1)

(a)Rav advised Rav Asi not to live in a town ...

1. ... where horses did not bray and dogs did not bark - because one needs horses to protect the town against enemies, and dogs to protect one's property against thieves.

2. ... which is run by a doctor - because (as we learned earlier in connection with a Talmid-Chacham) he is too busy with his practice to look after the town properly.

(b)He also advised him not to marry two wives - since they are likely to plot against him and cause his downfall. The antidote is to marry three wives, so that, if two of them plot against him, the third one is likely to divulge their plots.

(c)'Turn a carcass, but not words' - appears to mean that one should rather deal with carcasses than ask people for help.

(d)And when he told him ...

1. ... to strip a carcass in the market-place and get paid - he meant that he should rather such a lowly profession rather than rely on assistance from others, on the grounds that he was a Kohen or an important person.

2. ... to have his food with him even when he went up to the roof or when they were going a hundred for a Zuz - he meant that, whatever the circumstances, he should always have food with him.

2)

(a)Rav told Chiya his son not to ...

1. ... take drugs (even for a cure) - because one becomes addicted to them.

2. ... take big steps when walking - because taking large steps takes away one five hundredth of one's eye-sight. He might also have been advising him against jumping over pools of water in order to curtail his journey (because he might mis-time his jump and fall in and drown).

3. ... not to extract a tooth - if there is any chance of saving it.

(b)It is unwise to anger a young gentile, a young snake and a young Talmid-Chacham - because youngsters grow up and one never knows how much power they will wield later in life. Then they will have their revenge.

3)

(a)Rav taught his son Ayvu that whilst the sand was still on his feet - he should already begin selling his wares.

(b)The one thing one should not regret having sold quickly, even if the price goes up after one has sold it - is wine, which, had he not sold it straightway, may have turned sour.

(c)Before opening one's sack to give the customer his corn, one should open one's purse, to put the money inside (take the money first, provide the goods afterwards).

(d)When Rav said ...

1. ... 'A Kav from the ground and not a Kur from the roof' - he meant that it is better to earn one's Parnasah close to home (even if one earns a little less) than to earn a bigger Parnasah further away from home.

2. ... 'Dates in your basket, run to the beer-maker' - he meant that as soon as one has some dates in one's date-basket, he should run with them to the beer-maker, before being tempted to eat them all, and lose the potential benefit that there is in beer.

4)

(a)What made Rav Papa (some say it was Rav Chisda) wealthy - was beer-manufacturing.

(b)'Sudna' is a beer-maker, as well as being the acronym of 'Sod Na'eh' - a good advice - because it is a sound advice to take up beer-manufacturing as a profession.

(c)This is because it is a lucrative trade, which is not expensive to run. Therefore, it is possible, at one and the same time, to enjoy the proceeds of the beer, and to reap a large reward for the World to Come, by giving away some to the poor.

(d)When Rav Papa said ...

1. ... 'Kol Agav Gavya Ba'i' - he meant that whatever even a document requires claiming (so one should treat it as a risk, because he may not receive his money.

2. 'Kol Ashra'i Safek Asi Safek Lo Asi' - he meant that credit is always a risk, because he may never receive payment.

3. ... 'u'de'Asi Ma'os Ra'os Ninhu' - he meant that even when it is repaid, it is repaid very slowly, Perutah by Perutah.

5)

(a)The men of Yerushalayim advised the soldiers to go to war in the back lines - so that, should they need to run away, they will be the first to escape (They were possibly referring to Jewish soldiers fighting in a non-Jewish army).

(b)When they said ...

1. ... 'Al Tarbeh b'Ganos (or b'Gagos) Mishum Ma'seh she'Hayah' - they meant that one should avoid performing one's private activities in the gardens (or on the roof-tops) - because see what happened to Bas-Sheva because she washed on the roof!

2. ... 'Bitcha Bagrah, Shachrer Avdecha v'Tein Lah' - the moment one's daughter comes of marriageable age, find her a Shiduch immediately (even to the point of setting free one's slave for her, should that be necessary).

(c)They warn a person to beware of the relationship between his wife and his first son-in-law - either because she might take a fancy to him, or because she will spend all his money on him.

6)

(a)When Rebbi Yochanan said that someone who makes Havdalah over wine on Motzei Shabbos is among those who will inherit the World to Come, he is speaking about someone who is poor or who cannot obtain sufficient wine to use liberally for Kidush and Havdalah, so he scrimps on his drinking from the Kidush-wine, in order to be able to make Havdalah over wine (rather than over Chamar Medinah).

(b)The other two (who inherit the World to Come) are: someone who lives in Eretz Yisrael and someone who educates his children to study Torah.

(c)Hash-m announces every day the virtues of - a bachelor who lives in a city and does not succumb to the temptations that confront him (as we shall see); a poor man who finds a precious article or a sum of money, and (overcoming the temptation to keep it) returns it, and a rich man who (overcoming the natural inclination to make a show of separating his Ma'asros) does so quietly.

(d)Rav Chanina and Rav Oshaya were tanners who lived in Eretz Yisrael, in the market of prostitutes, for whom they would make shoes. When their customers would come to pick up their finished shoes they would look at them (presumably, Rav Chanina and Rav Oshaya were good-looking), but they declined to look at the women. They earned themselves the title of 'the Holy ones of Eretz Yisrael' (because there where you find a fence around adultery, you find sanctity - Agados Maharsha).

