I updated my previous post with an expanded discussion of Ri’s position on the nighttime Shema and ma’ariv and what it teaches us about the nature of the these two mitzvot. For those who would not otherwise see the revision, I post it here:
While Rabbenu Tam pulls Shema to follow Ma’ariv, Ri pulls ma’ariv to follow Shema. Ri states that we rule like the opinions in the Gemara that Shema can be said a little before sunset, and – says Ri – it is this which justifies saying ma’ariv early. Ri resists Rabbenu Tam’s approach, which is based on Rebbe Yehuda’s position of plag, since the accepted practice, as recorded in Tosafot, was to daven both mincha and ma’ariv after plag. This position is a logical contradiction since the times of mincha and ma’ariv do not overlap. Ri’s answer is: we rule like the Rabbis who argue on R. Yehuda, and are davening mincha after plag. As to why we daven ma’ariv during this period and before sunset? That’s in a new time – the בשכבך of Shema – which according to some tana’im begins when one comes home to eat, even before sunset. Because it is a time for Shema also becomes a time for ma’ariv.
How this time could be relevant for ma’ariv is not clear. Perhaps it could reflect an approach that the times of prayer are not based on the sacrifices, but rather on (ערב ובקר וצהרים אשיחה ואהמה וישמע קולי (תהלים נה:יח, the verse quoted on 20b in reference to the times of prayer, and made a reappearance at the beginning of the fifth perek on (31a) where Chana and Daniel are used as the paradigms for how we are to pray. This of course gets us back to the debate of prayers based on sacrifices or based on the forefathers, that is, personal, individual prayer (daf 26b). If the times are based on the human experience and the natural divisions of the day, then if people start heading off to eat their evening meals before sunset, that could nevertheless mark the beginning of the evening period for the evening prayers.
Still, this would have Shema and tefillah converging on this time for different reasons. Shema because it is the time one goes to bed and this is the בשכבך of the verse, and tefillah because it is considered nighttime. Ri could be understood to be going farther. Not only can ma’ariv be davened now since it is considered night, this is also the reason why Shema can be said now, because it is night, and not because it is when people go to be. For, in truth, it is hard to understand how the period before nightfall could be considered by anyone to be a time when people go to bed. So maybe it isn’t. Maybe this position holds that for Shema as well the key is morning or night and not בשכבך ובקומך. This possibility can be seen from the first daf of Berakhot. There the Gemara gives two reasons why the mesekhet opens with the nighttime Shema. One is because it is first in the verse – first בשכבך and then בקומך. But also because it is the order of the day – ויהי ערב ויהי בקר. The question is obvious – why does the Gemara need this second verse, since the first one speaks directly to the obligation of Shema. The answer is that there is another way to frame the time of Shema – as night and day, not as sleeping and rising (this makes sense according to the position that the reciting of Shema is not a Biblical obligation and not the meaning of בשכבך ובקומך). This seems to be the explanation for the position that connects the time of Shema with the kohanim becoming pure, or more directly, tzeit ha’kokhavim, which are classic halakhic definitions of night.
