1)

(a)The Tana Kama of the Beraisa forbids taking wine, oil and flour ...

1. ... out of Eretz Yisrael. Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira - permits taking out wine, because the less wine there is, the less lightheadedness.

2. ... from Eretz Yisrael to Syria, because, even though David Hamelech captured Syria - we have a principle that what a King captures in a private capacity is not considered 'captured'.

(b)The significance of wine, oil and flour is - the fact that they are basic requirements for daily living.

(c)Rebbi - permits sending them from the last area in Eretz Yisrael to the first area in Syria (because they are so close).

2)

(a)When the Tana Kama of another Beraisa forbids making a profit from basic commodities (such as those that he just mentioned) in Eretz Yisrael, he means - that one should not purchase them from the owner to sell, but the latter should sell them directly to the public.

(b)It is permitted however - if the purchaser bought wheat and made bread, to sell the bread (because of the extra Tircha involved).

(c)Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah used to make a profit from wine, because he held like Rebbi, and from oil - simply because in his town, there was an abundance of oil.

(d)Yet another Beraisa forbids making a profit from eggs twice (Pa'amayim). Mari bar Mari cites a Machlokes between Rav and Shmuel. According to one of them, this means that it is forbidden to charge double than what one paid for them. Even though Shmuel forbids earning a profit of more than a sixth, eggs are different - because a. they are not as indispensable as the previous commodities, and b. - because it is such a bother for a poor man (who it seems, would be the one to peddle eggs) to purchase the eggs that he needs to sell, added to the fact that there is little profit in eggs.

(e)According to the other opinion - the Beraisa forbids one egg-merchant to sell eggs to another egg-merchant (so that the second merchant makes an extra profit).

3)

(a)When the Tana of the Beraisa says 'Masri'in al P'rakmatya she'Huzlah, Afilu be'Shabbos' he means that - one is permitted to Daven on Shabbos (see Rabeinu Gershom) following a significant drop in the price of merchandise.

(b)Rebbi Yochanan restricts this to linen clothes in Bavel - which are expensive, and whose price-decrease is therefore of no benefit to the poor ...

(c)... and to - wine and oil in Eretz Yisrael.

(d)For the concession to apply, the price of the merchandise must have dropped from ten for a given price to six (a forty per-cent decrease).

4)

(a)Similarly, one is permitted to leave Eretz Yisrael - if the price of corn rises to the extent that two Se'ah of wheat now cost a Sela (double the regular price).

(b)Rebbi Shimon (bar Yochai or Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar) qualifies this Halachah - restricting it to when wheat is also scarce, but not to when it is readily available.

(c)And the same Rebbi Shimon describes Elimelech, Machlon and Chilyon - as both spiritual and communal leaders of their generation ...

(d)... and attributes their having been punished - to the fact that they left Eretz Yisrael.

5)

(a)Rebbi Yitzchak explains the exclamation of the residents of Beis-Lechem (when they first saw Naomi accompAnied by Rus upon her 'return' from Mo'av) 'ha'Zos Naomi!' to mean - 'Did you see ('ha'Zos' = 'ha'Chazis') what befell Naomi for leaving Eretz Yisrael!'

(b)He also said that on the very same day that they returned - Bo'az' wife died (because Hash-m tends to create the cure before dealing the stroke).

(c)The adage attached to his statement is - 'Before someone dies, his successor is ready to take over the household'.

6)

(a)Rabah bar Rav Huna states that ...

1. ... Ivtzan and Bo'az are one and the same person - thereby reinforcing his other statement that Boaz had already fathered thirty sons and thirty daughters (as the Pasuk in Shoftim records in connection with Ivtzan [otherwise we would have thought that Ivtzan died without fathering any more children, and that Boaz had only one son).

2. ... Bo'az made a hundred and twenty festive meals for his children - sixty when they became engaged, and sixty when they married (see also Rabeinu Gershom).

(b)We can learn from Boaz - that even someone who has many children, and whose wife dies, should not hesitate to marry again and to have more children, since one never knows which children will survive him.

(c)He did not invite Mano'ach to all these parties - because he was 'a barren mule' (he could not have children). See Agados Maharsha.

