Translation:Mishnah/Seder Zeraim/Tractate Berakhot/Introduction

Tractate Berakhot is the first tractate in the Mishnah. The tractate deals with many topics.

• The first chapter deals with the time for reciting the Shema, a portion of the Torah that Jews recite twice every day.
• Half of the second chapter deals with different ways of recital (e.g. reading the parts of the Shema out of order.)
• The rest of the second chapter and the third deal with exceptions to certain rules regarding Jewish practice on different occasions.
• The fourth chapter deals with the Shemone Esrei, the main Jewish prayer, and various rules concerning it, like what time can one recite it. An exception is the second mishnah, which talks about a prayer that a certain Tanna (Jewish sage living between 70 to 200 CE) would recite on entering the Beit Midrash (Jewish place of learning).
• The fifth chapter deals with other rules dealing with the Shemone Esrei, specifically if one is the leader of the praying congregation.
• The sixth chapter deals with the blessings that Jews recite before eating, and with the rules concerning the recitation or omission of them.
• The seventh chapter deals with the Zimun, an introductory section to the blessing after eating bread, which is recited when three or more Jews eat bread together.
• The eighth chapter deals with conflicts between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel (the students of Shammai and Hillel, respectively, that frequently argued) on matters relating to eating and drinking wine, and on matters relating to the Havdalah, a prayer that Jews recite at the end of Shabbat, the Jewish holy day.
• The ninth and final chapter deals with blessings that a Jew must recite on certain occasions, like building a new house. Also, the last Mishnah in the tractate deals with the Holy Temple that was in Jerusalem, and the rules applying there. The last topic in the Mishnah is the greeting that Jews should greet each other with.