[18a - 45 lines; 18b - 55 lines]
1)[line 3]איתרע ביה מילתאISRA BEI MILSA- a close relative died
2)[line 4]למישאל טעמא מיניהL'MISH'AL TA'AMA MINEI- to comfort him
3)[line 4]לטופריTUFREI- his nails
4)[line 5]דהוו נפישןD'HAVU NEFISHAN- that they were grown long
5)[line 5]שקלתSHAKALT- cut, remove
6)[line 10]חבטינהו לאפיהCHAVTINHU L'APEI- he threw them down to the ground in from of him (and picked them up afterwards - RASHI)
7)[line 11]ברית כרותה לשפתיםBRIS KERUSAH LA'SEFASAYIM- a covenant has been made with the lips that the words that they utter come true
8)[line 19]ובגנוסטראGENUSTEREI- nail scissors
9)[line 26]צדיקTZADIK- a person who is meticulous in keeping Mitzvos but has to wage a constant battle with his Yetzer ha'Ra to do so
10)[line 27]חסידCHASID- a person who has raised himself to a level where he is meticulous in keeping Mitzvos and he does them naturally
11)[line 29]דמיכנשיMICHANSHEI- gather
12)[line 30]אבראיAVRAI- outside
13)[line 31]מחמתןCHAMESAN- a city in the Galilee, not far from Teveryah (Megilah 2b), that contained hot springs (Shabbos 109a), probably on the location of the modern-day Chamei Teveryah (Tiberius Hot Springs). Alternatively, Chamas Gader, an ancient city near the Kineret, that contains hot springs and lies below the Jordanian city of Ummqeis, which is reputed to be the Biblical "Gadara" (see Eruvin 61a).
14)[line 35]ספראSAFRA- (a) the scribe; (b) the teacher
15)[line 35]מזוית לזויתMI'ZAVIS L'ZAVIS- from one end of the mouth to the other
16)[line 36]המעכבתHA'ME'AKEVES- that hinders
17)[line 37]אמהAMAH- [he was] one Amah [tall]
18)[line 38]ופרמשתקוPARMASHTEKO- his male organ
19)[line 38]וזרתZERES- (a) the distance between the tips of the thumb and the smallest finger in a spread hand, or half of an Amah (3 Tefachim), approximately 24 cm (9.45 in) or 28.8 cm (11.34 in), depending upon the differing Halachic opinions (RAMBAM Klei ha'Mikdash 9:6); (b) others say that a Zeres is 1/3 of an Amah, approximately 16 cm (6.3 in) or 19.2 (7.56 in), depending upon the differing Halachic opinions (R. Eliezer ha'Kalir quoted by TOSFOS Eruvin 21a DH Echad)
20)[line 39]אמגושיAMGUSHI- (a) a magician; (b) a missionary who entices others to sin
21)[line 44]ומטנפיMETANFEI- and they are dirty
22)[last line]כלי פשתןKELEI PISHTAN- linen clothes
23)[last line]מטפחות הידיםMITPECHOS HA'YADAYIM- hand towels
24)[last line]מטפחות הספריםMITPECHOS HA'SAPARIM- barbers' robes
18b----------------------------------------18b
25a)[line 4]משיכליMESHICHLEI- tubs
b)[line 4]דמני כיתנאD'MANEI KISNA- filled with linen garments
26)[line 7]קדושי נשיםKIDUSHEI NASHIM- a document containing the words, "Harei At Mekudeshes Li" ("Behold you are betrothed to me"). One of the ways to betroth a woman is to hand her such a document (Mishnah Kidushin 2a).
27)[line 8]ושובריןSHOVRIN- receipts
28)[line 8]דייתיקיDAITIKEI- wills
29)[line 8]ופרוזבוליןPEROZBULIN (PROZBOL)- a document containing the details of a declaration made in court, to the effect that the laws of the Shemitah year in which all loans are cancelled shall not apply to the loans in question
30)[line 8]איגרות שוםIGROS SHUM- (a) documents of assessment of property from an estate that is being divided among the heirs (RASHI); (b) documents of assessment of the property of a debtor that is to be taken away and given to the creditor
31)[line 9]ואיגרות מזוןIGROS MAZON- documents that state that a husband accepts upon himself the support of his wife's daughter from her first marriage
32)[line 9]שטרי חליצהSHETAREI CHALITZAH - a document that states that the wife and the brother of the deceased performed Chalitzah in front of Beis Din
(a)If a married man dies childless, his widow must undergo Yibum (the marriage of a dead man's brother with his wife), as it states in Devarim 25:5-10.
(b)If the brother chooses not to marry her, he must perform Chalitzah (a procedure in Beis Din that absolves her of the Mitzvah of Yibum - ibid.). He appears before a Beis Din of three and states, "I do not want to marry her," after which his sister-in-law approaches him before the elders, takes off his right sandal and spits in front of him. She then declares, "This is what shall be done to the man who will not build up a family for his brother," and she is then free to marry whomever she wants.
