1)

(a)If a married woman is living with her husband, and both he and her father Shecht the Korban Pesach on her behalf, she eats from the Pesach of her husband - because presumably, like most women, that is what she intended.

(b)According to the Tana of our Mishnah, if she is with her father ...

1. ... for the first Yom-Tov after her marriage - she eats from whichever Pesach she chooses.

2. ... on subsequent Yamim-Tovim - she eats from that of her husband.

(c)The Beraisa, which says that on the first Yom-Tov she eats from her father's Pesach and on subsequent Yamim-Tovim, from whichever one she pleases - speaks when she is not happy in her husband's house and feels a constant urge to return to her father's house; whereas our Mishnah speaks when she is happy in her husband's house. (See Tosfos, quoting Rabeinu Tam, whose explanation seems to conform better with the Pesukim that the Gemara is about to cite - see 2a.).

(d)There is no proof for Bereirah from this latter Din, because her preference is based, not on the time of eating, but on the time of Shechitah.

2)

(a)We learn from the Pasuk "Az Hayisi b'Einav k'Mutzeis Shalom" - the concept of a wife who is happy with her husband, and who returns to her father's house to tell him all about it.

(b)"Achos Lanu Ketanah v'Shadayim Ein Lah", 've'Amar Rebbi Yochanan, Zu Eilam she'Zachsah Lilmod v'Lo Zachsah l'Lamed' - refers to Daniel, who hailed from Shushan, the capital, and who learned a lot of Torah, but did not teach it to the public.

(c)Bavel had the edge over Eilam in this regard - because Ezra, who lived in Bavel and who learned Torah, also taught it publicly.

(d)In the Pasuk "I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers" - "the wall" might also refer to Keneses Yisrael and "the breasts", to the Batei Keneisiyos and the Batei Medrashos".

3)

(a)"Our sons are like saplings" - refers to the young men of Yisrael, who did not taste the taste of sin; and "our daughters like corners - to the young women, who are full of desire, yet they refrain from being intimate with other men, waiting for their husbands to come home; alternatively, who refrain from being intimate even with their husbands, when they become Nidos.

(b)The Pasuk ends "Mechutavos Tavnis Heichal" - to teach us that both of the above are so meritorius that it is considered as if the Heichal was built in their days.

(c)We learn from the Pasuk in Hoshei'a "Techilas Diber Hash-m b'Hoshei'a" - that Hoshei'a was greater than his three contemporaries - Yeshayah, Amos and Michah.

4)

(a)When Hash-m informed Hoshei'a that Yisrael had sinned, he should have defended them. Instead, he replied "Ribono Shel Olam, the entire world is Yours. Exchange them for another nation!'

(b)Hash-m responded by telling him to marry a prostitute, to conceive children from her, and then to order him to send her away. Should he be able to do that, then Hash-m too, would send Klal Yisrael away'.

(c)One significant meaning of the name ...

1. ... Gomer - is that everyone used her to complete their desires; alternatively, that the enemy wanted to finish the money of Yisrael in her days, or that they even did so.

2. ... bas Divlayim - is either that she was a woman who had a bad name, who was the daughter of a woman with a bad name ('Dibah Ra'ah bas Dibah Ra'ah - since Divlayim is in the plural), or that she was sweet in the eyes of all the men like a pressed fig, or that everyone threshed her like a pressed fig.

5)

(a)Hoshei'a was instructed to call the name of his ...

1. ... first son, Yizrael - because, Hash-m said 'I am about to visit the sin of Yizrael on the house of Yeihu (who, on the orders of Elisha, destroyed the house of Achav in the valley of Yizrael, but who was then accused of murdering them, because he went on to commit idolatry just like Achav and his family did.

2. ... daughter - Lo Ruchamah - to signify that Hash-m would no longer have compassion on Yisrael.

3. ... his second son - Lo Ami - to inform them that since they did not behave like His people, He would not behave like their G-d.

(b)Hoshei'a was expected to be like Moshe Rabeinu - who separated from his wife, when Hash-m spoke to him. He responded by stating that he was unable to do so, since he had two sons and a daughter from her.

