1)

(a)Rebbi Yehudah in our Mishnah permits selling a 'broken' animal to a Nochri - because it is incurable, and will never be able to work. Consequently, the owner will therefore slaughter it immediately and not come to sacrifice it.

(b)The Rabbanan queried him however - (at least in the case of a female animal) because the purchaser is still able to use it for breeding.

(c)When Rebbi Yehudah answered 'le'che'she'Teiled' - he meant that when the animal gives birth, we will worry about it (because, he claims, due to its battered state, it will not allow a male to have physical contact with it).

2)

(a)ben Beseira in our Mishnah permits selling a Nochri a horse - because, as he explains in a Beraisa - it does not perform a Melachah for which its owner would be Chayav a Chatas (seeing as a live person carries part of his own weight.

(b)Rebbi however, forbids selling it, both because it is a weapon and because it is a large animal. As a weapon - it can be trained to use its forelegs to crush an enemy soldier who falls in war.

(c)And when he gives it the Din of a large animal, he means - that when it becomes old, it is used it to grind in the mill.

(d)Rebbi Yochanan rules - like ben Beseira.

3)

(a)They asked whether one may sell a Shor shel Petem - a fattened ox (which is too fat to work).

(b)Even ...

1. ... Rebbi Yehudah (who permits selling a broken animal), might concede that selling a Shor shel Petem is forbidden - because, unlike a broken animal, its situation can change (it can become thin and capable of working).

2. ... the Rabbanan (who forbid selling a broken animal) might concede that it is permitted - because, as opposed to a broken animal, it has been designated to be Shechted immediately.

(c)Rebbi used to have to pay a fattened ox to the Romans on the day of their festival. Rav Yehudah Amar Shmuel informs us that he first paid four Ribevan (a large sum of money) to postpone the slaughtering it until the following day. He subsequently paid ...

1. ... them a second Ribevan - for permission to send it to them already Shechted, and ...

2. ... a third Ribevan, to have the gift abolished altogether.

(d)Assuming that it all took place within one year, we try and prove from the fact that he arranged to send the ox already Shechted - that it is forbidden to send Nochrim a fattened ox, in case they leave it to lose weight and then work with it.

4)

(a)We dismiss the proof however - by referring to the first of the three achievements (arranging for them to slaughter the animal the day after their festival), a proof that giving them a fattened ox is not prohibited.

(b)So we establish the entire episode - to cover three consecutive years. Rebbi set out to abolish the gift altogether, and he succeeded by doing so in stages.

(c)Finally, we wonder how a fattened ox will be able to work at all, even after losing its excess weight. Z'vida the ox fattener however, told Rav Ashi that such an ox will work twice as efficiently as an ox that has not been fattened.

5)

(a)Our Mishnah - forbids selling Nochrim bears, lions and other dangerous animals.

(b)The Tana also forbids building for them 'Basilki, Gardum, Itztedaya u'Bimah'. If ...

1. ... 'Basilki' is a large, high platform which served both as a courtroom (where people would be judged for crimes that carried the death-penalty), and as the place of execution (from which they would then be pushed to their deaths), 'Gardum' is - a building which served exclusively as a courtroom.

2. ... 'Itzdedaya' is an arena where people who had been sentenced to death, would be made to fight with wild oxen. 'Bimah' is - a high platform that was used as a place of execution (as described above) exclusively.

(c)Our Mishnah goes on to permit building them Bimisi'os and bathhouses. A 'Bimus' is - an altars made of one large stone (as opposed to a Mizbe'ach, which is made of many stones). See also the commentaries on the Mishnah.

(d)The bathhouses however, were only permitted until they reached the archway - which they were forbidden to build, because they would place the image of 'Aphrodite' (a Greek goddess) there.

6)

(a)Rav Chanin bar Rav Chisda (or Rav Chanan bar Rava) Amar Rav equated the Din of a large Chayah with that of a small Beheimah regarding Pirchus - 'shuddering after Shechitah, which determines that the animal is not a Neveilah).

(b)The Din of 'Pirchus' with regard to ...

1. ... a small Beheimah is - that if a weak animal sticks out its foreleg after it has been Shechted and dies without 'Pirchus', it is considered a Neveilah, and may not be eaten.

2. ... a large Beheimah is - that sticking out its foot after the Shechitah is sufficient proof that it is not a Neveilah.

(c)When Rav added 'Aval Lo li'Mechirah', he meant - that as far as selling them to a Nochri is concerned, a large Chayah has the same Din as a large Beheimah.

(d)Rav Chanin himself holds - that (seeing as one does not usually work with Chayos), they have the Din of a small Beheimah, which one is permitted to sell to a Nochri, subject to Minhag.

(e)We can extrapolate from our Mishnah 'Ein Mochrin lahen ... ve'Chol Davar she'Yesh bo Nezek la'Rabim' - that one may sell them a tamed lion for example, which is not dangerous (a Kashya on Rav).

7)

(a)To answer the Kashya on Rav, Rabah bar Ula establishes the inference in our Mishnah (permitting the sale of a tame lion) with regard to a broken one, according to Rebbi Yehudah (who permits the sale of a broken animal). Rav Ashi establishes it even by a healthy lion, and a lion is different than a large Beheimah in this regard, he points out - inasmuch as lions do not normally work. Consequently, all lions are automatically compared to a broken horse, which Rebbi Yehudah permits.

