Berachos Chart #1

FROM WHAT TIME MAY ONE READ SHEMA AT NIGHT?

(A) TANA'IM	(B) TIMES, FROM *EARLIEST* TO *LATEST*
1) REBBI MEIR OF THE *FIRST* BERAISA AND REBBI ACHA OF THE LAST (according to RI)	When people eat on Friday night (according to RI)(1)
2) REBBI ELIEZER OF THE BERAISA	When Shabbos begins(2)
3) REBBI MEIR OF THE *SECOND* BERAISA	Slightly before three stars appear(3) ("when Kohanim immerse to eat Terumah")
4) MISHNAH 2a, AND REBBI YEHOSHUA OF THE BERAISA(4)	When three stars appear (and Kohanim may eat their Terumah)
5) REBBI CHANINA OF THE BERAISA (and also REBBI MEIR of the *first* Beraisa, according to TOSFOS DH v'Iy(7) and TOSFOS HA'ROSH DH Rebbi Achai)	When a poor man prepares(5) to eat his evening meal(6) (which is when people eat on Friday night,according to TOSFOS(7) and TOSFOS HA'ROSH)
6a)REBBI ACHA OF THE BERAISA (according to RASHI 2b DH Nichnasim in his second approach)	When people eat their meal Friday night(8)
6b)REBBI ACHA OF THE BERAISA (according to RASHI's first approach in DH Nichnasim, and according to TOSFOS DH v'Iy(7) and the TOSFOS HA'ROSH)(10)	When people eat their weekday evening meal(9)

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FOOTNOTES:
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(1) Tosfos 2a, DH me'Eimasai, cites the Ri who asserts that this is the earliest of all the times. This is not the way Tosfos 2b, DH v'Iy and Tosfos 3a DH Kashy d'Rebbi Meir seem to understand. The Ri will have to explain that Rav Acha, in the Beraisa on 2b, is referring to the time that people eat on *Erev Shabbos*, and not during the week, because otherwise the question of Tosfos 3a DH Kasha d'Rebbi Meir will still remain. The question of Tosfos 2b, DH v'Iy may be answered according to the Ri following the approach of Rav Hai Ga'on, mentioned in Tosfos ha'Rosh ad loc. (See footnote (7) for an explanation of the answer of Tosfos DH v'Iy.)

(2) That is, at sunset, which is the beginning of Rebbi Yehudah's Bein ha'Shemashos and precedes Tzeis ha'Kochavim by a little more than the time it takes to walk half a Mil. (Rebbi Eliezer's sunset is not the blink of an eye before Tzeis ha'Kochavim, as Tosfos proves on Daf 3a, DH Kasha d'Rebbi Eliezer.)

(3) That is, a little before Rebbi Yosi's Bein ha'Shemashos. It is still considered daytime and the Kohanim immerse at that time in order to be able to eat Terumah after dark.

(4) Although the Mishnah uses the word "Nichnasim" and Rebbi Yehoshua uses the word "Metoharim," Tosfos (3a, DH Kasha d'Rebbi Eliezer) appears to equate the two. (In Dikdukei Sofrim #50, the Girsa is "sheha'Kohanim *Tehorim Nichnasim* Le'echol...")

(5) That is, when he prepares his meal, and not when he eats it, because he may not eat before reciting the Shema, as the Gemara says later on Daf 3b (Tosfos DH mi'Sha'ah).

(6) This is later than Tzeis ha'Kochavim, as the Gemara (2b) explains. With regard to Rashi's statement, according to the Girsa of the Maharsha, that this time is the latest "of all of them," we have already cited (see the Girsa section of the Background pages) Acharonim who prove in a number of ways, that the proper Girsa is not that of the Maharsha. Rather, the phrase "of all of them" ought to appear only in the previous gloss of Rashi. Its reappearance in the next Rashi is incorrect and it should be deleted from there. This seems to have been the Girsa of the Tosfos ha'Rosh and Rishonim as well.

(7) The words of Tosfos DH v'Iy (Daf 2b) are not fully clear (see the Maharsha and the Achronim who give unlikely explanations for Tosfos). However, from the Tosfos ha'Rosh it is clear that his intention is to explain that if the time when a poor person comes in to eat his meal is *after* Tzeis ha'Kochavim, then that time and the time when all other people eat on Friday night are one and the same. Therefore, we will have solved the problem of having so many different opinions as to when one may begin to read the Shema. According to the explanation of Tosfos and the Rosh, it must be concluded that Rebbi Acha of the Beraisa is referring to the time when people come in to eat on a *weeknight*, and not on an Erev Shabbos.

(8) This is later than the time that a poor person eats, according to the Girsa we have favored in Rashi (not like the Girsa of the Maharsha, see footnote (6)).

(9) This must be later than the time that a poor person eats, because according to Tosfos and Tosfos ha'Rosh, the time that a poor person eats and the time that people eat on Friday night are one and the same. On weekday nights, it is clear that people eat later than they do on Friday night.

(10) According to the second explanation in Rashi earlier (2b, in the words of Rebbi Acha; see (6A) in chart), and also according to the Ri in Tosfos 2a (see (1A) in chart), this time is not mentioned in the Gemara or in the Beraisa at all. According to Tosfos and the Rosh, the time of people eating on Friday night is not a separate time of its own, but it is the time that the poor person eats. Thus, according to all of the Rishonim we have mentioned there are but six opinions in our Sugya as to when one may begin to read Shema in the evenings.