בּוֹנֵ֣ה יְרוּשָׁלִַ֣ם יְהוָ֑ה נִדְחֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל יְכַנֵּֽס׃
Ang Walang-Hanggan ang nagtatayo ng Jerusalem; tinitipon Niya ang mga ipinagtabuyan ng Israel.
Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot
All benedictions after their seals281This is a continuing discussion of the statement of Rebbi Yudan. The “seal” of a longer benediction is the last sentence “Praise to You, o Eternal, …” It is stated that this “seal” is what makes the benediction valid and it cannot be a Biblical verse.; one does not say a verse as benediction. Rebbi Isaac ben Rebbi Eleazar objected before Rebbi Yose: Because you say after their seals, one does not say a verse as benediction282Since 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 because he thinks! What is the meaning of “after their seals”? It is that when he was standing in the morning prayer and forgot and mentioned the text of evening prayers but he caught himself and finished with the text of morning prayers, then he did his duty283“They” are the members of Rebbi Yose’s Yeshivah. 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 Rebbi Aḥa.
About the rule itself, there is disagreement between the Yerushalmi and the parallel Babli, Berakhot 12a, 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 forgot”, i. e., that 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, the Mishnah even reports that Rebbi Eliezer says 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 the Yerushalmi).. Rebbi Aḥa said, all benedictions in the kind of their seals.284The language is difficult. R. Eleazar Askari 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 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 Babli (Pesaḥim 104a) this principle is spelled out only for Havdalah [and in the Yerushalmi the treatment given for Havdalah, (Berakhot 5:2, fol. 9b) supports R. Eleazar Askari.] Most Medieval authorities extend the principle of the Babli to all longer benedictions. But those who say (Is. 12:6): “Jubilate and sing, inhabitant of Zion …” do not violate the rule that no benediction is a verse285Ezra Fleischer (Tarbiẓ 41, p. 450) has published a Yerushalmi prayer text from the Cairo Genizah which uses this verse in the third benediction of the ‘Amidah, קדושת השם. From what is left of the original Galilean minhag it seems clear that the standard text of longer benedictions always ended with a Biblical verse just preceding the “seal”. For example, in Grace, the verses were Ps. 145:16, Deut.8:10, Ps. 147:2. In the morning prayers, the verses have survived in the first benediction for Shema‘ in all minhagim and for the benediction after Shema‘ in most of them. The text states that the only acceptable place for a Biblical verse is before the “seal”. Even the Mishnah prescribes benedictions whose text is a Biblical verse (Taäniot 2:2); what is prohibited here is using a verse in the final doxology..
About the rule itself, there is disagreement between the Yerushalmi and the parallel Babli, Berakhot 12a, 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 forgot”, i. e., that 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, the Mishnah even reports that Rebbi Eliezer says 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 the Yerushalmi).. Rebbi Aḥa said, all benedictions in the kind of their seals.284The language is difficult. R. Eleazar Askari 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 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 Babli (Pesaḥim 104a) this principle is spelled out only for Havdalah [and in the Yerushalmi the treatment given for Havdalah, (Berakhot 5:2, fol. 9b) supports R. Eleazar Askari.] Most Medieval authorities extend the principle of the Babli to all longer benedictions. But those who say (Is. 12:6): “Jubilate and sing, inhabitant of Zion …” do not violate the rule that no benediction is a verse285Ezra Fleischer (Tarbiẓ 41, p. 450) has published a Yerushalmi prayer text from the Cairo Genizah which uses this verse in the third benediction of the ‘Amidah, קדושת השם. From what is left of the original Galilean minhag it seems clear that the standard text of longer benedictions always ended with a Biblical verse just preceding the “seal”. For example, in Grace, the verses were Ps. 145:16, Deut.8:10, Ps. 147:2. In the morning prayers, the verses have survived in the first benediction for Shema‘ in all minhagim and for the benediction after Shema‘ in most of them. The text states that the only acceptable place for a Biblical verse is before the “seal”. Even the Mishnah prescribes benedictions whose text is a Biblical verse (Taäniot 2:2); what is prohibited here is using a verse in the final doxology..
Berakhot
Rab Sheshet said : If one opens with "Have mercy... upon Israel Thy people," he concludes with "Who savest Israel" ; if one opens with "Have mercy... upon Jerusalem Thy city," he concludes with "Who...rebuildest Jerusalem." Rab Nahman said: Even if one opens with "Have mercy... upon Israel Thy people," he should conclude with "Who... rebuildest Jerusalem"; because it is said, "The Lord doth build up Jerusalem, He gathereth together the dispersed of Israel" (Ps. cxlvii. 2) — when "doth the Lord build up Jerusalem"? At the time that "He gathereth together the dispersed of Israel."
Menachot
R’ Nachman bar Yitzchak said: “The Lord is the builder of Jerusalem…” (Psalms 147:2) And from the beginning (before the destruction) what would they say? Raba bar Rav Shilah said: “For the Lord has chosen Zion; He desired it for His habitation.” (Psalms 132:13)