1)

(a)Bil'am (like Titus), whose spirit Unklus also conjured up, conceded that Yisrael was important in this world, and he too, advised against joining forces with them. When Unklus asked ...

1. ... him what his lot was in the other world he replied that, as a punishment for his plot causing Yisrael to commit adultery with the daughters of Mo'av, he was burned daily in boiling semen.

2. ... Yeshu the same question, he replied that he was burned daily in boiling excrement, which, as Chazal have said, is what wll happen to those who mock their words.

(b)As far as fighting them was concerned he warned Unklus not to start up with them, because to start with Yisrael is to start with the pupil of one's eye (since it is Yisrael who guides the world, and without them, the world is blind).

(c)We point out the difference between Jewish sinners (Yeshu) who, at least in the world of truth, finally concede the truth, and the Nochri prophets (Bil'am), who continued to deny the truth even there.

(d)To round off the Sugya of the Churban, Rebbi Elazar in a Beraisa commented that from the story of Kamtza and bar Kamzta we can learn the power of shame, since as a result of the shame and humiliation that bar Kamtza suffered, Hash-m assisted him in his plan, even though it resulted in the destruction of his House and the burning of His Heichal.

2)

(a)The rooster and the chicken that were led in front of every Chasan and Kalah in Tur Malka (Har ha'Melech) on the day of their wedding was a symbol of blessing, that they should increase like chickens.

(b)This custom led to the destruction of Tur Malka when a band of hungry Romans once took the pair of birds belonging to a wedding procession, and the angry Jews fell upon them and beat them up. When they informed the Emperor that the Jews had rebelled against him, he gathered an army and attacked Tur Malka. Note: In all probability, the Pasuk "Ashrei Adam Mefached Tamid" cited at the beginning of the Sugya, refers to the destruction of Tur Malka and that of Beitar (a little later on the Amud) too, which also came about as a result of not considering the far-reaching results of one's [sometimes trivial] actions.

(c)The Emperor removed his crown and placed it on the ground as an act of submission to Hash-m, and then prayed to Him not to allow the mighty Roman army to fall into the hands of one man.

(d)He did that because of the Bar Daroma, who would jump a Mil into the midst of the Roman army, catching them completely by surprise, kill many of them and jump back'.

3)

(a)The bar Daroma died, not because of the Emperor's prayer, but due to but due to the Pasuk in Tehilim "ha'Lo Atah Elokim Zenachtanu, v'Lo Setzei Elokim b'Tziv'oseinu" that he quoted ...

(b)... since he was accusing Hash-m that He had (Chas v'Shalom) forsaken His people.

(c)David ha'Melech was not taken to task for saying it since he said it in the form of a rhetorical question (i.e. 'Is it possible that You have forsaken us ... ?')

(d)The bar Daroma died when he was bitten by a snake in the rear as he sat in the bathroom

4)

(a)Acknowledging the miracle, the Emperor took his forces out of Tur Malka. He returned immediately however when the Jews celebrated his departure, kindling so many lights that they could see their reflection on their signet-rings up to the distance of a Mil.

(b)Three days and three nights, the slaughter lasted and as Rebbi Asi informs us, three hundred thousand Roman swordsmen were involved.

(c)What was strange about this incident was the fact that, even as the killings took place on one side of the mountain, the people on the other side were still celebrating, and so great was the noise that each one made, that those on one side were unaware of what was happening on the other.

(d)According to Ravin citing Rebbi Yochanan, Yanai ha'Melech owned six hundred thousand cities on Tur Malka.

(e)Rav Yehudah Amar Rav Asi adds that each one was inhabited by as many residents (with the exception of three, which boasted double).

5)

(a)The three exceptions were Kfar Bish, Kfar Shichlaya and Kfar Dichraya. They were called by these names (respectively) because they would not put up any guests, their income consisted of cress, and the women would give birth only to boys, except for the last child, who would inevitably be a girl.

(b)When Ula testified that the area of Tur Malka was so small, that it could not even have held six hundred thousand reeds, let alone cities ...

1. ... that Tzedoki commented that here we have a clear proof that Chazal were liars (because, if the area was really so small, how could Chazal talk about all those cities).

2. ... Rebbi Chanina replied that the Pasuk in Yirmeyahu refers to Eretz Yisrael as "Eretz Tzvi", to teach us that, like a deer's skin (which stretches to contain its body), it stretches to contain as many people as need to fit into it, and when it is uninhabited, it shrinks to its original size.

(c)Rav Minyomi bar Chilkiyah, Rav Chilkiyah bar Tuvyah and Rav Huna bar Chiya decided to recount some of the good deeds of Kfar Sechanya of Egypt. One of them related an episode regarding a betrothed couple who were both taken into captivity and where the woman begged her betrothed not to touch her, since she had no Kesuvah from him.

