Berachot 40: Including G-d's Name, Blessings in Secular Languages

A new Mishna teaches us that a general prayer can cover the details of a specific prayer.  However, a speciifc prayer cannot be used to bless in a larger context.  It shares an example.  

We meet our obligation when we say "boray pre ha'adama," Who created fruit of the earth, when blessing the fruit of the tree.  Ha'etz, a tree, has its own blessing but it is also of the earth.  We do not meet our obligation when we say "boray pre ha'etz," Who created fruit of the tree, over fruit of the earth.  This is because fruits of the earth might not be fruits of the tree at all; for example, a potato is a fruit of the earth but not a fruit of the tree.  Finally, it is acceptable to say "sh'hakol nidviray bidvoro", by whose word all things came to be, over any food item.

The rabbis discuss some of the more detailed questions that might arise when applying these laws.  They consider which prayer might be said in different situations, how the blessings over wine and bread might fit into this hierarchy of blessing, where the name of G-d must be named in every blessing, and the required words in every blessing.

The Gemara notes that blessings can be said in any secular language, as long as the translation is direct and accurate.  The rabbis also discuss other prayers, like the Shema, the Amida, the Grace After Meals?  

We learn a second Mishna.  It teaches that a foot that does not grow from the ground, vinegar, novelot, spoiled dates and locusts are blessed by saying "by whose word all things came to be".  Rabbi Yehuda says that any food that results from a curse should not be blessed.  Further, if one is about to eat many foods, the first blessing goes to one of the seven species for which HaAretz was praised.  The rabbis disagree, saying that one can recite the first blessing over whichever food one chooses.

The Gemara discusses which foods are included in which blessings.  They also note that if we vow not to eat fruit of the ground, mushrooms and truffles are included in that vow.  

What about foods that are questionably edible?  We veer into a conversation about foods that might or might not be blessed.  This leads the rabbis to a discussion of demai, food that may or may not have been tithed.  If the demai is ownerless, it need not be tithed.  At the end of our daf, the rabbis introduce a new debate about the joining of several piles of grains that are of differing status.