1)

(a)In the Beraisa quoted in front of Rava by the Beraisa expert, the Tana Kama holds that a woman retains what she finds. According to Rebbi Akiva - her findings go to her husband.

(b)The Tana Kama of a Mishnah in Af-al-pi rules that if a woman declares a Konam (forbidden to her husband) whatever she produces, her Neder is invalid. Rebbi Akiva says - 'Yafer, Shema Ta'adif Alav Yoser min ha'Ra'uy', from which we see that the Ha'adafah of Ma'aseh Yadehah belongs to the woman. And if Rebbi Akiva is not worried about Eivah (quarrelling) regarding Ma'aseh Yadehah, he will certainly not be worried about it regarding her findings (see Tosfos Rid).

(c)To reconcile the two opinions, we amend the Beraisa quoted by the Beraisa expert - inverting the opinions to read 'Metzi'as Ishah l'Ba'alah, Rebbi Akiva Omer, l'Atzmah'.

2)

(a)When Ravin arrived from Eretz Yisrael, he quoted Rebbi Yochanan, who restricted the Machlokes between Rebbi Akiva and the Rabanan to Ha'adafah she'al-Yedei ha'Dechak. But in the case of Ha'adafah she'Lo al-Yedei ha'Dechak (such as a townswoman, who is used to a high rate of productivity) - even Rebbi Akiva will agree that it goes to the husband.

(b)This creates a problem with the amendment that we just made to explain Rebbi Akiva, because initially, we compare a woman's findings to Ha'adafah she'Lo al-Yedei ha'Dechak, leaving us with a contradiction in Rebbi Akiva.

(c)Rav Papa resolves this problem - by comparing a woman's findings to Ha'adafah she'al- Yedei ha'Dechak (seeing as finding things usually entails searching for them, such as fish that the river cast on to dry land, a deer with a broken leg or a treasure that one needs to dig up).

(d)Rav Papa asked about two in one go, and Rav Papa about three or even four. They were asking - if a woman performs two, three or even four Melachos simultaneously, whether the number of tasks being performed at once makes it into Ha'adafah al-Yedei ha'Dechak or not.

(e)Both She'eilos remain unanswered ('Teiku').

3)

(a)Rava bar Chanan asked whether according to Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira in our Mishnah, one would also be obligated to pay a person Boshes for embarrassing his horse - a senseless Kashya, since a horse does not feel any Boshes.

(b)So what he really meant to ask was from a person who spat on someone's clothes, based on Rav Papa's comment on a Mishnah in Bava Kama, which obligates a person who ...

1. ... spits at someone (and the spit reaches him), or who ...

2. ... uncovers a woman's hair or pulls off somebody's coat - to pay Boshes.

(c)Rav Papa comments on the first of those three cases - that the ruling only applies if the spit falls on his body, but not if it falls on his clothes.

4)

(a)We answer Rava bar Rav Chanan's Kashya - by pointing out that, whereas a woman does feel shame, a garment does not (any more than a horse).

(b)According to Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira, the family of a poor man from good stock do not receive some of the Boshes, when he is shamed, like the husband does when his wife is shamed - because the latter only receives it due to the fact that a man's wife is like part of himself ('Ishto k'Gufo', a Sevara that does not apply to any other relationship).

5)

(a)If the Yavam whose Yevamah fell before him for Yibum, now claims the dowry that his father-in-law promised to his brother - the latter as the right to reply that, although he had been willing to give such a dowry to his brother, he was not willing to give it to him,

(b)If the Yavam counters that he is then not willing to perform Chalitzah or Yibum - his argument is baseless, and we force him to fulfill his obligation.

(c)Had the brother not died, and his father-in-law refused to keep his word (assuming that they were betrothed but not married) - he could have refused to marry her or divorce her, unless his father-in-law agreed to pay what he had promised.

6)

(a)Assuming the father gives ...

1. ... a thousand Manah cash - the Chasan writes in the Kesuvah - fifteen hundred Zuz (one third more than the specified amount - besides whatever Tosefes he wants to give), because the money that she brings is on the one hand is worth the full amount stated, and on the other, it is available for business or investment purposes. Note, that the significance of all these statements concerns the amount for which the Chasan accepts responsibility and must later return to his Kalah should he divorce her.

2. ... a thousand Manah in clothes and ornaments - he writes in the Kesubah eight hundred Zuz (one fifth less than the specified) ...

(b)... because they tended to overprice clothes and ornaments by a fifth, in addition to which, they are not immediately available for business and investment.

(c)If the Kalah brings in a thousand Zuz worth of goods, with an assurance that that is its real value - then the Chasan writes in the Kesubah a thousand Zuz.

(d)If, on the other hand, they instructed the Chasan to enter clothes and ornaments to the value of ...

1. ... one Manah - then the Kalah must bring in fifteen hundred Zuz.

2. ... four hundred Zuz - then she must being in five hundred.

