Yerushalmi Berakhot 7:5 ירושלמי ברכות ז׳:ה׳

MISHNAH: Two groups that ate in one house, if some of one group saw some of the other group they join in “invitation”; otherwise, each group recites the “invitation” for itself. One does not recite a benediction over wine¹²⁶It is assumed that everybody pays for his own meal (or, if the hostelry has no restaurant, eats from his own provisions) in an inn and, also, that the formation of the group is casual rather than planned. Nevertheless, they have to recite Grace together; see the preceding note. unless he added water; these are the words of Rebbi Eliezer. But the Sages say, one may recite the benediction.

HALAKHAH: Rebbi Jonah and Rebbi Abba bar Zamina in the name of Rebbi Zeïra: For two houses, there is a problem¹²⁷The Mishnah gives the rule for two groups assembled at different places in one house. The problem of two groups which eat in different houses but see one another is not treated and one may make arguments both ways. {Tosaphot in Babli 50b read the statement as: “[The Mishnah] is only needed for two houses,” the inference being that if they see one another they can join in saying Grace. This transfers the meaning of Babylonian צריכא (“it is necessary”) to the Palestinian expression נצרכה (“it is problematic”) used here!}.

Rebbi Yoḥanan said, it applies only if they entered with that in mind¹²⁸R. Yoḥanan refers to the Mishnah: Two groups not in the same room may recite common Grace only if they started the meal with that intention. This corresponds to the opinion of Babli and Tosephta in the case of the caravan travelling together, discussed at the end of the previous Halakhah. However, since it is necessary to state this rule for people in two different rooms, it follows that the Yerushalmi does not require common intent for people in one room; R. Yoḥanan agrees with his student’s student R. Jeremiah in the preceding Halakhah..

What do you do with those at the house of the patriarch, like one house or like two houses¹²⁹The Babli (50a) notes that at a dinner in the house of the Resh Galuta, the head of the Jews of Babylonia, one recites Grace in small groups since the place is so noisy that one could not hear a person at the dais reciting Grace. Here it seems that the Patriarch held his formal dinners in a very large hall with several groups forming circles and not communicating with one another. The question is whether the room acts as a common enclosure for all these groups or not.? Let us say that if they usually walk over from one group to the other then they “invite” together; otherwise they do not “invite” together. Rebbi Berekhiah used to place his speaker in the middle of the door of the house of study and he recited the “invitation” together with both groups¹³⁰The meals in the Yeshivah were taken in two adjacent rooms. A similar note in the Babli (50b) states that if the same waiter waits upon several groups in a very large room, the waiter makes them one group..

“One does not recite a benediction over wine unless he added water; these are the words of Rebbi Eliezer. But the Sages say, one may recite the benediction.” Rebbi Zeriqa in the name of Rebbi Yose ben Ḥanina: The Sages agree with Rebbi Eliezer that one has to add a small amount of water into the cup used for Grace¹³¹Because that is the civilized way of acting and religious obligations should be executed with dignity.. The rabbis do so for the Qiddush cup. The statement of Rebbi Yose disagrees with Rebbi Jonah, for Rebbi Jonah tasted it and restored it¹³²Rebbi Jonah tasted from the cup for Qiddush of Friday evening, then left the rest standing in the cup and “repaired” it the next morning by filling it again with more wine. As will be explained later in this Halakhah, a cup that has been drunk from cannot be used for another benediction; hence, it has to be replenished. The question is, if R. Jonah put water into his Qiddush cup, how could he leave it standing half full through the night?. If you imply that it was mixed, did we not formulate: He who drinks mixed drinks that were standing through the night, his blood is on his head. Rebbi Yoḥanan said, that is only if it was standing in metal vessels¹³³The last two statements are also in the Babli (Niddah 17a); the baraita is very close to the text in Derekh Ereẓ Rabba, Chapter 11. Both of these sources give a list of things that are dangerous to one’s health. In the Yerushalmi, the statement of R. Yoḥanan answers the question raised: R. Jonah might add water to his wine as long as his cup was not of metal..

Rebbi Jeremiah¹³⁴The parallel statement in the Babli (51a) is in the name of R. Ḥiyya bar Abba. The inferences are not given there but they follow from the parallel to the next statement. in the name of Rebbi Yoḥanan: The first generations asked whether the left hand may help the right hand with the cup used for reciting Grace. You may infer from this three things. You infer that one must hold the cup with his right hand¹³⁵If the left hand only is required to help, the main action is done by the right hand., that one’s hand must be lifted from the table at least a hand-breadth¹³⁶For a lesser height than a handbreadth (one sixth of a cubit), no help would be necessary., and that one has to look at the cup¹³⁷Otherwise, it would not be necessary to lift the cup during recital of the benedictions..

