1)

(a)We learned in our Mishnah 'Tevu'ah, Lo Yizre'enah Kitnis'. Rav Yehudah told Ravin bar Rav Nachman - to read 'Tevu'ah, Yizre'enah Kitnis'.

(b)To resolve his version of the Mishnah with our's, Rav Yehudah explained 'Ha Lan, Ha Lehu' by which he meant - that in Eretz Yisrael it is forbidden, because it is a mountainous country which dries quickly, and will therefore become weakened through the planting of legumes, whereas in Bavel, which is deep, and full of pools of water, this is not likely to happen.

(c)He also told him that one is permitted to help oneself to cress that grows among the flax - because it interferes with its growth, and its removal is therefore beneficial to the owner.

(d)If the cress grows on the border, it no longer interferes with the growth of the flax, and is subject to theft, and the same will apply - to cress that is fully grown, and that will therefore no longer harm the flax if it remains in the ground.

2)

(a)The borders of Rav Yehudah and Ravin bar Rav Nachman fields touched. When Rav Yehudah said to Ravin bar Rav Nachman 'Dili Dilach, ve'Dilach Dili', he meant - that since some of the roots of their respective trees grew into each other's field, some of the fruit growing on his trees belonged to Ravin, and vice-versa (see Shitah Mekubetzes).

(b)He nevertheless suggested - that they bend each tree, to hang over the field to which it belonged, because close neighbors tended to grant ownership to the person over whose field the branches hang. Consequently, by doing so, they would clarify the rightful ownership of each tree.

(c)This is actually the opinion of Rav. According to Shmuel - since the roots grew in both fields - they should share the fruit.

3)

(a)The Beraisa rules that if a tree is planted on the border, they divide the fruit. To resolve the Kashya on Rav, Shmuel establishes this Beraisa - when the roots fill the joint border.

(b)For there to be a Chidush, we establish the Beraisa where the tree is bending over one field more the other - because then we might have thought that we divide the tree along the border, so that the owner over whose field the tree is bending will receive most of the fruit. Therefore the Beraisa teaches 'Yachloku', by dividing the fruits in the other direction, across the border.

(c)Rav Yehudah advised Ravin bar Rav Nachman - not to purchase land right next to the town. And he based this on a statement of Rebbi Avahu ... Amar Rav, who said - that one may not stand beside a field of standing corn, because he may give it an Ayin ha'Ra.

4)

(a)The Talmidim of Rav citing their Rebbe, explained the Pasuk in Ki Savo to Rebbi Aba "Baruch Atah ba'Ir" - that your house will be close to the Shul; "u'Varuch Atah ba'Sadeh" - that your property will be close to the town; "Baruch Atah be'Vo'echa" - that you will not arrive home from a journey and find your wife a Safek Nidah; "u'Varuch Atah be'Tzeisecha" - that your offspring will be like you. Rav said 'Safek Nidah' (not to preclude a Vaday Nidah, but) - because he wanted to stress that the blessing extends even to Safek Nidah, and certainly Vaday (see also Agados Maharsha).

(b)He explains ...

1. ... "Baruch Atah ba'Ir" to mean - that you will have a bathroom next to your house.

2. ... "u'Varuch Atah ba'Sadeh" - that your property will be divided into three; a third, produce, a third, olives, and a third, vines (so that, in case one or the other is smitten with a plague, the others will succeed).

3. ... "Baruch Atah be'Vo'echa u'Varuch Atah be'Tzeisecha" - that your exit from the world will be as sinless as when you entered it.

(c)Rebbi Yochanan declined to accept Rav's explanation of "Baruch Atah ba'Ir" - because, according to him, it is better to live further away from a Shul, since one receives 'S'char Pesi'os' (reward for traveling to Shul, commensurate with the distance that one travels).

(d)Rebbi Yochanan said 'that your table will be close to the bathroom' (rather than 'to your house') - because it is imperative to examine whether one does not need to relieve oneself after eating. Not to do so, can result in illness, which can also be the result of having to travel a long distance to the bathroom).

5)

(a)According to Rav, the Pasuk in Eikev "ve'Heisir Hash-m Mimcha Kol Choli" - refers to Ayin ha'Ra.

(b)Rav came to this conclusion after reciting certain incantations by the graves of people who had died, when he discovered that out of every hundred people who died, ninety-nine died as a result of Ayin ha'Ra, and only one of natural causes.

(c)According to Shmuel, the Pasuk is referring to wind, which affects everybody differently, and ultimately causes their deaths, even those of the ten martyrs (and anybody else who was murdered) - because if not for the wind that affected their wounds, they too, could have been revived.

(d)Rebbi Chanina disagrees. He learns from the Pasuk in Mishlei "Tzinim Pachim be'Derech Ikesh, Shomer Nafsho Yirchak Meihem" - that the only thing that lies within a person's control is natural colds and cold air. Consequently he says, that is what causes people's deaths.

6)

(a)Rebbi Yossi b'Rebbi Chanina attributes most deaths to accumulated dirt inside a person's nose and ears, of which a majority is harmful; Rebbi Elazar - to the malfunctioning of the gall-bladder.