7)

(a)The Beraisa rules that the father's argument 'I was willing to give your brother, but not to you' - applies even if his brother was an Am ha'Aretz and he is a Talmid-Chacham.

(b)Having taught us the Din of ...

1. ... 'Shuma Rabah' (the fifth that he deducts from her assessment of a thousand Dinar), the Tana nevertheless needs to repeat it in the case of Shuma Zuta (the fifth that he deducts from thirty one Sela and a Dinar) - because we might otherwise have thought that it is only in the case of a large Shuma that the assessors tend to add a fifth to the value of the clothes or the ornaments, but not in the case of a small one.

2. ... Shuma Zuta, the Tana nevertheless needs to repeat it in the case of Shuma Rabah - because we might otherwise have thought that it is only in the case of a small Shuma that they do so (to avoid embarrassment), but not in the case of a big one.

(c)Nor does it make any difference whether the Kalah brings in the dowry first, and the Chasan assesses it, or whether the Chasan entered it into the Kesuvah first and the Kalah assesses it afterwards. Either way - the Chasan enters the reduced amount into the Kesuvah and the Kalah adds a fifth to what is written in the Kesuvah.

8)

(a)Should the Kalah brings in cash, our Mishnah obligates the Chasan to write in the Kesubah six Dinarim for each Sela (i.e. an additional third).

(b)He takes upon himself for a dowry of ...

1. ... a Manah - ten Dinarim for a box of Besamim for his wife.

2. ... two Manah - a box of Besamim worth twenty Dinarim.

(c)According to Raban Shimon ben Gamliel - this amount is not fixed, but rather it depends on the local custom.

(d)Rav Ashi restricts the Tana Kama's ruling - to Yerushalayim.

9)

(a)Having taught us the Din of adding a third ...

1. ... in the previous Mishnah (with regard to a thousand Dinar), the Tana nevertheless found it necessary to repeat it here - to teach us that it applies even to a small amount (which entails a small business venture with little profit).

2. ... here, the Tana nevertheless saw fit to repeat it in the previous Mishnah - to teach us that it applies even to a large amount (in spite of the fact that it already leaves the Chasan with large expenses and responsibilities).

10)

(a)Rav Ashi asked whether the ten Dinar per Manah means Manah ha'Nishum or Manah ha'Miskabel - meaning whether we reckon the assessed Manah or the Manah that the Chasan accepted (minus a fifth).

(b)Neither is Rav Ashi sure whether this obligation is a daily one or applies to the first day only. Assuming that it applies every day - he asks whether it is confined to the first week after the marriage, or whether it extends to the subsequent weeks.

(c)Assuming that the obligation extends to the following weeks - he asks whether it extends only to the weeks of the first month, or to the subsequent months, too; and then, assuming the second side of the She'eilah, he asks whether it is confined to the months of the first year only, or whether it extends to subsequent years.

(d)The Chachamim fixed four hundred Dinarim per day for the Kupah shel Besamim of the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion.

(e)When she responded by blessing them that they should merit such a large amount of Besamim for their daughters, they answered 'Amen' (see Tosfos DH 'v'Anu', although Rashi does not explain it this way).

11)

(a)Raban Yochanan ben Zakai was once riding his donkey outside Yerushalayim accompanied by his Talmidim - when he found the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion - picking barley from among the dung of animals belonging to Arabs. She asked him to feed her.

(b)When she answered his question as to what happened to her father's wealth with 'Melach Mamon Chaser' or 'Chesed' - she meant to say that someone who wants to preserve his money (i.e. to make it last), he should give it away for Tzedakah (intimating that her father had not done so).

(c)Her father-in-law's wealth too - had been lost, because he had acted as a guarantor for loans that her father had made and was unable to repay.

(d)Her Kesuvah was worth - one million golden Dinarim (a golden Dinar is the equivalent of twenty-five silver Dinarim) besides the Tosefes that her father-in-law added.

12)

(a)As Rebbi Yochanan ben Zakai wept - he spoke of the praiseworthiness of Klal Yisrael, who are invincible when they perform the will of Hash-m, but whom, when they do not, Hash-m delivers into the hands, not only of a lowly nation, but into the hands of the animals of a lowly nation (reminiscent of their tendency to either climb go to the top or to slump the bottom, as Zeresh told Haman).

(b)He referred to the Arabs as a lowly nation - because they lived as nomads, in tents in the desert.

13)

(a)On his way from his house to the Beis ha'Midrash - Nakdimon ben Gurion arranged for precious cloths to be placed for him to walk on, which the poor were free to take once he had passed.

(b)This leaves us with a Kashya on the comment that his daughter made earlier, that he did not give enough Tzedakah.

(c)Some answer that he did indeed give plenty of Tzedakah, but that he did so for his own esteem. According to others - he gave a lot of Tzedakah, but not in accordance with his means, as people say 'the load that a camel carries depends on its strength'.

(d)Rebbi Elazar b'Rebbi Tzadok too, found the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guri'on in Ako - collecting barley from among the horse's hooves.