1)

(a)According to Rebbi Yochanan - if a group of people recline whilst drinking wine, one person will recite a Berachah for all of them; otherwise, each person has to recite the Berachah himself.

(b)Rav holds - either that for wine, reclining is not necessary (and one person will be able to be Motzi them all even if they are not leaning), or that it is not even effective (in which case, each person will have to recite his own Berachah, even if they are reclining).

(c)They used to wash one hand before the meal - because, before they even entered the dining-room, the guests (comprising poor people) would gather in the lobby and be served wine, so they would wash the hand with which they intended to drink.

(d)Nevertheless - they would still be required to wash both hands for the meal.

2)

(a)The Beraisa also writes, that when the guests were served wine before entering the dining-room, where it was not customary to lean - everyone had to recite the Berachah himself) - because, at the outset, they intended moving into another room Nevertheless, in the first Lashon, Rav holds that wine does not require leaning, because he is speaking when they are already in the dining-room, from where they do not intend to move.

(b)Leaning is only effective in the Seifa, to combine them into one group for wine - because it also combined them into one group for the meal, so we apply the principle of 'Migu' (since leaning helps for the meal, it also helps for wine), but not in Rav's case, where they do not intend to eat.

(c)Ben Zoma explains that it is only when wine is brought at the end of the meal, that one person recites the Berachah for everyone, because then, everyone concentrates - whereas when it is brought in the middle* of the meal, each person must recite the Berachah himself, because then, everyone is busy eating, and will not pay attention to the Berachah of the individual who is reciting it.

3)

(a)When two Berachos customarily follow each other, then whoever is honored with reciting the one, automatically earns the right to recite the other (in the vein of 'ha'Maschil be'Mitzvah Omrim Lo Gemor'), like we find by Bensching, where the person who washes Mayim Acharonim first (of the last five) automatically receives the honor of Bensching 'Mezuman'.

(b)Rebbi instructed Rav - to wash his hands. Rav was worried -because he thought that maybe his hands were dirty, or that maybe he was eating too long.

(c)What Rebbi really meant was - that Rav should now wash (first of the last five) in order that he should be the one to Bensch 'Mezuman' (which in fact was considered a great honor).

4)

(a)One recites a Berachah over incense - as soon as the smoke rises from it.

(b)Rebbi Zeira was concerned that - at that stage, he had not yet derived benefit from it (and there was nothing tangible over which to recite the Berachah).

(c)They allayed his concern by reminding him, that with food too, one recites the Berachah because one intends to benefit, before actually having benefited (and the intention is no more tangible by food than it is by a smell.

5)

(a)The Gemara first thought that over all types of incense, one recites 'Borei Atzei Besamim' ...

(b)... with the exception of Musk, which comes from the dung of a deer, over which the correct Berachah is 'Borei Minei Besamim'.

(c)The Gemara refutes the above contention by quoting a Beraisa ... that one recites 'Borei Minei Besamim' only over those types of Besamim where one smells the actual wood (such as the sophisticated Afarsemon that was brought before Rebbi and the Emperor), or over myrtle twigs, but not over the smoke that rises after it has been burnt.

(d)Rav Yehudah would recite 'Borei Shemen Artzeinu' over Afarsemon oil, because he was particularly fond of Eretz Yisrael. The Berachah that we recite over Afarsemon oil is 'Borei Shemen Oreiv' (not 'Borei Shemen Artzeinu' - because our love of Eretz Yisrael does not match that of Rav Yehudah).

6)

(a)We conclude that - one always recites 'Borei Atzei Besamim' over Kosht, even if it has been soaked in oil, or ground.

(b)The correct Berachah over ...

1. ... jasmin - is 'Borei Atzei Besamim'.

2. ... lavender - is also 'Borei Atzei Besamim'. The latter is called 'Eitz' (despite the fact that it grows as a stalk, and not in the form of a tree), because it is similar (in this regard) to flax, which grows as stalks, yet the Pasuk in Yehoshua writes "va'Titmeneim be'Fishtei ha'Eitz".

7)

(a)The correct Berachah over

1. ... a garden-lily - is 'Borei Atzei Besamim' (because it is watered, and is a more perfect and longer-lasting species) ...

2. ... a field-lily - 'Borei Isvei Besamim' .

(b)The Berachah over an Esrog or a quince - is 'Asher Nasan Rei'ach Tov ba'Peiros'.

(c)The Berachah 'Asher Lo Chisar be'Olamo Kelum' etc. - is the Berachah that one recites in Nisan (or whenever the local blossoming season is), when one sees fruit-trees in blossom for the first time.