(d)When she eulogized him after his death she declared him greater than Yosef in three regards: 1. because whereas Yosef overcame his Yetzer-ha'Ra only once, he did it every day 2. Yosef and the wife of Potifera were not in the same bed, whereas they were (presumably, the captor's aim was for them to have children which he would take as slaves so he gave them only one bed to sleep on); 3. Yosef and Potifera's wife were not husband and wife, they were (and he could easily have used this as an excuse).

6)

(a)The second member of the above trio related how, on one occasion, the price of wheat rose (from four Mudi'os to a Dinar to three). When they discovered that a man had committed adultery with a betrothed girl on Yom Kippur, they took him to Beis Din and gave him Malkus, and the wheat reverted to its original price.

(b)The third man told the story of the man who decided to divorce his wife but who could not afford to pay her Kesuvah. He set about achieving his end without having to pay anything by inviting his friend to a party and making both him and his wife drunk. Then he lay them on the same bed and placed raw egg-white between his wife and his friend.

(c)However, Bava ben Buta, a Talmid of Beis Shamai, thwarted his plan by quoting his Rebbi, who taught him that egg-white, unlike semen, withdraws when placed in front of fire. When the truth was discovered, he took the man to Beis-Din, gave him Malkus and forced him to pay his wife's Kesuvah. Note: When Chazal discuss the high level of righteousness attained by the residents of these towns, they are referring to the effort that the leaders put into maintaining law and order and the glaring fact that this was the only major sin of which that town was guilty.

(d)Abaye asked Rav Yosef why, after having ascertained such a level of righteousness, Kfar Sechanya was destroyed. Based on the Pasuk in Yeshayah "Simchu Es Yerushalayim v'Giylu Bah Kol Ohavehah, Siysu Itah Masos Kol ha'Misablim Alehah" he ascribed it to the fact that they did not mourn over the destruction of Yesushalayim, and the Pasuk writes.

7)

(a)We learned earlier that Beitar was destroyed on account of the wheel of a carriage. They would plant a cedar tree when a boy was born, and a pine for a girl. Then when they married, they would cut down the trees and use the wood to make a Chupah. One day, the princess was passing by, when the wheel of her carriage broke, and her servants chopped down one of these cedars. When the incensed Jews fell upon them and beat them up, they reported to the Emperor that the Jews had rebelled, and the war was on.

(b)Eighty thousand horns of war entered Beitar with the troops who came to destroy it. Rebbi Zeira Amar Rebbi Avahu Amar Rebbi Yochanan explains that this is the episode hinted in the Pasuk "Gada ba'Chari Af Kol Keren Yisrael".

(c)Much blood was spilled in Beitar. When we say ...

1. ... that the blood of those slain in Beitar flowed into the Mediterranean Sea, we are talking about a distance of one Mil (a kilometer).

2. ... that there were two rivers in the valley of Yadayim flowing in opposite directions (Rebbi Eliezer, quoting the Chachamim) one third of the water in these rivers comprised that blood.

3. ... that for years the Nochrim fertilized their fields using the blood of those slain in Beitar exclusively, we mean for seven years.

8)

(a)Rebbi Chiya bar Avin quoted Rebbi Yehoshua ben Korchah, who in the name of an old Yerushalmi, pointed out a certain valley where Nevuzradan, 'butcher-in-chief', murdered over two million Jews. In Yerushalayim he murdered nine hundred and forty thousand Jews next to one stone.

(b)The Pasuk "Damim b'Damim Naga'u" refers to the blood of these martyrs which flowed into the blood of Zecharyah ha'Navi, which was bubbling in the Beis ha'Mikdash.

(c)Nevuzradan rejected the Jews claim that the bubbling blood was that of Korbanos that had spilled by testing it against the blood of other animals, and it did not match.

(d)When he threatened them with torture unless they told him the truth, they divulged whose blood it was and what had happened. Zecharyah's blood had not stopped bubbling for hundreds of years because he had been murdered by the Jews on Yom Kippur when he rebuked them for their sins, and the sin had not yet been atoned for.

9)

(a)Nevuzradan vowed to still the Navi's blood. So he set about slaughtering them in groups to atone for the sin. starting with the Sanhedrin Gedolah. after ...

1. ... the Sanhedrin Gedolah, he slaughtered the Sanhedrin Ketanah ...

2. ... then the young men and maidens, and finally ...

3. ... came the little Cheder-children.

(b)The blood only stopped bubbling when Nevuzradan asked Zecharyah how many more Jews he would have to kill before he would be appeased. This suddenly evoked in Nevuzradan's mind thoughts of Teshuvah. If the murder of one person required so many deaths to atone for it, he reckoned, imagine how much atonement he would require for the many thousands of murders he had perpetrated.

(c)He was greater than Na'aman in that Na'aman only became a Ger Toshav, whereas he became a Ger Tzedek.