(b)The Torah nevertheless writes "va'Hasirosi Machlah mi'Kirbecha" - because, as the Beraisa explains, the malfunctioning of the gall-bladder is the cause of all illnesses.

(c)The significance of the numerical value of "Machlah" (eighty-three) is - that, according to Yesh Omrim in the Beraisa, that is the number of illnesses that are connected with the gall-bladder.

(d)One overcomes the danger of a gall-bladder malfunctioning - by eating bread with salt and drinking water (breakfast - known as 'Pas Shachris') each morning.

7)

(a)Bread and water (if one cannot afford wine - see also Agados Maharsha) in the morning (breakfast) make a man 'healthy, wealthy and wise'. Among other things, it saves a person from heat, cold, Zikin - (the winds of which Shmuel spoke earlier) and Mazikin (demons).

(b)They enable him to become wise, to win his legal battles, to learn, teach, convince others that his opinions are correct and retain what he learns - by removing his hunger, giving him a settled mind and fortifying him.

(c)It also prevents perspiration, kills the worms in a man's stomach and prevents him from having a desire for other women - by enabling him to be intimate with his wife before going out to work, should this be necessary.

(d)Some say that Pas Shachris ... also drives away jealousy and brings love of one's fellow-Jew in its place - because there's nothing like an empty stomach to cause an angry disposition, which in turn, causes jealousy and hatred.

8)

(a)Rava bar Mari learned from the Pasuk in Yeshayah "Lo Yir'avu, ve'Lo Yitzma'u, ve'Lo Yakem Sharev va'Shamesh" - that Pas Shachris ... saves one from bring smitten by the heat or the cold (see Agados Maharsha).

(b)Rabah quoted a folk-saying that stems from this Pasuk 'Sixty runners can pursue, but they cannot catch, the man who ate Pas Shachris ... '. As a result of all this - the Chachamim strongly advised that one eats Pas Shachris each day.

(c)Rabah himself disagreed with Rava bar Mari - because he preferred to learn this from a Pasuk in Beshalach (as we shall now see).

(d)Rabah Darshened ...

1. ... "va'Avadtem es Hash-m Elokeichem" - 'Zu Keri'as Sh'ma u'Tefilah'.

2. ... "u'Veirach es Lachmecha ve'es Meimecha" - 'Zu Pas ba'Melach ve'Kiton shel Mayim'.

(e)The outcome of all this is - "va'Hasirosi Machlah mi'Kirbecha".

9)

(a)Rav Yehudah advised Rav Ada the measurer (of land) to be meticulous in his trade - because in every inch, one can plant a beautiful crocus.

(b)He also advised him to be liberal when measuring the Anigra, which refered - to the banks of the tributaries that flowed from the main river. It was on those banks that each landowner next to whose field the tributary flowed, stood to draw water from the tributary, for which he was entitled to four Amos.

(c)The reason for the advice to be liberal was - to give the drawers plenty of room to stand, as they drew the water.

(d)And when he added 'de'Anhara Lo Simshachenhu K'lal', he meant - that when it came to measuring the space that the boatmen required on the river banks to pull their barges, Rav Ada should allot them a wide stretch of land (without measurement), providing them with ample room to maneuver without falling into the water.

(e)The reason for the difference was - because whereas the former only pertained to a few people (those whose fields lined the tributaries), who could all be asked to be Mochel for the inconvenience (of giving them too little space), the latter applied to everyone whose boats sailed the river, and it is not feasible to ask them all for Mechilah

10)

(a)Rebbi Ami announced that the forests that lined the river banks, depriving the boatmen of the space they needed to pull their boats (i.e. the space to hold the ropes over their shoulders and tug the boats as they walked along the banks) - should be cut down ...

(b)... even if the other side of the river was clear. This was because, seeing as sometimes the boatmen used one side of the river, and sometimes, the other, both sides of the river needed to remain clear.

(c)The owners of the forest Mashrunya give Rav Nasan bar Hoshaya a beating - for cutting down a forest that did not leave the boatmen sixteen Amos clearance (which is far more than they really needed).

(d)Rav Nasan's mistake was - that he compared it to a R'shus ha'Rabim (which requires sixteen Amos, whereas the river banks do not).

11)

(a)When they asked Rabah bar Rav Huna to cut down the trees of his forest that lined the local river and which prevented them from pulling their boats - he replied that when those whose fields lined the river above and below him would cut down their trees, he would follow suite and cut down his.

(b)Based on Resh Lakish, who extrapolated from the Pasuk "Hiskosh'shu ve'Koshu" the well-known principle 'First put yourself right before rectifying others', one would have expected Rabah bar Rav Huna - to cut his trees down first, before asking his neighbors to cut down theirs.

(c)The reason that he did not do this was - because the forest at either end of his section belonged to Parzak Rufila (a Persian Prince), who would not have cut his forest down even if he was asked, so what point was there in Rabah bar Rav Huna cutting down his section?

(d)Consequently - the boat owners had no option but to pull their boats along the other side of the river.