(c)Hash-m replied that if Hoshei'a was unable to separate from a wife who was a prostitute because of children which he could not even guarantee were his, how could he expect Hash-m to separate from Yisrael, who were after all, the children of the ones He had tried - Avraham, Yitzchak and Yakov.

(d)The three acquisitions of Hash-m, besides Yisrael, are Torah, Heaven and earth and the Beis Hamikdash (for some reason, the Gemara omits the fifth acquisition mentioned in Avos - 'Avraham' (see Agados Maharsha).

6)

(a)When Hoshei'a realized that he had sinned, and began to pray for mercy for himself, Hash-m said to him, 'Instead of praying for yourself, why don't you pray for Yisrael, on whom I just issued three decrees because of you?'

(b)Hoshei'a responded by blessing Yisrael, that their numbers should correspond to sand by the sea-shore, and that all the previous curses should be transformed into blessings.

(c)Yeshayah and most other prophets spanned the reigns of at least four kings - because of the maxim 'Woe to rulership, because it buries its incumbents!' (meaning that rulership tends to go to a person's head - and 'Pride comes before a fall').

(d)Yarav'am ben Yo'ash is mentioned together with the kings of Yehudah - as a reward for not accepting Lashon ha'Ra about the Navi Amos (by refusing to believe that he had prophesied his death - and even if he had, he argued, then that was the will of Hash-m, and there was nothing he could do about it).

7)

(a)the Gemara Darshens the Pasuk in Hoshei'a ...

1. ... "Ki Lo Osif Od Arachem es Beis Yisrael" - as if there was a comma after the word "Od", which then translates 'Because I shall not continue (to be angry), I will have compassion on Beis Yisrael.'

2. ... "Ki Lo Naso Esa Lahem" - which is really to be understood as a rhetorical question ("Will I favor them"), yet the fact that Hash-m uses the term 'favor' is a good sign.

(b)We learn from here that even when Hash-m is angry with Yisrael, He still remembers them with compassion.

(c)Rebbi Elazar learns from the Pasuk "u'Zera'tiha Li ba'Aretz" or from "v'Richamti es Lo Ruchamah, and Rebbi Yochanan from v'Amarti l'Lo Ami, Ami Atem" - that just as a person only sows in order to reap, so too, did Hash-m send Yisrael into Galus (which the Navi refers to as sowing) in order to glean converts (that those who are not Hash-m's people will become His people).

8)

(a)We learn from Hoshei'a, who was taken to task for speaking in a derogative manner about Yisrael - that, no matter how wicked the Jewish people become, one should not speak about them in a derogatory manner.

(b)Hash-m performed an act of charity with Yisrael by scattering them among the nations - because now the gentiles would find genocide far more difficult to accomplish.

(c)That Roman heretic boasted to Rebbi Chanina - how they were far more tolerant than Yo'av was; why, Yo'av had only been in Edom for six months, and he had already destroyed all the males there, and look how Yisrael had already spent so many years in Galus, yet the Romans had done them no harm!

(d)Rebbi Oshaya answered him - with the concept that we just explained; that in reality, they wanted to commit genocide, but that, due to the fact that Yisrael was so scattered, they could not find the means to achieve this - the heretic admitted that that was the absolute truth.

9)

(a)According to Rebbi Chiya, Hash-m exiled Yisrael to Bavel (at the time of the first Churban) and not to Edom - because the Babylonians were not as cruel as the Romans.

(b)The analogy 'because it is common for a husband who is cross with his wife to send her to her father's house' - refers to Galus Bavel, which is where Avraham, the founder of Yisrael, originated i.e. Ur Kasdim.

(c)The fourth reason for exiling Yisrael to Bavel - is because Bavel was known for its abundant dates, which would enable Yisrael to eat their fill and study Torah (because they would never go hungry).

(d)The money which they took from Egypt eventually returned there, when Shishak, King of Egypt, attacked Yerushalayim and made off with a large sum of money; and the letters that were engraved on the Luchos, that Hash-m had carved there, returned to Heaven when Moshe smashed the Luchos.