Pesachim 104
What is the secret to long life? Everyone wants to know the answer to that. Our sages had their own ideas about what gives a person merit so that he or she may achieve the blessings of long life.
On amud beis, a particular assurance of blessings for long life is given for reciting the following formula in the closing of havdalah (important: we don’t follow this nusach halakhically.)
תָּנָא מִשְּׁמֵיהּ דְּרַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן חֲנַנְיָא: כׇּל הַחוֹתֵם ״מְקַדֵּשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קוֹדֶשׁ לְחוֹל״ מַאֲרִיכִין לוֹ יָמָיו וּשְׁנוֹתָיו.
It was taught in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya: Anyone who concludes the havdala blessing with the combined formula: Who sanctifies Israel and distinguishes between sacred and profane, God will lengthen his days and years.
There are a handful of similar portents throughout Shas. For example:
Berachos 8b
וַאֲפִילּוּ ״עֲטָרוֹת וְדִיבֹן״. שֶׁכָּל הַמַּשְׁלִים פָּרָשִׁיּוֹתָיו עִם הַצִּבּוּר מֵאֲרִיכִין לוֹ יָמָיו וּשְׁנוֹתָיו.
This applies to every verse, even a verse like: “Atarot and Divon and Yazer and Nimra and Ḥeshbon and Elaleh and Sevam and Nevo and Beon” (Numbers 32:3). While that verse is comprised entirely of names of places that are identical in Hebrew and Aramaic, one is nevertheless required to read the verse twice and its translation once, as one who completes his Torah portions with the congregation is rewarded that his days and years are extended.
Berachos 13b
תַּנְיָא סוֹמְכוֹס אוֹמֵר: כָּל הַמַּאֲרִיךְ בְּ״אֶחָד״, מַאֲרִיכִין לוֹ יָמָיו וּשְׁנוֹתָיו. אָמַר רַב אַחָא בַּר יַעֲקֹב: וּבַדָּלֵית. אָמַר רַב אָשֵׁי: וּבִלְבַד שֶׁלֹּא יַחֲטוֹף בַּחֵית.
It was taught in a baraita, Sumakhos says: One who extends his intonation of the word One [eḥad] while reciting Shema, is rewarded that his days and years are extended. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: This is only true if he extends the letter dalet, so the word eḥad is sounded in its entirety. Rav Ashi said: This is only so long as one does not pronounce the letter ḥet hurriedly.
Berachos 22a
אָמַר רַבִּי יַנַּאי: שָׁמַעְתִּי שֶׁמְּקִילִּין בָּהּ וְשָׁמַעְתִּי שֶׁמַּחֲמִירִין בָּהּ, וְכׇל הַמַּחֲמִיר בָּהּ עַל עַצְמוֹ מַאֲרִיכִין לוֹ יָמָיו וּשְׁנוֹתָיו.
With regard to this ritual immersion, Rabbi Yannai said: I heard that there are those who are lenient with regard to it and I have heard that there are those who are stringent with regard to it. The halakha in this matter was never conclusively established and anyone who accepts upon himself to be stringent with regard to it, they prolong for him his days and years.
Berachos 47a
בֶּן עַזַּאי אוֹמֵר: כׇּל הָעוֹנֶה ״אָמֵן״ יְתוֹמָה — יִהְיוּ בָּנָיו יְתוֹמִים, חֲטוּפָה — יִתְחַטְּפוּ יָמָיו, קְטוּפָה — יִתְקַטְּפוּ יָמָיו. וְכׇל הַמַּאֲרִיךְ בְּ״אָמֵן״ — מַאֲרִיכִין לוֹ יָמָיו וּשְׁנוֹתָיו.
Ben Azzai says: Anyone who recites an orphaned amen, his children will be orphaned; one who recites an abbreviated amen, his days will be abbreviated and incomplete; one who recites a truncated amen, his days will be truncated. One who extends his amen, they will extend his days and years for him. Nonetheless, one should not prolong it extensively.
Berachos 54b
וְאָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה: שְׁלֹשָׁה דְּבָרִים הַמַּאֲרִיךְ בָּהֶן מַאֲרִיכִין יָמָיו וּשְׁנוֹתָיו שֶׁל אָדָם. הַמַּאֲרִיךְ בִּתְפִלָּתוֹ, וְהַמַּאֲרִיךְ עַל שֻׁלְחָנוֹ, וְהַמַּאֲרִיךְ בְּבֵית הַכִּסֵּא.
And Rav Yehuda said: There are three matters which, when one who prolongs their duration, they extend a person’s days and years. They are: One who prolongs his prayer, one who prolongs his mealtime at the table, and one who prolongs his time in the bathroom.
While I cannot see a unified explanation for why these particular actions merit extend a person’s life, there are two interesting features in these life-extending acts:
- They are exclusively from one masechta, Berachos, except for our Gemara’s quote.
- They are mostly regarding various liturgical, prayer or speech related matters. Even the one regarding takanas Ezra, has to do with Torah and prayer, as the main expression of takanas Ezra was to forbid prayer or Torah study prior to immersion (Berachos 22)
One idea that hits me is that there is a secret ironic message embedded within these various devices. That is, if life is a lengthened merely through speech activities, then even more physical activities and mitzvos that require greater effort should surely increase the lifespan!
This echoes a similar to this teaching in Mishna Chulin (12:5) where it is noted that a relatively easy mitzvah such as sending away the mother bird merits long life (and it also is one of the few mitzvos that the Torah even mentions a reward), surely then all the other mitzvos should merit long life and more.
If so, this is another example of Chazal’s reluctance to make explicit statements about matters that felt one should figure out and deduce to increase sensitivity to nuance.
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