1)

(a)We try to learn 'Ein Me'arvin Simchah b'Simchah' from the fourteen days inauguration of the Beis Hamikdash of Shlomo ha'Melech - because the Pasuk testifies that they celebrated seven days (until Succos) and then seven days on Succos. Now if we could combine two Semachos, why did they then not wait until Succos and celebrate them both at once?

(b)We reject this source however - on the grounds that, perhaps Shlomo did not want to delay the celebrations for the inauguration of the Beis-Hamikdash, but that does not mean that it is forbidden to do so.

(c)In that case, we ask, why did Shlomo not at least delay the completion of the Beis Hamikdash a little. We override this objection however - with the argument that one does not delay the completion of the Beis Hamikdash.

2)

(a)We query further, why he could not just leave over the Kalya Orev - (a slanting roof arriving at a width of one Amah at the top, which they filled with metal and nails, to prevent the birds from resting on the roof of the Beis-Hamikdash and making a mess there).

(b)We initially think that this would counter the Kashya - inasmuch as it was only a relatively minor facet of the Beis Hamikdash).

(c)We answer - that the 'Kalya Orev' is an intrinsic part of the Beis Hamikdash.

(d)We finally prove that, under no circumstances, may one combine two sets of Semachos - from the fact that after having stated that they celebrated fourteen days, the Pasuk adds "seven days and seven days", indicating that the two sets of celebration (for the completion of the Beis Hamikdash and for Yom Tov) were deliberately kept apart.

3)

(a)The year that the Beis Hamikdash was completed, they did something that they would not have dreamt of doing any other year - they ate on Yom Kippur.

(b)Hash-m responded to their subsequent concern that perhaps they had performed a terrible sin - by sending a 'Bas-Kol' (A Heavenly-Voice) which informed them that they were all ready for Olam ha'Ba.

4)

(a)Shlomo learned this concession from a three-point 'Kal va'Chomer' from the Mishkan, where they broke Shabbos at its inauguration. The three points are - that the Kedushah of the Mishkan was not permanent, that the Korban that they were bringing was a Korban Yachid and the Isur Shabbos is one of Sekilah, yet they broke Shabbos; whereas in our case, the Kedushah of the Beis Hamikdash was permanent, the Korban that they were bringing was a Korban Tzibur and the Isur of Yom Kippur is only Kares.

(b)In spite of the Kal va'Chomer, they were concerned - because, whereas at the inauguration of the Mishkan, they broke Shabbos by performing the Avodah, at the inauguration of the Beis Hamikdash, they broke Yom Kippur by eating (from which they derived personal benefit).

(c)At the end of the day however, their worry was baseless - because there is no Simchah without eating (making the eating of the Korbanos as much an obligation as bringing them).

5)

(a)We learn that they broke Shabbos by the inauguration of the Mishkan from (the word "Yom") in the Pesukim in Naso "uv'Yom Ashtei-Asar Yom" and "b'Yom Shneim-Asar Yom" - by extrapolating from them that, just as a day is consecutive, so too, were the days there consecutive (in which case, they must have included at least one Shabbos).

(b)We need two Pesukim for that - because from one Pasuk only, we would have thought that the days were not consecutive, but incorporated only the days on which Korbanos can normally be brought (to the exclusion of Shabbos).

(c)We know that they broke Yom Kippur by the inauguration of the Beis Hamikdash (and that the fourteen does not refer exclusively to days on which one is permitted to eat) - because of the 'Gezeirah-Shavah' "Yom" "Yom" from the Mishkan.

(d)We learn that Hash-m forgave them, from the Pasuk in Melachim 1 "ba'Yom ha'Shemini Shalach es ha'Am ... ". We learn from ...

1. ... "l'Oholeihem" - that they all returned home and found their wives Tahor.

2. ... "Semechim" - that they derived pleasure from the Glory of the Shechinah.

3. ... "v'Tovei Lev" - that each and every woman became pregnant with a boy.

4. ... "al Kol ha'Tovah" - that a bas-Kol announced that they were all ready for Olam ha'Ba.

6)

(a)The above Pasuk concludes "l'David Avdo ul'Yisrael Amo". We learn from ...

1. ... "ul'Yisrael Amo" - that Hash-m forgave them for eating on Yom Kippur.

2. ... "l'David Avdo" - that Hash-m had forgiven David for the sin of Bas Sheva.

(b)Rebbi Yonasan ben Asmai and Rebbi Yehudah ben Geirim went to take leave of their Rebbe Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai, in the morning, and came and took leave of him again in the afternoon. They explained to their astonished Rebbe - that he himself had taught them that a Talmid who takes leave of his Rebbe but remains overnight in town, is obligated to take leave of him again in the morning.

(c)Rebbi Shimon learned this - from Shlomo ha'Melech, who sent the people away on the eighth (the twenty-second of Tishrei), and then again on the twenty-third (Divrei-Hayamim 2).

7)

(a)Rebbi Shimon sent Rebbi Elazar his son to his Talmidim for a Berachah - because he considered them to be men of stature (wise men).

(b)They established the Pasuk ...

