MARK WASHOFSKY

obviously contradicted Talmudic law, once again turned to the task of forging a halakhic justification for it. Rashi, for example, notes that the one who says the Shema in the synagogue before sundown does not fulfill his halakhic obligation. Why then do we recite it so early?"To rise for the tefilah after having studied words of Torah, " as the Yerushalmi puts it."Therefore, we must recite it again after it becomes dark. And the recitation of the first parashah,®® which is the practice at bedtime, is sufficient for this purpose." In this way, Rashi upholds both minhag and halakhah. He sees nothing wrong with the custom as such and even justifies it, so long as the individual takes care to fulfill his ritual obligation later in the evening. The problem with his approach, as our Tosafot point out,® is that if the bedtime Shema were in fact the fulfillment of that obligation, we would read all three parashi’ot of the Shema at that time. We would also pronounce the statutory berakhot, two preceding and two following the Shema, yet in fact, those blessings are recited in the synagogue before sundown. Moreover, the bedtime Shema was ordained as protection against evil spirits, which means that talmidei hakhamim, whose Torah is their protection , need not recite it at all. Rather, says Rabbeinu Tam , we must conclude that the recitation of the Shema in the synagogue is the actual fulfillment of the halakhic obligation. As to why this recitation takes place before sundown, R. Tam turns to an analysis of M. Berakhot 4.1, the obligatory times for tefilah. We hold according to R. Yehudah, who declares that minhah may be recited until p’lag haminhah, about 4:45 p-m. on the twelve-hour"sun clock," rather than"until evening," which is the position of the s’tam mishnah. As soon as the time period for minhah ends,"nighttime" begins for ma’ariv and for k’ri’at Shema. How then do we account for the custom of reciting the afternoon prayer after the time of p’lag haminhah. R. Tam replies that since the stam mishnah holds that minhah may be said till dark, and since the Talmud ® pointedly does not decide between the two positions, we follow both of them: R. Yehudah for Shema(so that we may recite it early) and the stam mishnah for tefilah(so that we may recite it

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