Who Stated in the Babylonian Talmud to Bless Upon Additional Wine🍷?

In the printed versions of the Babylonian Talmud, we read the following (Berakhot 59b):

וא”ר יוסף בר אבא א”ר יוחנן אע”פ שאמרו שינוי יין א”צ לברך אבל אומר ברוך הטוב והמטיב

Rav Yosef, son of Abba, said: “Rabbi Yoḥanan said: ‘Even though they said: “A change of wine does not require one to bless [upon that additional wine]”, but one says “Blessed is The Good and The One Who Makes Good”.'”

While this is the text as we find it in the printings by Joshua Solomon Soncino (Soncino, Italy: 1483), Daniel Bomberg (Venice, Italy: 1520), and Deborah Romm (Vilna, Russia: 1880), it seems a bit strange when we encounter a similar, yet possibly contradictory statement by Rabbi Yoḥanan (Pesaḥim 101a-b):

אָמַר רַבִּי חָנִין בַּר אַבָּיֵי אָמַר רַבִּי פְּדָת אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: אֶחָד שִׁינּוּי יַיִן, וְאֶחָד שִׁינּוּי מָקוֹם — אֵין צָרִיךְ לְבָרֵךְ.

Rabbi Ḥanin bar Abayye said: “Rabbi Pedat said: ‘Rabbi Yoḥanan said: “Both a change of wine and a change of place – one need not bless.”‘”

While it might seem, according to the latter text that Rabbi Yoḥanan is saying that one need not make this blessing, maybe, according to the first text, one still may. Nevertheless, that does seem to be a bit challenging to make them fit with each other.

When inspecting the manuscripts of our initial text, however, a different picture emerges, as none of the manuscripts witness Rav Yosef, son of Abba directly quoting Rabbi Yoḥanan(!). In fact, these manuscripts (MS Firenze 7, MS Munich 95, MS Oxford 366, & MS Paris 671) all witness Rav Yosef directly quoting Rav as stating this blessing to be said over additional wine.

This then results in the following from Berakhot 59b:

ואמר רב יוסף אמר רב אע”פ שאמרו שינוי יין א”צ לברך אבל אומר ברוך הטוב והמטיב

Rav Yosef said: “Rav said: ‘Even though they said: “A change of wine does not require one to bless [upon that additional wine]”, but one says “Blessed is The Good and The One Who Makes Good”.'”

This yields the following:

• Rabbi Yoḥanan (as directly quoted by Rabbi Pedat as directly quoted by Rabbi Ḥanin bar Abayye) does not require or even offer the opportunity to make a blessing over additional wine
• Rav (as directly quoted by Rav Yosef) acknowledges the lack of a need to make a blessing over additional wine, but advocates for the opportunity to make such a blessing
• Rav and Rabbi Yoḥanan differ upon this blessing

While we could finish here with our discussion, one further matter needs to be addressed: who quoted Rav? While it is true that all of these Talmudic manuscripts witness Rav Yosef directly quoting Rav, to have a third-generation rabbi directly quoting a first-generation rabbi seems to be a chronological mismatch. Indeed, we find a couple of times where Rav Yosef references a statement of Rav Yehudah directly quoting Rav (Shabbat 101a and Eruvin 7a), so he is aware of his statements, but we never read of any instances of Rav Yosef directly quoting Rav Yehudah directly quoting Rav (there is one instance in the printed edition where we see that (Niddah 66a), although it “was probably added from a previous, unrelated line in the sugya” (Shai Secunda, “‘Dashtana – “Ki Derekh Nashim Li“‘: A Study of the Babylonian Rabbinic Laws of Menstruation in Relation to Corresponding Zoroastrian Texts,” (Ph.D. diss., Yeshiva University, 2007), 144, n. 325), although we do read of many instances (at least over a dozen) of Rav Yosef directly quoting Rav Yehudah directly quoting Shmuel.

Are there any other instances in the Talmud where Rav Yosef is shown to directly quote Rav?

We find two of them, the first of which is where we read of “רב יוסף אמר רב המפקיר עבדו יצא לחירות” (Rav Yosef said: “Rav said: ‘One who renounces ownership of his slave, [the slave] is emancipated'”) (Gittin 38b), which is how it appears not only in the printed editions, but also in the extant Talmudic manuscripts.

The second of them is where we read in the printed editions: “אמר רב יוסף אמר רב שגדלו בשם המפורש” (Rav Yosef said: “Rav said: ‘That he ascribed greatness to Him by His explicit name'”) (Yoma 69b), which is how it appears in a couple of Talmudic manuscripts (MS Engleberg 4 and MS Vatican 134). However, the overwhelming majority of the Talmudic manuscripts do not witness Rav’s involvement (MSS Munich 6, Munich 95, Unlau 270, Unlau 271, Oxford 366, and Bologna Bub A.V.BB.V.34), so perhaps this statement may just have been Rav Yosef’s without Rav’s involvement.

Ultimately, what we are left with are a few possibilities:

1. Rav Yosef did, indeed, quote Rav on Berakhot 59b, just as he did on Yoma 69b and Gittin 38b
2. Rav Yosef did, indeed, quote Rav on Berakhot 59b, just as he did on Gittin 38b, even though that’s the only other place where he did so
3. Rav may have made this statement, but was quoted by someone not named Rav Yosef….