As related in this TftD, I am now really living. After making a siyum on my first masechta (Brachos, of course, you know me... boring; I just go in order), I asked my rebbi, R' Dovid Siegal, shlita, whether to go on to the next masechta or to review. He, characteristically and to no real surprise to me, answered simply, "yes". I am now dividing my time between moving forward on my first pass through Shabbos and moving forward on my second pass through Brachos. I decided on my second pass through Brachos, to follow the development of the halacha through the centuries.
The first daf of Brachos is by and large concerned with when one is able to say krias Shema in the evening. I learned the daf with Rashi, the Rosh, and Piskei HaRosh -- which are the essential halachic conclusions of the gemara, authored by the son of the Rosh himself; so quite authoritative. Now... the son of the Rosh organized all those halachos into four sections: (1) Laws of Daily Living, (2) Torts, (3) halachos related to marriage, children, divorce, and so forth, and (4) laws of religious practice, such as kashrus, family purity, charity, etc. The name of that sefer is ארבע טורים/the four columns; aka the טור. That sefer provides the framework and forms the basis for the Shulchan Aruch. The Mishna Brurah is the based on the section on Daily Living and brings the halacha up to date to the end of the 20th century; the Dirshu Edition of the Mishna Brura brings us into the 21 century. Not a change, Heaven Forfend, in the basic halacha, but application to modern situations; distilled liquors (13th century), telegraph, automobiles (19th/20th century), velcro, radio/television, etc. Lots and lots of details! Each new situation and technology understood and categorized as part of a continuously updated system.
Which means we have an audit trail of how we got here from there. For example, we all know that we day krias sh'ma before ma'ariv. We all know that we say ma'ariv too early to fulfill our obligation for krias shma, and we are all familiar with the gabbai on Friday night reminding us to say krias sh'ma at the right time. The reasons given sound more like excuses for unfortunate behavior than solid reasoning. Moreover, the Shulchan Aruch devotes lots of sections to morning prayers, a fair number to afternoon. Ma'a'riv? One siman with one syef: We don't have a reader's repetition at ma'ariv, nor do we say tachanun. (237:1). That's it. Lots on the timing of krias shema, though. How did that happen?
Having gone through the history, it seems that krias sh'ma was just always attached to ma'ariv. So much so that poskim put much more energy into when to say krias sh'ma; they just knew that ma'ariv would follow. In summary, we want krias shema before ma'ariv so that our prayers are amidst divrei Torah. We want to give maximum opportunity to daven ma'ariv with a minyan. We want to repeat krias sh'ma at nightfall (three stars), because we are afraid we'll be too tired at bedtime to say it with the right intentions. By doing this, we still get t'fila in the midst of divrei Torah (Rashi) and actually fulfill our obligation for krias sh'ma according to some authorities (Rabeinu Tam). We have, therefore, a system that has been vetted for centuries and is (obviously) sustainable.
I will just note, to learn that one daf gemara with all the history took me about a month. That means, given that I'll get better over time and have even more time per day to devote to learning, between about 80 and 240 years to finish Shas. It's a stretch goal, to be sure.
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