Berakhot 16

There is more in today's text on intent and concentration when we pray, which continues to serve as a reminder to live our lives with focus on what matters most: "The primary issue in this mishna is the requisite degree of concentration when reciting Shema."  And again, the reference to the difference in obligation between when a man marries a virgin or a widow. The story about the rabbi who bathed on the first night after his wife died because he was "delicate" reminded me of when my grandmother would beg my grandfather, who was very religious and had type 1 diabetes, to eat on Yom Kippur. She was making the "delicate" argument based on her belief that God would understand because he would not want my grandfather to jeopardize his health. The additional text on how the death of slaves and maidservants should be observed is deeply troubling to my modern secular Jewish sensibility, as is the differences in how classes of people should be treated, including widows, hearing-impaired, and laborers.