MINHAG AND HALAKHAH

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Jews , and both were surrounded by argumentation defending their legitimacy within the halakhic system.”

2. EVENING SHEMA BEFORE SUNDOWN.

The very first Mishnah in tractate Berakhot discusses the time at which the evening Shema must be recited. While opinions differ as to the terminus ad quem of the mitzvah, the tana’im agree that the Shema should not be said before"the priests enter to eat the truham." A Baraita equates this time with"the appearance of the stars."® This became the accepted halakhah. ®® It was not an unheard-of practice to recite the Shema before sundown; a baraita in the Yerushalmi* notes that such is the custom, but stresses that this early recitation does not fulfill the obligation of saying the evening Shema. It serves rather as an introduction to the evening prayer, that we might"rise for the tefilah after having studied words of Torah ." The gaonim, as well, record that some communities recite the Shema in the synagogue before sundown, but they did not approve of the practice. Rav Hai Gaon ruled that, in a case where the public worship service would in any event take place before sundown, it was preferable to recite the tefilah first and then the k’ri'at Shema at its proper time, following the appearance of the stars. In this way, one can pray with the community and fulfill the mitzvah of Shema. Under no circumstance, however, would the recitation of Shema before sundown be sufficient."

In northern Europe , the custom to recite the evening tefilah before sundown was widely accepted, undoubtedly due to the great amounts of summer daylight in the northern latitudes which made it difficult to gather the congregation after nightfall.** The people assembled at the conclusion of the work day(but well before nightfall) to recite minhah and ma’ariv. The Shema was recited in its proper liturgical context, immediately prior to the evening tefilah. Halakhists, facing this long-standing minhag which so

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