(d)We are told that the descendants of ...

1. ... Haman taught Torah in Bnei B'rak.

2. ... Sisro taught children Torah in Yerushalayim.

3. ... Nevuzradan (Shemayah and Avtalyon) taught Torah in public.

10)

(a)In the Pasuk in Toldos "ha'Kol Kol Yakov, v'ha'Yadayim Yedei Esav", "ha'Kol" refers to Hadrian, who killed one million, two hundred thousand Jews in Alexandria of Egypt; whereas "Kol Yakov", refers to the vast number of Jews that Vespasian killed in Beitar...

1. ... four million according to some ...

2. ... forty million, according to others.

(b)"v'ha'Yadayim Yedei Esav" refers to the evil kingdom (the Romans in general), who destroyed the Beis ha'Mikdash and exiled us from our land.

(c)Others interpret ...

1. ... "ha'Kol Kol Yakov" to mean that no Tefilah can succeed unless a descendent of Yakov is participating.

2. ... "v'ha'Yadayim Yedei Esav" that no battle can succeed unless a descendant of Esav is participating.

(d)When Rebbi Elazar quoted the Pasuk in Iyov "b'Shut Lashon Teichavei, b'Charchurei Lashon Teichavei", he was referring to the episode of Kamtza and bar Kamtza, where the sin of Lashon ha'Ra brought about the destruction of the Beis ha'Mikdash.

(e)Rav Yehudah Amar Rav learns that Hash-m showed David ha'Melech ...

1. ... Churban Bayis Rishon from the Pasuk in Tehilim "Al Naharos Bavel Sham Yashavnu Gam Bachinu Es Tziyon".

2. ... Churban Bayis Sheni from the Pasuk there "Z'chor Hash-m li'Venei Edom Es Yom Yerushalayim, ha'Omrim Aru Aru ad ha'Yesod Bah".

11)

(a)Rav Yehudah Amar Shmuel (or Rebbi Ami or the Tana in a Beraisa) quotes the Pasuk in Tehilim "Amar Hash-m mi'Bashan Ashiv, Ashiv mi'Metzulos Yam" to answer the She'eilah (asked by the four hundred boys and girls at sea who were being taken to Rome for immoral purposes) whether someone who is buried at sea can expect to be resurrected.

(b)The first to respond were the girls, who immediately jumped into the sea and drowned.

(c)The 'Kal va'Chomer' that the boys derived from them was that if the girls, who would be abused naturally, preferred to commit suicide, then how much more so they, who would be abused unnaturally.

(d)The Pasuk in Tehilim that hints to this episode is "Ki Alecha Horagnu Kol ha'Yom".

12)

(a)Rav Yehudah ascribes the latter Pasuk in Tehilim to Chanah and her seven sons. Each son quoted a different Pasuk forbidding Avodah-Zarah in any form, starting with "Anochi Hash-m Elokecha ... ". The youngest son explained the Pasuk "Es Hash-m He'emarta ha'Yom ... va'Hashem He'emircha ha'Yom ... " to mean that we promised not to swap Hash-m for any other deity (kiv'Yachol), and He promised not to swap us for any other nation.

(b)His response to the Emperor's proposal that he throw him down a ring for him to pick up, so that at least the people would think that he had condescended to bow down to his god was that if the Emperor expected him to be concerned about his Kavod, then how much more must he be concerned about the Kavod of Hash-m.

(c)When the Emperor granted Chanah permission to kiss him and to say good-bye she instructed him to go to Avraham Avinu and tell him that he may have sacrificed one son, but she had sacrificed seven!

(d)The significance of the Pasuk "Eim ha'Banim Semeichah" here is that this was the Pasuk that the Bas Kol announced after Chanah climbed up onto the roof and jumped to her death.

13)

(a)According to Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi, the Pasuk "Ki Alecha Horagnu Kol ha'Yom" pertains to the Mitzvah of Milah, which Klal Yisrael constantly perform, spilling their children's blood. Reish Lakish interprets it to pertain to Talmidei-Chachamim, who show the Dinim of Shechitah on themselves.

(b)Reish Lakish's explanation is connected with a statement of Rava, who warned Talmidei-Chachamim against showing Hilchos Shechitah and 'Davar Acher' on themselves. 'Davar Acher' is Tzara'as and the different appearances of Nega'im, which one is not permitted to demonstrate on oneself.

(c)According to Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak too, the Pasuk refers to Talmidei-Chachamim. In his opinion, the Pasuk is referring to Talmidei-Chachamim, who 'kill themselves' for Torah (meaning that they deprive themselves of things that others consider life food and sleep ... ).

(d)He bases this on Reish Lakish, who interprets the Pasuk "Zos ha'Torah, Adam Ki Yamus b'Ohel" to mean that the Torah only remains with a person who 'kills himself' for Torah, as we just explained.