Berachot 51: Food Trivia; Yalta, Women & Wine Blessings; Hillel, Shammai & Order of Blessings

Today's daf shares several dos and don'ts regarding the wine and foods, both in their blessings and in their other uses. 

Some examples:

• we can draw wine through piped for a bride and groom
• we may toast roasted grain and nuts in front of them in the summer but not in the rainy season because we can find them and eat them in the sunny season
• if we forget to say the blessing over food, we move the food to the other side of our mouths and then say the appropriate prayer
• if a food item becomes disgusting we must spit it out because Psalms (71:8) teaches that "My mouth will be filled with Your praise"
• should one who does not say a blessing over food return and eat that food but with a blessing the second time?
• should one eat garlic without a blessing and then return to have more odour just to ensure that there is a blessing
• asparagus, wine or other alcohol eaten first thing in the morning is good for the heart, eyes and intestines
• drunkeness is harmful for the entire body
• avoiding ritual impurity in the morning keeps a band of demons or a band of angels of destruction from waiting for us
• after leaving a graveyard, one should jump four cubits, cross a river if one is there, turn back one's face and say "And the Lord said to the Satan, the Lord rebukes you, Satan..." (Zechariah 3:2)

Today's daf also includes arguments about women's worth as creators and as people worthy of drinking from the cup of wine in Grace after Meals.  Rabbi Yochanan says that a woman's body is blessed only from the fruit of a man's body because of Deuteronomy (7:13): "He will bless the fruit of her body" was not stated.  Rabbi Natan says that G-d will bless the fruit of a man's body rather than a woman's body.  

Yalta, the daughter of the Exhilarch and the wife of Ulla refused to allow her to drink from the cup of blessing.  She was raging, entered the wine-storage and broke four hundred barrels of wine.  Rav Nachman said to Ulla that the Master should send her another cup.  Ulla sent Yalt a different cup with a message saying that all of the wine in this barrel is wine of blessing.  Instead of agreeing that this wine was as good as the last cup, Yalta said that from travelling peddlers like Ulla (who travelled from Babylonia to Jerusalem and back) come meaningless words and from rags come lice.  

In a new Mishna at the start of Perek VIII we are told about more disputes between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel:  Beit Shammai say:

• one recites a blessing over the sanctification of the day and then the wine
• one washes one's hands and then mixes water and wine in the cup
• blessing over the candles, Grace after Meals, spices, then havdala
• "Who bora, created the light of fire"
• one recites a blessing over the wine and then over the food, then Grace after Meals
• one sweeps the meal area and then washes his hands before saying the Grace after Meals

Beit Hillel say:

• one recites a blessing over the wine first and then a blessing over the day
• one mixes water with the wine in the cup and then washes one's hands
• one washes one's hands and then sweeps the floor where the meal was eaten
• blessings are said over candles, spices, Grace after Meals, and then havdala
• "Who boreh, creates the the light of fire"
• One recites a blessing over the food and then the wine

We also learn that one answers amen after a Jew who recites a blessing even without hearing the entire blessing.  At this point, the Gemara begins to examine these statements from our Mishna.