(b)We cite another Beraisa in final support of Rav. The Tana equates the sale of a large Chayah - with that of a large Beheimah (which is forbidden, even in a place where the Minhag is to sell them small animals).

(c)Ravina points out an apparent contradiction between our Mishnah - which implies that one may sell a tame Chayah to a Nochri, and the Beraisa that we just cited, that expressly prohibits it.

(d)He himself reconciles the two by establishing our Mishnah in the case of a broken lion (as we learned a little earlier). Rav Ashi reconciles them - by considering every lion as if is was broken (as we learned there too).

(e)Rav Nachman has a third explanation (see Tosfos DH 'Maskif lah'). He categorizes a lion as - a small Chayah.

8)

(a)Based on his own previous interpretation of a lion, Rav Ashi extrapolates from our Mishnah 'Ein Mochrin lahem ... Arayos, ve'Chol she'Yesh bo Nezek le'Rabim' - that any Chayah other than a lion (and a bear), are forbidden to sell to a Nochri at all costs (because it is capable of working [a further refutation of Rav Chanan bar Rava]).

(b)To demonstrate the sort of Melachah one might do with a large type of Chayah, Abaye cites Mar Yehudah who told him - that bar Yuchni would tie wild donkeys to the threshing-floor and make them thresh the corn.

(c)Rav Yehudah told Rebbi Zeira that he had heard from a great man 'Chayah Gasah Harei Hi ki'Beheimah Dakah le'Pirchus' (as we learned earlier). He heard it from one of his two Rebbes - Rav or Shmuel, but could not recall which.

9)

(a)When Rebbi Zeira arrived in Karkunya, he heard Rav Chiya bar Ashi citing this Halachah in the name of Shmuel. He ...

1. ... therefore assumed - that Rav Yehudah too, must have heard it from Shmuel. When he then went to Sura and ...

2. ... heard Rabah bar Yirmiyah in Sura citing it in the name of Rav - he concluded that RaV Yehudah must have heard it from both his Rebbes.

(b)The problem he had when he arrived in Eretz Yisrael, and Rav Asi presented the same Halachah quoting Rav Chama bar Gurya in the name of Rav, he promptly queried him - on the grounds that he had heard the same ruling of Rav quoted by Rabah bar Yirmiyah.

(c)Rav Asi replied 'Pasya Uchma (black vessel), Mina'i u'Minach Tistayem Milsa!' He referred to him as 'Pasya Uchma' (with reference to a Gemara later in the second Perek) because he learned Torah constantly, like an earthenware vessel, that becomes black from wear.

(d)'Mina'i u'Minach Tistayem Milsa!' means that - through me and you we will arrive at the correct conclusion.

(e)Based on Rav Asi's reply, we finally present this ruling as - 'Amar Rav Zeira Amar Rav Asi Amar Rabah bar Yirmiyah Amar Rav Chama bar Gurya Amar Rav, Chayah Gasah Harei Hi ki'Beheimah Dakah le'Pirchus'.

10)

11)

(a)The Beraisa relates an episode where they seized Rebbi Eliezer and brought him to the Gardum - for studying Torah (which the Romans classified as Miynus (heresy [Ra'avad]).

(b)The governor expressed surprise - that such a wise man should indulge in such nonsense.

(c)When Rebbi Eliezer replied 'Ne'eman alai ha'Dayan', the governor responded with the statement 'Dimus (the name of his god) Patur Atah' - because he thought that Rebbi Eliezer was agreeing with his statement.

(d)In reality though, Rebbi Eliezer was referring - to the Judge of the World, Hash-m Himself.

12)

(a)Rebbi Eliezer was upset - because the governor credited him with condescending to his statement that described Torah-study as nonsense.

(b)When his Talmidim came to comfort him - he refused to be comforted.

(c)After Rebbi Eliezer granted Rebbi Akiva permission to remind him of something that he himself had once taught them, Rebbi Akiva suggested to him - that he had perhaps once heard a heretical statement from which he derived pleasure.

(d)Rebbi Eliezer recalled an encounter in the upper market of Tzipori, where he once met Ya'akov from the village of Sechanya - a Miyn ...

(e)... who asked him - whether one is permitted to use the money of an Esnan Zonah to build a bathroom for the Kohen Gadol to use during the seven days prior to Yom Kipur, when he went to live in the Lishkas Farhedrin.

13)

(a)Rebbi Eliezer did not have an answer. To resolve the She'eilah, however, the Miyn had been taught - that, since the money came from a source of filth, it was appropriate to use it as a bathroom (and he even quoted the Pasuk in Michah "Ki me'Esnan Zonah Kavtzah ve'Ad Esnan Zonah Yashuvu").

(b)Rebbi Eliezer's reaction to that was - one of pleasure at hearing such a fine P'shat.

(c)He now ascribed the above court-hearing (accusing him of heresy) to his reaction to the heretic's P'shat.

(d)He claimed to have transgressed the Pasuk in Mishlei. "Harchek me'Alehah Darkech", which refers to Miynus. The continuation of the Pasuk "Al Tikrav el Pesach Beisah" refers to - the ruling power (the Rashus).