1. why does the gemra on 3a start listing the shrurim w/ singular (a donkey braying) and then switch to plural (dogs barking)? so what's pshat?

2. the gemara says on 3a that the shiur for the end of the 3rd mismora (watch) is when a baby nurses. but doesn't he do that several times a night??

als, can't you say the same thing by the husband and wife.

in other words, let's say someone is in a dark house and he hears a man talking to his wife and it's 3:30A.M. so then he'll say krias shma b./c he hears them talking!!!? so what's pshat?

yehoshua rabinowitz, b,h, l.a

1. You presumably live in a large town and not a rural area, for were you familiar with rural life, you would have known that donkeys are loners, whereas dogs are gregarious. If one donkey brays it does not set off the rest, but if one dog barks, then all the rest respond. Dogs (like wolves) hunt in packs. Hence, at the first Mishmar, the Gemara refers to the single donkey braying, but at the end of the second Mishmar, all of the dogs bark in unison, for as soon as one barks, all its friends will follow.

On a deeper level, it is well known that these three Mishmaros represent the three Batei Mikdash. See, for example, the Ben Yehoyada who says that the donkey represents the huge burden of Torah (as in "Yissachar Chamor Gorem," in Parshas Vayechi), which the people neglected in the years leading to the Churban of the first Beis ha'Mikdash. (See Yirmiyahu 9:11-12, "Al Mah Avdah ha'Aretz... Al Azvam Es Torasi.") This neglect of Torah is represented by the singular donkey of Yissachar.

The second Beis ha'Mikdash was destroyed because of Sin'as Chinam, manifested by Lashon ha'Ra, the punishment for which is to be thrown to the dogs, as the Gemara says in Pesachim 118a: "Kol ha'Mesaper Lashon ha'Ra Ra'uy l'Hashlicho l'Kelavim." Dogs hunt in packs both for the reason explained above and also, more obviously, in order to be effective against the human whom they are attacking. Hence, "Kelavim" is in the plural.

The third Beis ha'Mikdash will be one of pure love and dependence on Hash-m. Hence, the baby (i.e. Yisrael) suckling from its mother (i.e. Hash-m), and the wife (Knesses Yisrael), conversing with her loving husband (Hash-m), as in Shir ha'Shirim, "Ani l'Dodi v'Dodi Li."

2. Regarding the Siman of "Tinok Yonek mi'Shdei Imo," this is a Siman based on the norm. Whilst it may be true that nowadays some mothers feed at all times, there are places where they want to get a night's sleep and try to arrange to feed last thing at night and then refuse to suckle until early morning. Moreover, at the time of the Gemara, mothers nursed until their children were much more developed than today. Weaning was at 24 months. See Kesuvos 60a.

Since the child is a few months old, it certainly does not need feeding so often and would usually last through the night on the nighttime feeding.

According to the Tzelach, however, there is no need for the foregoing answer, since he holds that the two Simanim -- Tinok Yonek and Ishah Mesaperes Im Ba'alah -- are not alternatives, but they are to be taken together. It is only when the woman is woken by her baby's movements which then causes her to talk to her husband. (This is how he explains the inversion of the two Simanim in the Gemara and the fact that the wife commences talking to her husband and not that he starts talking to her .) He adds that the Simanim could happen independently at other times but it is rare that they would come together other than at the end of the third Mishmar.

See also Ben Yehoyada, who asks this question. "How can one rely on this Siman (of Tinok Yonek and Ishah Mesapares)? Is there no other time during the night that a baby nurses and a woman talks to her husband? How, then, can one rely on it to read Keri'as Shema?" (See there.) His answer there is that we are talking about the majority of occasions. It is not sufficient to rely upon to actually recite Keri'as Shema, but it is enough to make it worthwhile to get out of bed to check whether it is time to do so, since it is usually the case that once these events occur it will be already time for Keri'as Shema.

Joseph Pearlman