משנה: רִבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר לֹא הָיָה צָרִיךְ לוֹמַר זִכְרוֹנוֹת וְשׁוֹפָרוֹת אֶלָּא אוֹמֵר תַּחְתֵּיהֶם רָעָב כִּי יִהְיֶה בָאָרֶץ דֶּבֶר כִּי יִהְיֶה וגו׳. אֲשֶׁר הָיָה דְבַר ה׳ אֶל יִרְמְיָהוּ עַל דִּבְרֵי הַבַּצָּרוֹת. וְאוֹמֵר חוֹתְמֵיהֶם׃ MISHNAH: Rebbi Jehudah says, it was not necessary to recite Zikhronot and Shofarot74The two additional benedictions in the musaf prayer of New Year’s Day; each one accompanied by the blowing of the shofar. The text of each addition is followed by an invocation and a doxology as spelled out in Mishnaiot 4–10., but he recites in their stead, if famine will be in the land, if a plague will be in the land1211K. 8:37 ff., etc. The Eternal’s Word which was to Jeremiah in the matter of droughts122Jeremiah.14.1">Jer. 14:1 ff.. And he recites their conclusions123The final sentence, “He Who heard …” and the following doxology as explained in Mishnaiot 4–10..
הלכה: כָּל־הַבְּרָכוֹת אַחַר חִיתוּמֵיהֶן. וְאֵין אוֹמֵר [אַחַר] בְּרָכָה פָסוּק. הָתִיב רִבִּי יִצְחָק בַּר אֶלְעָזָר קוֹמֵי רִבִּי יוֹסֵה. מִכֵּיוָן דּוּ אָמַר. אַחַר חוֹתְמוֹתֵיהֶן. וְיֹאמַר בְּרָכָה פָסוּק. אָֽמְרִין. (חָכָם) [הָכֵין] הוּא הָדֵין (טַלְייָא) [מִלַּייָא]. דְּהוּא סָבוּר. מָהוּ אַחַר חוֹתְמוֹתֵיהֶן. שֶׁאִם הָיָה עוֹמֵד בַּשַּׁחֲרִית וְהִזְכִּיר שֶׁלְעַרְבִית וְחָזַר וְחָתַם בְּשֶׁלְשַׁחֲרִית יָצָא. אָמַר רִבִּי אָחָא. כָּל־הַבְּרָכוֹת מֵעֵין חוֹתְמוֹתֵיהֶן. וְאִילֵּין דְּאָֽמְרִין צַֽהֲלִ֥י וָרוֹנִּי יוֹשֶׁ֣בֶת צִיּ֑וֹן כִּֽי־גָד֥וֹל בְּקִרְבֵּ֖ךְ קְד֥וֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ אֵין בּוֹ מִשּׁוּם בְּרָכָה פָסוּק. HALAKHAH: 124This text is from Berakhot 1:5:23" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Berakhot.1.5.23">Berakhot1:8 (Notes 281–285, ב). The corrector’s addition and changes, given in brackets, are unsupported by the parallel sources and have to be deleted. All benedictions after their seals; one does not say a verse as [after a] benediction125The “seal” of a longer benediction is the last sentence “Praise to You, Eternal, ..” It is stated that this seal is what makes the benediction valid and it cannot be a Biblical verse.. Rebbi Isaac (bar) <ben rebbi> Eleazar objected before Rebbi Yose: Because you say after their seals, one does not say a verse as benediction126Since the two statements appear together in one baraita, there should be a logical connection between them but there seems to be none.? They said, (that young man is intelligent,) [so is the matter] because he thinks what is the meaning of “after their seals”? It is that when he was standing in the morning prayer and mentioned the text of evening prayers but he caught himself and finished with the text of morning prayers, then he did his duty127“They” are the members of R. Yose’s Academy. They do not disagree with the rule which they state, but they note that the baraita does not deal with it; its correct interpretation is by R. Aḥa.
About the rule itself, there is disagreement between the Yerushalmi and the parallel Berakhot.12a">Babli, Berakhot12a, where it is stated: “If in the morning one started with ‘Creator of light’ and ended with ‘Making evenings dark’, he did not do his duty. If in the evening he starts with `He Who makes evenings dark’ and ends with `Creator of light’, he did not do his duty. But if he started with ‘Creator of light’ and ended with ‘Making evenings dark’, he did his duty. The principle is: Everything is determined by the seal.” The Babli asserts that if in evening prayers one started out wrongly with the text appropriate for morning prayers then everything is O.K. if only the final doxology is correct. But the Yerushalmi speaks of one “who is standing in morning prayers and mentioned evening”, i. e., he started out correctly, forgot himself in the middle, and remembered in time to close with the correct text. The principles of prayer texts were instituted by the Men of the Great Assembly. They determined the contents of the prayers but not, in general, their texts. (For the Amidah, a later Mishnah reports that Rebbi Eliezer holds that one who repeats the same text for more than 30 days cannot really be an honest supplicant). The question is whether, in addition to the contents, the Men of the Great Assembly only determined the “seals” (following the Babli) or also the introductory sentences (following this Yerushalmi, but incompatible with the poetic versions of the daily prayers known from Yerushalmi sources from the Cairo Genizah).. Rebbi Aḥa said, all benedictions in the kind of their seals128The language is difficult. R. Eleazar Askari in his Commentary to Berakhot explains that Rebbi Aḥa insists that only the “seal” counts and, therefore, the text preceding the “seal” is unimportant; the text of the seal cannot be a verse. R. Shelomo Cirillo and R. Moshe ben Ḥabib in their Commentaries to Berakhot explain, on the contrary, that the seal must fit the text of the benediction just preceding and that this text cannot be a verse. In the Pesachim.104a">Babli (Pesaḥim 104a) this principle is spelled out only for Havdalah.. But those who say: Jubilate and sing, inhabitant of Zion, for great is in your midst the Holy One of Israel129Isaiah.12.6">Is. 12:6. do not violate the rule that no benediction is a verse130Ezra Fleischer (Tarbiz 41, p. 450) has published a Yerushalmi prayer text from the Cairo Genizah which uses this verse in the third benediction of the `Amidah. From what is left of the original Galilean practice it seems clear that the standard text of longer benedictions always ended with a Biblical verse just preceding the “seal”. The text here states that the only acceptable place for a Biblical verse is before the “seal“. Since the Mishnah prescribes benedictions on fast days whose text is a Biblical verse, what is prohibited is using a verse in the final doxology..