1. ... which says that one should weigh up the Mitzvos and perform the larger ones - when there is someone else available to perform the smaller ones - and the Pasuk that one should not weigh up Mitzvos, but perform whichever Mitzvah comes one's way, be it small or large - when there is no-one but oneself to perform it.

2. ... which writes (about Torah) "v'Chol Cheftzecha Lo Yishvu Bah (from which one can infer that Cheftzei Shamayim (i.e. Mitzvos) are equal to the Torah and that one should therefore stop learning in order to fulfill them - when there is no-one else to fulfil the Mitzvah on hand; and the Pasuk "Kol Chafeitzim Lo Yishvu Bah" (even Cheftzei Shamayim) - when there is.

(c)They conferred upon him a strange-sounding string of blessings. When they said ...

1. ... 'You should sow and not reap' they meant - that he should bear sons who will not die in their (father's) life-time.

2. ... 'You should bring in and not bring out' - that he should bring in daughters-in-law and that his sons who married them should not die in their life-time.

3. ... 'You should bring out and not bring in' - that when he would bear daughters and send them away to get married, that his sons-in-law should not die in his life-time, resulting in their daughters having to return home.

4. ... 'Your house should be destroyed and your inn settled' - that their graves should not come into use, but that they should rather spend a long time in this world (which is compared to an inn).

5. ... 'Your table should be confused' - that they should have many sons and daughters sitting round their table.

6. ... 'You should not see a new year' - that they should not lose their wives and have to spend the first year with another wife.

8)

(a)In similar vein, when Rebbi Shimon ben Chalafta took leave of Rav, he blessed Rav's son. When he said 'Don't embarrass and don't be embarrassed - he meant that if he did not embarrass others, he would never be embarrassed.

(b)When his son complained about the insignificance of the Berachah - Rav replied that he should not treat lightly a Berachah with which Hash-m Himself blessed Yisrael (implied by the repetition of the Pasuk "v'Lo Yevoshu Ami Le'olam").

(c)Our Mishnah permits a woman to adorn herself on Chol ha'Mo'ed. The Beraisa explains that this refers to three things ...

1. ... 'Kocheles' - (painting her eyes blue to beautify them).

2. ... 'Pokeses' - (making a parting in her hair).

3. ... 'Ma'avirah S'rak al Panehah' - (painting rouge on her face to look more beautiful).

(d)'Ma'avirah S'rak al Panehah' might also mean - something that she rubs on her body to remove the pubic hair.

9)

(a)When Rav Huna bar Chinena maintained that only a young woman is permitted to adorn herself on Chol ha'Mo'ed, but not an old one - Rav Chisda told him in no uncertain terms that the concession applied even to his grandmother, and even if she was standing with one foot already in her grave, because ...

(b)... 'Bas Shitin k'Bas Shis l'Kol Tivla Rihata' - a woman of sixty runs to hear the ringing of the bells (i.e. she still remains a girl at heart) just like one of six.

(c)Rebbi Yehudah forbids a woman to place lime on her face on Chol ha'Mo'ed, because it makes her look currently ugly. The dual purpose of the lime is - to remove facial hair and to give her face a red tone.

(d)Rebbi Yehudah himself qualifies his statement - confining the stringency to a lime-pack that cannot be removed on Chol ha'Mo'ed; if it can, then he concedes that it is permitted to apply it.

10)

(a)In a Mishnah in Avodah-Zarah, Rebbi Yehudah permits claiming one's debts from a gentile on the day of his festival, because it causes the gentile to feel bad. According to the Chachamim - even though this may well be the gentile's initial reaction, ultimately, he feels happy because he has paid off his debt. Consequently, claiming one's debts from gentiles on Chol ha'Mo'ed will be forbidden.

(b)Despite the fact that Rebbi Yehudah there does not take into consideration the fact that the gentile will be happy afterwards, he does do so in the case of a woman adorning herself on Chol ha'Mo'ed, according to Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak - because most things that are permitted on Chol ha'Mo'ed (and on Yom Tov for that matter - such as cooking and baking) are permitted on the grounds that in the end, it will be beneficial, even though initially, it entails a lot of hard work).

(c)Ravina disagrees with this. According to him, the reason that Rebbi Yehudah in Avodah-Zarah permits claiming one's debts from a gentile on the day of his festival is - because it causes him to feel bad (period).

11)

(a)The poor would use lime to remove premature hair from their young daughters, the wealthy, flour, and Kings - myrrh-oil, as the Pasuk writes in Esther "Six months with myrrh-oil".

(b)Some translate Shemen ha'Mor as 'Sateches'. The second explanation is - oil made from olives that have not grown to one third of their size.

(c)Besides a hair-remover - Shemen ha'Mor also gives the skin a good complexion.

(d)That Nochri accused Rav Bibi of killing his daughter - when he attempted to copy Rav Bibi by smearing oil over the entire body of his daughter (a fatal mistake, because Rav Bibi had smeared his daughter limb by limb, and had subsequently received four hundred Zuz from her husband to be when he engaged her to be married).

12)

(a)Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak claimed that his daughter did not need smearing with oil - because in his family, they did not drink beer.