Rebbi Aḥa said: Three things were said about the cup of Grace: full, decorated, and washed. All three come from one verse (Deut. 33:23): “Naphtali is satiated with goodwill, full of the blessings of the Eternal.” Satiated - decorated¹³⁸There are different lists in the Babli (51a); one also mentions “decorated” and different interpretations are given. Rav Yehudah is reported to have surrounded himself with his students when he recited Grace over a cup of wine; Rav Ḥisda surrounded the (larger) cup of benediction with smaller cups that presumably were filled with wine. This second interpretation seems to be the one original with the Yerushalmi which identifies satiated with decorated, i. e., more than enough wine to fulfill every desire., goodwill - washed¹³⁹So that everybody would willingly take the cup and drink from it. The Babli is a little more explicit and requires “rinsed and dried.”, full as its acception. Rebbi Ḥanina said, if you did so, what is written there: “West and South his inheritance,” you merit to inherit this world and the world to come¹⁴⁰This homily is given in the Babli in the name of R. Yose ben R. Ḥanina; R. Yoḥanan says that he is given boundless property. Both seem to note the incongruence of Naphtali inheriting West and South when in fact his territory was the North-Eastern corner of the Land of Israel. Hence, the allusion cannot be meant to describe his territory but is either a geographic amplification or refers to another world..

Rebbi Eleazar said: One does not recite benedictions on a damaged cup. If one tasted from it, he damaged it. You may infer from this three things. You infer that one does not recite benedictions on a damaged cup. And that it must contain a measure. And if one tasted from it, he damaged it¹⁴¹Two of the three statements are exactly what Rebbi Eleazar said. The only inference to be drawn from the fact that the cup should not be “damaged” is that it must contain a minimum measure (a reviït, a quarter log) to be valid. In the Babli (Pesaḥim 105b/106 a), the derivation is both from the argument given here and from a baraita about Havdalah after the Sabbath. The parallel argument would have been to derive the necessity of a minimal volume of wine from the next paragraph which implies that if one does not have enough wine for Qiddush both Friday night and Sabbath morning one leaves all the wine for the morning. Otherwise, one simply could divide the wine and drink the volume of a liquor glass each time. The order of topics here does not exclude that this also is the Yerushalmi reasoning..

Rebbi Tanḥum bar Yudan said: The honor of the day takes precedence over the honor of the night. The Qiddush of the night takes precedence over the Qiddush of the day. What is the honor of the day? Rebbi Yosi in the name of Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa, and Rebbi Eleazar bar Joseph¹⁴²An otherwise unknown student of Rav. in the name of Rav: “He Who created the fruit of the vine.¹⁴³This means that the primary obligation of reciting Qiddush is in the night. The obligation of honoring the Sabbath is mainly during the day. Hence, if there is only one cup of wine, Qiddush of the night should be recited over bread. The honor of the day, referred to in the Babli euphemistically as “great Qiddush,” consists in reciting the benediction over wine only, without any additions, over a specially dedicated cup of wine. This is reported and endorsed in the Babli (Pesaḥim 106a) as the action “of an old man,” confirming a Yerushalmi practice.”

Rebbi Zeriqan, son of the father-in-law of Rebbi Zeriqan, mentioned Ḥanukkah in “the Land” and they praised him¹⁴⁴It was stated in an earlier baraita in Halakhah 5 that Ḥanukkah should be mentioned. Here, the place of the mention is fixed in the second benediction of Grace. The Babli (Šabbath 24a) concurs, but notes that the mention is not obligatory.. Rebbi Abba, son of Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba, mentioned “the true Judge¹⁴⁵The prayer in a house of mourning. The Babli (Berakhot 46b) quotes a baraita in the name of Rebbi Aqiba which seems to imply that in a house of mourning the benediction “He Who is good” is replaced by “the True Judge”; the Talmud then reinterprets the baraita to mean that “the True Judge” is inserted in “He Who is good.” The Yerushalmi here gives a date for the re-interpretation.” in “He Who is good and does good” and they praised him.

Rebbi Abba, son of Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba: If one eats walking, he stands still for Grace. If one eats standing, he sits down for Grace. If one eats sitting, he reclines¹⁴⁶On a couch, as for a formal dinner. The statement, that for Grace one always increases one step in dignity, is reported in the Babli (51b) as a baraita but is rejected. There it is declared that one always recites Grace sitting upright. There as here, this is the end of the Chapter; one has to see in the Babli an intentional answer to the Yerushalmi. for Grace. If one eats reclining, he wraps himself in his toga¹⁴⁷The tallit with tzitzit. for Grace. If one acts in this fashion, he is like an Angel of Service¹⁴⁸The angels who serve the Divine Presence.. What is the reason? (Is. 6:2) “With two [wings] he would cover his face, and with two [wings] he would cover his feet.”