(d)Rav Chanan bar Rav informs us that Elimelech, Salmon and P'loni Almoni (whose real name was Tov) were all children of Nachshon ben Aminadav. Nachshon's fourth son was - Naomi's father (which means that she married her uncle).

(e)We learn from Rav Chanan bar Rav's statement - that good Yichus (such as that of Elimelech, Machlon and Chilyon) will not stand a person in good stead if he leaves Eretz Yisrael.

7)

(a)Rav Chanan bar Rava Amar Rav also stated that the mothers of Avraham and Haman - were both called Amaslai

(b)One of their grandfathers was Karn'vo, the other Urv'sa - which we can easily identify when we connect 'Karn'vo' with Karim (min ha'Tzon [fat sheep) a Kasher Animal, whereas Urv'sa, which is a female raven, is a Tamei bird. It is now easy to work out which is which.

(c)Rav found it necessary to give us this information - because the Torah supplies us with the names of Yitzchak and Ya'akov's mothers, so we need to know that of Avraham too. And he only mentions Haman's mother because of the similarity to Avraham's.

(d)

1. Nitzeves bas Ada'el was - David Hamelech's mother. We need to know this - because the names of all the other kings mentioned in Melachim are mentioned.

2. Tz'lalpAnis and Nashyan are - Shimshon's mother and sister, respectively. We need to know specifically the former - because the Navi talks a lot about Shimshon, and besides, his mother and father are mentioned there too.

(e)All this is really a reply to the Minim (the non-believers), who would be surprised if we did not know who these people were (for the various reasons that we just gave).

8)

(a)Avraham Avinu was a captive for three years in Kuta and seven in Kardu.

(b)Rav Dimi (quoting a Beraisa) - reverses the two time-periods.

(c)Ibra Ze'ira de'Kuta is better known as - Ur Kasdim. The Halachic ramifications of this information is - that if we see this spot, we are obligated to recite a B'rachah ('she'Asah Nisim la'Avoseinu ... ').

(d)On the day that Avraham Avinu died, Rav Chanan bar Rava Amar Rav teaches us that all the world leaders stood in a row and announced - 'Woe to the world who lost its leader! Woe to the ship that lost its navigator!'

9)

(a)Rav Chanan bar Rava Amar Rav interprets the Pasuk in Divrei Hayamim "ve'ha'Misnasei le'Chol le'Rosh" to mean - that every appointment is made in Heaven ...

(b)... even the manager in charge of the rota for drawing water to water one's fields.

(c)Rav Chiya bar Avin cites Rebbi Yehoshua ben Korchah, who disagrees with Rebbi Shimon (quoted on the previous Amud), He claims - that Elimelech, Machlon and Chilyon would not have left Eretz Yisrael, even if they had found just oats to eat.

(d)They were punished, he says - for not praying on behalf of the people of their generation.

10)

(a)Rabah bar bar Chanah Amar Rebbi Yochanan permits leaving Eretz Yisrael, even if one can obtain four Se'ah of wheat for a Sela - if money is scarce.

(b)To bear this out, Rebbi Yochanan recalled - when four Se'ah could be purchased for a Sela, yet people were dying of starvation, because there was no money.

(c)Rebbi Yochanan recalled how ...

1. ... laborers would refuse to hire themselves out on the east side of the city - because they would die from the tantalizing aroma of freshly-baked bread that the west-wind carried across (according to some commentaries, because they were starving).

2. ... a thin stream of honey dripped - from the carab that he had just broken in two on to his two arms.

3. ... a thin stream of oil dripped from the top of the wall to the ground - from the juicy piece of meat that a raven had just deposited there.

4. ... youths of sixteen and seventeen - boys and girls, would walk together in the streets without sinning.

(d)And he remembered them saying in the Beis-Hamedrash that someone who ...

1. ... concurs with what Nochrim say (i.e. flatters them [Agados Maharsha]) - will fall prey to them.

2. ... trusts them - will lose whatever he owns to them (like happened to Chizkiyah Hamelech, when he displayed his treasury to the messengers of the KIng of Bavel).

11)

(a)Machlon and Chilyon are referred to in Divrei Hayamim as Yo'ash and 'Saraf'. Assuming their names to have been ...