33)[line 9]ומיאוניםMI'UNIM (MI'UN)
If a man marries off his daughter when she is a minor, the marriage is considered a Torah marriage. If the father does not marry her off when she is a minor and he dies, the girl's mother, along with her oldest (adult) brother, may marry her off, but this marriage is only mid'Rabanan. In this case, before she has the signs of being a Na'arah (when two hairs grow), she has the option of annulling the marriage. This annulment is called Mi'un. (A girl who is married off by her father cannot annul the marriage in this manner; she must receive a proper Get to dissolve the marriage.)
34)[line 10]ושטרי בירוריןSHETAREI BEIRURIN- documents containing decisions of Beis Din that apportion the shares under dispute among the litigants
35)[line 10]גזרות בית דיןGEZEROS BEIS DIN- verdicts of Beis Din
36)[line 10]ואיגרות של רשותIGAROS SHEL RASHUS- (a) edicts and documents written by the authorities (RASHI); (b) according to the Girsa IGAROS SHEL RESHUS - letters written between friends asking their welfare (YERUSHALMI). The RAMBAM explains that it is permitted to write these letters because people do not write them with exactness. Accordingly, it is only permitted if they are necessary for the Mo'ed (TOSFOS YOM TOV). According to the RA'AVAD, writing them is permitted because the writer might not find someone to deliver them after the Mo'ed and it is therefore a Davar ha'Aved.
37)[line 14]שטרי קדושיןSHETAREI KIDUSHIN- a document containing the words, "Harei At Mekudeshes Li" ("Behold you are betrothed to me"). One of the ways to betroth a woman is to hand her such a document (Mishnah Kidushin 2a).
38)[line 15]שטרי פסיקתאSHETAREI PESIKTA- documents that state how much each of the in-laws agree to give for their children's marriage
39)[line 21]מיבמיןMEYABMIN (YIBUM)
See above, entry #32.
40a)[line 21]לארסL'ARES (ERUSIN)- to get betrothed through Kidushin
b)[line 24]לישאLISA (NISU'IN)- to marry
41)[line 26]כונסיןKONSIN- (lit. to bring them in [to the wedding canopy]) to marry
42)[line 31]ברחמיםB'RACHAMIM- through prayer
43)[line 41]"ואביו ואמו לא ידעו כי מה' היא כי תאנה הוא מבקש מפלשתים ובעת ההיא פלשתים משלים בישראל""V'AVIV V'IMO LO YAD'U KI ME'HASH-M HI, KI TO'ENAH HU MEVAKESH MI'PELISHTIM, U'VA'ES HA'HI PELISHTIM MOSHLIM B'YISRAEL" - "And his father and mother did not realize that it was from HaSh-m, because He was seeking a pretext against the Pelishtim, for at that time the Pelishtim were ruling over Yisrael" (Shoftim 14:4) (SHIMSHON AND THE PHILISTINE WOMAN)
(a)Shimshon, as yet unknown, had met a Philistine woman in Timnas, whom he fancied. He asked his parents (Mano'ach and his wife) to "arrange the match" on his behalf. They, for their part, tried to dissuade him from marrying a gentile woman, but to no avail. He insisted that he wanted her. As the verse points out, Shimshon's parents did not realize that it was from HaSh-m, who was seeking a pretext to break the hold that the Pelishtim had over Yisrael.
(b)Later, his Philistine wives would be the instruments through which he would avenge himself from the Pelishtim, on no less than four separate occasions.
(c)When, by the seventh day of the marriage festivities, his thirty Pelishti friends were unable to solve the riddle he posed to them (for which they would have had to pay him thirty sheets and thirty new suits), they talked his wife into wheedling the riddle's solution out of him. It took her seven days, but she succeeded, and promptly passed on the information to them. So it was that on the seventh day, just before sunset, the men of the city said to him, "What is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a lion?" Shimshon understood what had happened. He went to Ashkelon and killed thirty Philistines, whose suits he took and sent them to his former friends to pay off his debt.
(d)In an angry frame of mind, he went to pay his wife a visit, only to discover that - on the assumption that Shimshon had forsaken her - her parents had taken her away and given her to somebody else. Although they offered him her younger sister "who was better than she," Shimshon was not appeased. He promptly caught 300 foxes and tied them tail to tail with a fire-brand in the middle, before setting them loose among the Philistines wheat-fields (during the wheat-harvest season), causing immense damage.
(e)When the Pelishtim found out who had caused the damage and why, they apprehended Shimshon's wife and burned her together with her father. Avenging the murder of his wife and father-in-law, Shimshon attacked them. He defeated them, killing many in the process.
