Study Berakhot folio 21A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
The Talmud challenges: And prayer, which is also a matter in which the community is engaged, and we learned in the Mishnah: One who was standing in prayer and remembered that he is one who experienced a seminal emission and did not yet immerse himself should not interrupt his prayer, rather he shou
The Talmud responds: Prayer is different in that it does not contain the acceptance of the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven. The Talmud rejects this: And Grace after Meals does not contain the acceptance of the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, and yet we learned in the Mishnah: Over food, one recites a
Rav Yehuda said: From where is the mitzva by Torah law to recite Grace after Meals, derived? As it is stated: “And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless YHWH your God” (Deuteronomy 8:10).
And from where is the mitzva by Torah law to recite the blessing over the Torah before it is read, derived? As it is stated: “When I proclaim YHWH’s name, give glory to our God” (Deuteronomy 32:3), meaning that before one proclaims YHWH’s name by reading the Torah, he must give glory to God.
R' Yoḥanan said: We derived that one must recite the blessing over the Torah after it is read from Grace after Meals by means of an a fortiori inference. And we derive the obligation to recite a blessing before partaking of food from the blessing over the Torah by means of an a fortiori inference. T