Study Berakhot folio 55A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Anyone who prolongs his prayer and expects it to be answered, will ultimately come to heartache, as it is stated: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12). Similarly, R' Yitzḥak said: 3 matters evoke a person’s sins, and they are: Endangering oneself by sitting or standing next to an i
The Talmud resolves the apparent contradiction: This is not difficult. This, where we learned that prolonging prayer is undesirable, refers to a situation when one expects his prayer to be accepted, while this, where Rav Yehuda says that prolonging prayer prolongs one’s life, refers to a situation
As for the virtue of prolonging one’s mealtime at the table, which Rav Yehuda mentioned, the Talmud explains: Perhaps a poor person will come during the meal and the host will be in a position to give him food immediately, without forcing the poor person to wait. The rabbis elsewhere praised a pers
With regard to what Rav Yehuda said in praise of one who prolongs his time in the latrine, the Talmud asks: Is that a virtue? Wasn’t it taught in a baraita: 10 things bring a person to suffer from hemorrhoids: One who eats the leaves of bulrushes, grape leaves, tendrils of grapevines, the palate an
The Talmud responds: This is not difficult. This baraita, which teaches that doing so is harmful, refers to where one prolongs his time there and suspends himself, while this statement of Rav Yehuda refers to where one prolongs his time there and does not suspend himself.