(f)The Pelishtim, who at that time ruled Yisrael with an iron fist, sent a contingent of men to capture Shimshon. The men of Yehudah, who were totally subdued, sent a delegation of 3,000 men to capture Shimshon and to deliver him to the Pelishtim. After they promised him that they would not kill him, he allowed them to tie his arms with two new, thick ropes and to take him to the vicinity of the Pelishtim. No sooner did the Pelishtim move towards him to capture him than the spirit of HaSh-m enveloped him and he burst the ropes as if they were made of scorched flax. He found a fresh donkey bone with which he attacked the enemy, killing a thousand men.
44)[line 46]"ויחפאו""VA'YACHPE'U..." - "And the people of Yisrael did secretly those things that were not right against HaSh-m, [and they built for themselves altars (for Avodah Zarah) in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortified city]" (Melachim II 17:9) (THE CAUSE OF EXILE)
(a)The prophet records how Sancheriv, king of Ashur, imprisoned Hoshea ben Eilah, king of Yisrael, who rebelled against him, and how subsequently, after a three-year siege, Sancheriv sent the Ten Tribes into exile.
(b)The remainder of the chapter lists the sins that Yisrael committed, that rendered them no more worthy of remaining in Eretz Yisrael than the nations whom HaSh-m had destroyed before them.
(c)They built themselves numerous idolatrous altars on which they sacrificed to other gods. They worshipped Asheirah-trees and all manners of Avodah Zarah, while totally ignoring the admonitions of the prophets that HaSh-m sent to them to warn them to mend their ways. They rejected the covenant that HaSh-m made with them and transgressed all of His commandments, even going so far as to put up two calves, in the north and south of the country, to replace the Avodah in the Beis ha'Mikdash. Interestingly, Hoshea ben Eilah, the last king of the Ten Tribes, actually removed the border guards that Yeravam had set up, allowing the people for the first time in many years to go to Yerushalayim. It seems that this had little effect on them, as they continued to go in their wicked ways. In addition to all of the above, they were guilty of sacrificing their children to the abominable Molech, and of various types of black magic, all forbidden by the Torah.
(d)This verse adds that besides the above-mentioned sins, they secretly denied the existence of HaSh-m and Divine Providence. It is no wonder, then, that they evoked HaSh-m's anger to the point that He expelled them from Eretz Yisrael, leaving only the Kingdom of Yehudah.
45)[line 47]"ויקנאו...""VA'YEKAN'U..."- "And they envied Moshe in the camp, and Aharon the holy one of HaSh-m" (Tehilim 106:16).
46)[line 48]קינאKINEI (HASHKAYAS SOTAH)
(a)A Sotah is a woman who is suspected of committing adultery because she was warned by her husband not to seclude herself with a certain man and she violated the warning. The process of warning her in front of witnesses is called Kinuy. The witnesses who see her seclude herself with the suspected adulterer are called Eidei Stirah. The time of seclusion must be at least for the time that it takes to roast an egg and swallow it. The woman is forbidden to her husband until she drinks Mei Sotah (see (c) below).
(b)The husband must bring his wife to the Beis ha'Mikdash, along with a sacrifice consisting of 1/10 of an Eifah (approx. 2 quarts) of barley meal as a Minchah offering. The Kohen reads Parshas Sotah, the portion of the Torah describing the curses with which a Sotah is cursed, out loud (in any language that the Sotah understands) and makes the Sotah swear that she has been faithful to her husband.
(c)An earthenware jug is then filled with half a Log of water from the Kiyor, and dirt from the floor of the Azarah is placed on top of the water. Parshas Sotah (that contains numerous appearances of Hash-m's name) is written on parchment and then immersed in the water, causing the ink to dissolve. The Sotah would afterwards drink from the water. If she was unfaithful to her husband and had been defiled, the water would enter her body and poison her, causing her belly to swell out and her thigh to rupture. If she were faithful to her husband, she would remain unharmed and would become pregnant (Bamidbar 5:11-31). In times when there is no Mei Sotah such as in the present day, she must be divorced and does not receive her Kesuvah.
47)[line 50]בקלא דפסיקKALA D'FASIK- a rumor that stops
48)[line 51]דומי דמתאDUMEI D'MASA- the scandal of a town
49)[line 52]נבטNAVAT- emerge
50)[line 54]שטרי חובSHETAREI CHOV- loan documents
51)[last line]בספר עזראSEFER EZRA- (a) the Sefer Torah that was written by Ezra that was kept in the Beis ha'Mikdash; (b) according to the Girsa SEFER AZARAH - the Sefer Torah located in the Azarah against which all other Sifrei Torah were compared to test their accuracy and correct them (and from which the Kohen Gadol read on Yom ha'Kipurim - RITVA)