8)

(a)The obligation to recite a Berachah over smelling - is derived from the last Pasuk in Tehilim: "Kol ha'Neshamah Tehalel Kah", and it is the sense of smell that gives the Soul pleasure (but not the body).

(b)We learn from "es ha'Kol Asah Yafeh be'Ito" - that Hash-m arranges for every man to be satisfied with his occupation, though it may be unpleasant to everybody else (just like a pig will happily destroy that which is useful to others).

(c)'Avukah ki'Shenayim' - means that if someone is carrying a torch, he will be protected from being harmed by the evil spirits (as if there were two people), but not from seeing them; 've'Yarei'ach ki'Sheloshah' - that moonlight will protect him from even seeing them (as if there were three people).

(d)The 'two' and 'three' do include himself - because if it did not, then, when the Beraisa writes that the moon is like three, it would mean that, with him, there are four. And we have learnt that even three people cannot see the demons. So what is the significance of four?

9)

(a)"Hi Mutzeis" - is written in connection with Tamar, who was being taken out to be burnt, because of Yehudah's ruling that a Bas Kohen who committed adultery, must be put to death by burning. She preferred to suffer this sentence rather than divulge publicly that, in fact, Yehudah was the man from whom she was pregnant. We learn from her that - one should rather cast oneself into a burning furnace than put another Jew to shame.

10)

(a)Rabban Gamliel rules like Beis Shamai, who gave precedence to washing with oil over smelling the myrtle-twig - because, he argued, the oil is used for both smelling and anointing, whereas the myrtle-twig is confined to smelling.

(b)According to our text in the Gemara (see Tosfos DH 'Hachi'), Rav Papa quoted Rava as saying 'Halachah ke'Beis Hillel', not because he heard this from him, but - because he was embarrassed at having ruled like Beis Hillel, in spite of Rabban Gamliel's ruling to the contrary.

11)

(a)The wine we are talking about is not the Kos shel Berachah (of Bensching, which one would obviously hold in one's right hand, and over which one would recite the Berachah ) - but the wine brought at the end of the meal. Since one always holds the object over which he intends to recite the Berachah in one's right hand, it therefore follows that - since he is holding the oil in his right hand, he will first recite the Berachah over the oil.

(b)Beis Hillel maintain that - even here, one holds the wine in one's right hand, and that it is the wine that therefore takes precedence regarding the Berachah. The oil that remains on one's fingers, one then rubs off on the Shamash's hair.

(c)If the Shamash is a Talmid-Chacham, he rubs off the oil on the wall (or on a tissue etc.). This will not be the Halachah according to the opinion which holds that the hair has the same Din as one's clothes (regarding a Talmid-Chacham going out into the street with them perfumed, as we shall soon see). According to him, a Shamash-Talmid Chacham will be no different than a Shamash-Am ha'Aretz, and it will be forbidden to rub the oil on his hair.

(d)A Talmid-Chacham may not go out wearing perfumed clothes in a place where homosexuality is practiced. He is however, permitted to go out with perfume on his body, and according to some, even with perfumed hair - because the perfume is needed to remove the perspiration, and is not therefore considered disgusting.

12)

(a)A Talmid-Chacham may not go out alone at night or to speak to a woman in the street, because, in both cases, people will suspect him of immoral conduct.

(b)He may however, go to a regular night-Shiur on his own, because everybody knows where he is going.

(c)But he is not permitted to speak with any woman in the street - (even if they are his close relatives) - because not everybody knows of their realtionship and will nevertheless suspect him. (Note: If today, everyone tends to recognize everybody else's wives and daughters, it reflects a decline in the general levels of modesty).

(d)He is forbidden to go with torn shoes, because a Talmid-Chacham should always look respectable, and it is a disgrace for him to walk with torn shoes. He is however, permitted to go in the street with a single patch, or even with a double patch on the heel (only a double-patch on the front of the shoe is forbidden). Nor does the prohibition apply in winter-time - because the mud (in those days, rain would inevitably leave the roads muddy) will hide the patches.

13)

(a)A Talmid-Chacham who sits in a gathering of Amei ha'Aretz, may well take his cue from them - to behave in a manner that is unbecoming for a Talmid Chacham.

(b)He should not take large steps - because it causes a person to lose one five hundredth of his eyesight.

(c)The antidote for someone whose eyesight deteriorates due to the large steps he takes, is - to drink the wine of Kidush on Friday night.

(d)Neither should he walk with his head held high - as this drives away the Shechinah, about which the Pasuk writes "Melo Chol ha'Aretz Kevodo".