7)

(a)

1. Someone who does not become angry, someone who does not become drunk and someone who does not bear a grudge - are all loved by Hash-m.

2. Hash-m hates someone who is two-faced, someone who withholds evidence in defense of a fellow-Jew and someone who testifies against a Jew whom he saw committing adultery when he is the sole witness (since Beis-Din can so nothing about it) - rendering his testimony pure Lashon ha'Ra).

(b)Someone who does this, transgresses "Lo Seilech Rachil b'Amecha" (Kedoshim).

(c)The source of the popular saying 'Tuvyah sinned and Zigud receives lashes' - is the story of Tuvyah who sinned, and Zigud went to Beis-Din, as the sole witness. When Rav Papa had Zigud arrested to give him Malkus, he asked in amazement 'Tuvyah sinned and Zigud receives lashes?!'

(d)Bearing in mind the Beraisa, which informs us that the Pasuk "Ki Sir'eh Shor Son'acha Rovetz" is referring to a Jewish Sonei, we learn from the Pasuk ...

1. ... "Lo Yakum Eid Echad b'Ish" (Shoftim) and "Ki Sir'eh Shor Son'acha Rovetz" (Mishpatim) - that if one sees a Yisrael sinning (and there is no other witness) one is permitted to hate him.

2. ... "Lo Sisna es Achicha bi'Levavecha" (Kedoshim) - that if one did not actually see him in the act, then it is forbidden.

3. ... "Yir'as Hash-m S'nos Ra" (Mishlei) - that not only is one permitted to hate him, but that it is even a Mitzvah to do so.

8)

(a)A single witness may inform one's Rebbi so that he too, should hate the sinner - provided his Rebbe believes him like he would two witnesses.

(b)

1. The lives of people who are excessively merciful, people who are excessively angry and people who are excessively finicky are not worth living. Rav Yosef claimed that he had all three of these qualities.

2. Dogs hate each other, and so too, do chickens and Chaverim (a sect of Persians). Others add prostitutes and the Talmidei-Chachamim of Bavel to the list.

3. Converts love each other, and so too do slaves and ravens.

4. A poor man who is proud, a rich man who denies (his debts), an old man who is lecherous and a community leader who uses his position exclusively to boost his prestige - are all (unnatural, and therefore) unbearable.

(c)This Tana does not include a man who keeps divorcing his wife and taking her back - either because her Kesubah is too much for him to handle, or because he may have children from her. For either of these two reasons he might want very much to divorce her, but when it comes to the crunch, he cannot handle the divorce.

9)

(a)'Cana'an left his sons a legacy' that comprised five 'golden rules': 'Love each other, love theft, love immorality, hate your masters and don't speak the truth'!

(b)A horse loves immorality and war, it is vain, it dislikes sleeping, it eats a lot but excretes little.

(c)Some add to the list - that it wants to kill its master during a battle.

10)

(a)Someone who has no wife or no children, or he has children but fails to educate them to study Torah - is placed in Cherem by the Heavenly Court. Note: This only applies to someone who does so deliberately, but not when it is not his fault - see Tosfos DH 've'Ein Lo Banim').

(b)(Besides someone who does not wear shoes) others add someone who fails to wear Tefilin shel Yad and shel Rosh or have a Mezuzah on his door-post.

(c)Still others add 'Mi she'Eino Meisav ba'Chaburah shel Mitzvah' - meaning that he does not participate in a Se'udas Mitzvah such as a Bris Milah or of the marriage of a Bas Kohen to a Kohen.

11)

(a)We learn from the Pasuk ...

1. ... "Tamim Tihyeh Im Hash-m Elokecha" - that one may not consult astrologers.

2. ... "Kol Keveil Di Ru'ach Yeseira Bei" ... that one obligated to honor someone who is greater than he is - even if it is only in one point (we learn this from King Daryavesh, who intended to raise Daniel above all the other princes of his kingdom because he had a greater spirit of wisdom than they).

(b)A 'Yosheves Al Dam Tohar' - refers to a woman who Toveled on the forty-first night after giving birth to a son, or on the eighty-first night after a daughter.

(c)She is forbidden to her husband - because she may see blood now and think that, in the same way as, had she a sighting during the previous thirty-three days, she would have been Tehorah, so too is she Tehorah now (which of course, she is not).

(d)She therefore remains forbidden to her husband - for another Onah (twelve hour period).

12)

(a)

1. ... Isi ben Akavya and Yosef Ish Hutzal is alias Yosef ha'Bavli, Isi ben Gur-Aryeh, Isi ben Yehudah, Isi ben Gamliel and Isi ben Mahalalel.

2. ... Rebbi Yitzchak ben Tavla is alias Rebbi Yitzchak ben Chakla and Rebbi Yitzchak ben Ila'a.

3. ... Whenever the name Rebbi Yitzchak appears in a Sugya of Halachah, it is Rebbi Yitzchak ben Acha, and when it appears in a Sugya of Agadta, it is Rebbi Yitzchak ben Pinchas. A good way to remember this is by thinking of the phrase 'Shim'u Na Achai' (listen, my brothers), which is reminiscent of Acha - Shema'atse (another word for Halachah).