1)

(a)When Levi bar Simon gave the fruit of his dovecote to Rav Yehudah, the latter turned to Shmuel what for advice. Shmuel instructed him - to bang the nest, causing the birds to fly into the air in order to acquire them with Hagbahah (so that Levi bar Simon would not be able to retract).

(b)The problem with that, assuming that this took place ...

1. ... on a weekday was that - he could have acquired them with a regular Kinyan Sudar (so why did Rav Yehudah need to ask Shmuel for advice?).

2. ... on Yom-Tov (when one is forbidden to make a Kinyan) - he only needed to specify before Yom-Tov which birds he wished to take on Yom-Tov, like Beis-Hillel in Beitzah, so there too, why did he need to ask?

2)

(a)We answer that - Levi bar Simon himself had not yet acquired the eggs (since the mother was still sitting on them, as we learned earlier), and Rav Yehudah needed to know what had to be done for Levi bar Simon to acquire them so that he could acquire them from him.

(b)So Shmuel ruled that - Levi could acquire them by causing the mother to fly into the air, permitting him to acquire the eggs, which Rav Yehudah could then acquire from him with a Kinyan Sudar.

3)

(a)Our Mishnah forbids taking the mother bird even to purify a Metzora (as we learned above). The Tana then Darshens a Kal va'Chomer on the Pasuk in Ki Seitzei "Lema'an Yitav lach ve'Ha'arachta Yamim", inasmuch as - if for a Mitzvah that costs so little, the Torah writes "Lema'an Yitav lach ve'Ha'arachta Yamim", how much more so for expensive Mitzvos, and Mitzvos that are difficult to perform.

(b)Rebbi Ya'akov says in a Beraisa that all Mitzvos to which the Torah ascribes a reward - that reward really refers to Techiyas ha'Meisim.

(c)He is referring to - the Mitzvah of Shilu'ach ha'Kein and that of Kibud Av va"Eim and the reward of goodness and long life ...

(d)... which he interprets as - goodness in a world that is all good, and longevity in a world which will last forever.

4)

(a)What caused Rebbi Ya'akov to say this was - the story of a son who carried out his father's instructions, by climbing a tree, and fetching eggs from a nest, after sending the mother bird away, he fell off the tree and died. )

(b)He knew that such a thing happened - because he witnessed it with his own eyes.

(c)Even if the person that he saw was thinking to perform a sin at the time that he fell - he should not have died, because Hash-m does not punish someone for thinking unless it is accompanied by a sinful deed.

(d)On the other hand, Rebbi Ya'akov knew that he was not thinking about Avodah-Zarah, which is in itself, a sin, as Rav Acha bar Ya'akov taught - because the Mitzvah that he was performing would have shielded over him and would have prevented such thoughts from entering his head.

5)

(a)Rebbi Elazar stated that - Sh'luchei Mitzvah cannot come to grief.

(b)This creates a problem with the episode that Rebbi Ya'akov witnessed. We cannot answer that the accident occurred when the son had finished the Mitzvah and was on his way home with the eggs (which is in fact, what happened) - because Rebbi Elazar added to his initial statement - 'even on the home journey'.

(c)We answer this Kashya - by ascribing the son's death to a rickety ladder, against which the Mitzvah that a person is performing does not protect him.

(d)And we learn this from an incident with regard to Shmuel ha'Navi - where he initially refused to obey a command from Hash-m to go and anoint David, because he was afraid that if Shaul would discover what he had done, he would kill him.

6)

(a)When we say that if only Acher had Darshened the Pesukim like his daugher's son (Rebbi Ya'akov), he would not have gone off the path - because if the Pasuk is taken literally - it would indeed be incomprehensible as to how anyone could perform these Mitzvos and then die young.

(b)Some say that Acher too, witnessed a similar incident to that of Rebbi Ya'akov. According to others - he saw the tongue of Rebbi Chutzpis ha'Metur'geman lying in a trash-heap, upon which he exclaimed ...

(c)... 'How can it be that the tongue that emitted such jewels should lick the dust?'

(d)He did not realize however that - the goodness and the longevity that the Torah promises for fulfilling the Mitzvos are in the world that is all good and that lasts forever, and not in this world (as his grandson Rebbi Ya'akov would later explain).