Our page of Talmud teaches us about the wording to be used when reciting the blessing for Torah study. There is a Mitzvah to recite a blessing before engaging in the study of Torah. But the Rabbis debate the exact wording to be used. Ultimately, they agree that all the versions are beautiful and therefore all the versions of the blessing should be used.
The appointed Kohein (priest) for arranging the Temple performance would tell the Kohanim to bless “one blessing”, and thereafter they would recite a number of other prayers. But what was the blessing?!
We know that there are two blessings that we recite before reading the Keriat Shema – and here, the Kohein was telling the other priests to recite just one blessing! Was it Yotzer Ohr or was it Ahavah Rabbah? The Gemara debates this.
The Gemara then discusses one of the other things to be recited each day – the Ten Commandments. However, it comes out that the Rabbis removed this from the prayer service because of the heretics. These people scoffed at the general Torah – but they liked the idea of reciting the Ten Commandments – believing that this is what counted.
Due to these heretics, the Rabbis removed the Ten Commandments from the prayer service.
The Gemara returns to the issue of blessings, and their formats. Long blessings shouldn’t be made short, and short blessings shouldn’t be made long! (See http://www.daat.ac.il/encyclopedia/value.asp?id1=3890 and https://dinonline.org/2019/12/11/bracha-length-or-borei-nefashos/ for more information).
The Gemara takes as an example a situation of a person wanting to bless a particular drink in front of him. He thinks it’s wine, but it’s actually beer! How do we relate to the thoughts he has in mind, relative to the manner in which he recites the blessing – even if at the end of the day he does actually recite the correct words? Do we follow the beginning (his thoughts?) or do we follow the end (the way he actually recited the blessing?)
