening which does not generate the category of a negative commandment of eating, rather there is a negative commandment that one [should not] do anything, as perhaps [something] might cause a person to be negligent, and not fulfill the mitzvah of Kriyat Shema that is imposed upon him. In truth, this law is not exactly a law concerning tefillah and Kriyat Shema, rather it is a principle by all mitzvot, as clarified in the Mishnah in Tractate Sukkah Daf 38a): "One who comes on the road and did not have in his hand a lulav to take, when he enters his house, he should take [the lulav] to his table," and Rashi there explains: "If one forgot and did not take [the lulav to fulfill the mitzvah of waving the four species] before he ate, he needs to pause his meal and take the lulav [to wave.]" We see [from this] that even in the mitzvah of taking the lulav, it is forbidden to eat before one takes [it and fulfills the mitzvah.] It seems that the foundation of the prohibition of eating before doing a mitzvah is not a triggering of a certain prohibition on the action of eating before doing a mitzvah, rather it is forbidden to do anything where there is a concern that it will cause one to be preoccupied and neglect the completion of the mitzvah, and we have this also in Tractate Shabbos (Daf 9b) [where it discusses] that a person should not sit to get a haircut, enter [to wash oneself in a bathouse, enter a tannery to work leather,], start eating, or [commence] court cases before praying Mincha.

Cf. Abot i. 1 : Make a fence round the Torah (Singer, p. 184), i.e. "impose additional restrictions so as to keep at a safe distance from forbidden ground" (Taylor, Sayings of the Fathers, in loc.).

The antiquity of many a Baraita may be seen from the fact that by a labourer is usually intended an agricultural workman. Cf. also fol. 17 a, p. 111.

Fortified by the thought that the Shema' may be read any time before dawn, he will put it off and in this way come to omit it altogether.

The Torah as expounded in the Schools.