More Discussions for this daf
1. Keri'as Shema - biblical or rabbinic? 2. Day and then night 3. Eating in the dark
4. Temimus 5. The posuk beshochbicha uvikumecha 6. Zman Krias Shma
7. earliest time to say Shema in the evening 8. Uva Hashemesh Vetaher 9. When does a poor man eat?
10. Be'arvin 11. What to read 12. The poor man's meal
13. Being Motzi another person with Shema 14. Eating korbanot until chatzot 15. The opposite of Tahor....
16. Sitting during Shema 17. Charts 18. When does Day Begin?
19. Does the Ri agree with the Yerushalmi 20. va'Yehi Erev va'Yehi Voker Yom Echad 21. Berachos 002: Shema
22. Kri'as Shema 23. To keep a person from Aveirah 24. Night or Day?
25. mi'Sha'ah sheha'Kohanim 26. Where do the Kohanim eat Terumah? 27. "reading" ; what about Kohanim?
28. Sof Zeman Shema 29. Second Answer of the Gemara 30. Zemanim
31. Rashi's Shitah for early Ma'ariv 32. Different Shitos in Shema 33. k'Sus ha'Zeh she'Eino Nirdam
34. Sunrise and Sunset 35. Translation of the Word "mi'Chi" 36. Tzeis or Bein ha'Shemashos
37. When do the Poor Eat? 38. The Gemara's Second Answer 39. Ashkenazi Keri'as Shema at Bedtime
40. Sunrise / Sunset 41. Iy Ba'is Eima 42. Which Shi'ur is earlier?
43. Zman Shema 44. When An Ani Eats His Bread 45. Rabeinu Tam in Tosfos
46. Is there a typo in the first Tosfos? 47. Times for Keri'as Shema 48. Tosfos and Rebbi Yehoshua Ben Levi
49. Codewords for Time of Earliest Kerias Shema 50. Me'eimasai 51. Korei vs Kor'in
52. Tzeis ha'Kochavim 53. Latest time 54. Time for saying Shema
55. בערבין 56. מתי אוכלים העניים 57. משעה שהעני אוכל פתו
DAF DISCUSSIONS - BERACHOS 2

Jeff Ram asked:

The answer to why the chachamim made a ruling to say the Shema not later than midnight is of "to keep a person far from aveira". Then, items of korbonos are compared. Rashi explains that the reason the chachamim decreed "not later than midnight" by the korbonos is that maybe he'll miscalculate daylight and eat them when it's already day and be chayav korais.

The worst situation that's seems possible if one is late saying the Shema is that a person missed an opportunity to fulfill the positive mitzva of Shema, but even so, he would fulfill the positive mitzva of learning Torah. Why is the comparison of "l'harchik ha'adam min ha'aveira" to something so "heavy" as missing the time of eating korbonos and being "chayav korais"? What's the aveira here?

The Kollel replies:

It seems that the RAMBAM may have also been bothered by your question. When he discusses the obligation to eat the meat from the Korbanos before midnight (Hilchos Ma'aseh ha'Korbanos 10:8), he says that it is "in order to distance a person from Aveirah ," which is the wording used by our Mishnah. But when he discusses the obligation to burn the Ketores before midnight (Hilchos Ma'aseh ha'Korbanos 4:2) and the obligation to recite Shema before midnight (Hilchos Keri'as Shema 1:9), he says, "... in order to distance a person from Peshi'ah !"

The Rambam replaces the word that our Gemara uses, "Aveirah," with a different word -- "Peshi'ah." The word "Peshi'ah" has less severe implications than the word "Aveirah," and it implies that the person transgressed a positive command (which is not as severe as transgressing a negative command, as you mentioned). Hence, the Rambam indeed learned that the comparison between eating the meat of Korbanos past its time and reciting Shema past its time was not an absolute comparison.

However, this begs the question. Why indeed does the Mishnah compare reciting Shema too late to eating Korbanos too late?

It must be that since it is extremely common for people to delay saying Shema and to fall asleep without having fulfilled the Mitzvah, the Rabanan used a severe comparison in order to ensure that people would not slip up. This is the implication of the Gemara later on 4b.