In Berachot 15b we read in the Mishnah:
One who reads the Shema and doesn't make it heard to his ears, fulfills his obligation
Rabbi Yosi says: He does not fulfill his obligation
If one read and was not exacting [in distinguishing] the letters, Rabbi Yosi says: he fulfills his obligation
Rabbi Yehudah says, he does not fulfill his obligation.
In the subsequent discussion in the gemara, we attempt to determine, amongst other things, who holds the anonymous opening opinion in the Mishnah. While the Bach emends the text so that a quotation of the Mishnah in the gemara DOES NOT read after stating that opening opinion "the words of Rabbi Yehudah", it is completely clear from the discussion that the preliminary opinion of the Gemara is that, indeed, Rabbi Yehudah is the author of that opinion. In fact, the conclusion of the discussion in the Gemara is that Rabbi Yehudah is indeed the one who holds that anonymous opinion. Thus, the mishnah can be rephrase:
1) Said it in a fashion that he couldn't hear it:
a. Rabbi Yehudah: O.K. post facto
b. Rabbi Yosi: not O.K. post facto
2) Said it in a fashion that he didn't distinguish the letters/words from one another:
a. Rabbi Yosi: O.K. post facto
b. Rabbi Yehudah: not O.K. post facto
What is the conceptual basis of this dual dispute?
Proposal: Rabbi Yosi places the emphasis on the proper and accurate HEARING of the passage. As the gemara explains in his defense when challenged regarding whence he learns the allowance that Shema may be said in any language one understands: ???? ??? ???? - "hear" (=learn) TWO things from the word "???". Actual hearing, with comprehension, is the critical element of Shema. Lacking that element, one cannot have been said to have fulfilled the mitzvah.
Rabbi Yehudah, on the other hand, places the emphasis on proper and accurate READING of the passage.
Whence this distinction? One might express the dispute in the following terms: The Shema is one of several peak moments in Moshe's final address to Bnei Yisrael. In understanding the fulfillment of its stipulations as depending in part upon reciting THAT SAME PASSAGE, the question can be asked: are we to see ourselves as standing in Moshe's place, intoning and proclaiming Hashem's oneness to the world, or in the place of Bnei Yisrael - experiencing and internalizing a message enunciated from beyond. The former places emphasis upon the READING/PRONOUNCING; the latter places the emphasis upon the HEARING/COMPREHENSION/ INTERNALIZING.
Of course, the dispute between R. Yosi and R. Yehudah is only on the plane of post facto. Ab initio, both agree that both are required (unlike Rabbi Meir, who, the gemara shows, does not required hearing one's own reading even initially). Perhaps it is in order to give place to both of these requirements that we refer to this premier mitzvah by the name "Keri'at Shema" - the READING of the HEARING!!
Rav Yehoshua Kahan
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Rav Yehoshua Kahan is a teacher at Yeshivat Bat Ayin. He has held pulpits in Knoxville, Tennessee and Los Angeles, and served as educational director of Livnot U'Lehibanot. He blogs on Parashat Hashavua here |