1. ... Machlon and Chilyon, they are referred to as Yo'ash and Saraf - because they despaired (from the word 'Ye'ush') of the redemption (from the famine), and because they deserved to be burned.

2. ... Yo'ash and Saraf, they are referred to as 'Machlon' and 'Chilyon' - because they defiled themselves by leaving Eretz Yisrael (Rabeinu Gershom [or by marrying Nochri women, Agados Maharsha]), and were therefore destroyed.

(b)In the Beraisa that corroborates the first opinion, the Pasuk cited there refers to ...

1. ... Yehoshua as 'Yokim' - because he established a treaty with the Giv'onim.

2. ... the Giv'onim as 'Anshei Koziba' - because they lied to Yehoshua.

3. ... Rus as 'Yishbi Lechem' - because she returned (with Naomi) and cleaved to the town of Beis-Lechem.

(c)"ve'ha'Devarim Atikin" ('the words are of ancient') means that the episode with Rus is hinted in the Torah earlier. The combination of the two Pesukim "Matzasi David Avdi" (Tehilim) and "es Sh'tei Benosecha ha'Nimtza'os (Vayeira) hint - that Hash-m found David (see also Agados Maharsha) following the episode with Lot and his two daughters, one of whom gave birth to Mo'av (the nation from which Rus came).

12)

(a)The Pasuk in Divrei Hayamim refers to ...

1. ... the sons of Yonadav ben Reichav (a descendant of Yisro) as "ha'Yotzrim (the keepers)" - because they kept the oath that their father took (not to drink wine and not to build houses [because he predicted the Churban Beis-Hamikdash]).

2. ... Shlomoh as "Neta'im" - because, like a sapling, his kingdom grew steadily.

3. ... the Sanhedrin as "Gadrah" - because they make 'Gedarim' (decrees) to safeguard the Torah.

4. ... Rus as "Im ha'Melech bi'Melachto Yashvu sham" - because she saw the kingdom of her great-grandson Sh'lomoh (as if the Torah had written [not "bi'Melachto", but] "be'Malchuso'').

(b)When the Pasuk writes "And he (Shlomoh Hamelech) made a throne for "the mother of the kingdom'', it refers to - Rus.

13)

(a)Commenting on the Pasuk in Bechokosai "va'Achaltem min ha'Tevu'ah Yashan", the Beraisa explains 'without Salmanton' - which causes the crops to rot.

(b)Rav Nachman explains this to mean 'be'Lo Retzinta' (without a sort of worm that causes the produce to rot). According to Rav Sheishes, the Tana means 'be'Lo Shedifa' - draught which normally causes the crops to become hot and then to rot).

(c)Two Beraisos support Rav Nachman and Rav Sheishes respectively. Based on the Pasuk "va'Achaltem Yashan Noshan ... ad Bo Tevu'asah", they both conclude - that in time of B'rachah, Yisrael will eat the old crops right up to the time that the new crops arrive (a guarantee that they will not go bad).

(d)We prove from the Beraisa which uses the Pasuk to counter the suggestion that perhaps the old produce ...

1. ... will not reach completion (because it has been eaten by the Retzina) - that Rav Nachman is right.

2. ... will go bad (even though it is complete) - that Rav Sheishes is right.

(e)If the crops start to go bad prematurely - one would harvest them early and roast the kernels.

14)

(a)Another Beraisa learns from ...

1. ... the Pasuk there "va'Achaltem Yashan" - that they will eat Yashan (even when the new crops are available), a proof that the produce will keep on improving with age.

2. ... the additioal word "Noshan" - that this extends even to foods that are not normally good once they are no longer fresh (such as summer fruits, which go bad quickly).

3. ... "ve'Yashan Mipnei Chadash Totzi'u" - that the storehouses will be full of old produce and the granaries of new, and Yisrael will have to empty the former to make room for the latter.

(b)They will use all that produce - for export.

(c)Despite the fact that the old crops are better than the new ones, they will take the former out of the storehouses to make room for the latter - because new crops mature better than old crops.

(d)Rav Papa lists only three things that are not good once they are no longer fresh: dates, beer - and little fish.