1)

(a)Mar Ukva Amar Shmuel, Rav Yosef and Rav Sheshes respectively, stated - that one is permitted to eat Alin (a certain herb), coriander-seeds and hops, even if one's intention is to improve one's eye-sight, since their healing powers are merely a myth.

(b)Rav ...

1. ... Yosef commented that coriander-seeds were harmful, even to eyes, even though he was bind; whereas ...

2. ... Rav Sheshes, who was blind too, commented - that Gargira (the rocket-plant) was good even for his eyes.

(c)Mar Ukva Amar Shmuel forbade taking Matruza hops on Shabbos (more than others) - because people only took them as a cure, and not as a food, like they did other hops.

2)

(a)Rav Chisda permitted Sh'rika Tavya (smearing hot roasted meat with oil and partially-cooked eggs on Shabbos) - provided the meat was not boiling hot (and did not forbid it because it resembles Tikun Ochlin).

(b)He forbade however, beating partially-cooked eggs on Shabbos -because it looks as if one is about to roast them.

(c)When ...

1. ... Ze'iri's wife served Chiya bar Ashi Sh'rika Tavya on Shabbos - he declined to eat it (because it resembles Tikun Ochlin). She ...

2. ... in turn, commented that what was good enough for his Rebbe (Ze'iri) ought to be good enough for him.

(d)We conclude that Ze'iri followed his own reasoning, regarding pouring clear wine or water through a strainer on Shabbos - which he permitted, since the liquid was fit to drink without being sifted. Likewise here, where the meat was fit to be eaten without the oil and the eggs.

3)

(a)Mar Ukva permits someone who knocks his foot to soothe it with wine on Shabbos. When they asked about soothing it with vinegar - Rav Hillel citing de'bei Rav Kahana replied that it is forbidden (because, as opposed to wine, which is too weak to be effective, its strength serves to heal the wound by causing it to contract).

(b)Rava forbade the residents of Mechuza to use even wine - because they were so finicky, that even the strength of wine achieved the same results as vinegar by other people.

(c)A donkey trampled on Rav Ashi's foot.

(d)In spite of Rav Hillel's ruling, he justify to Ravina soothing his foot with vinegar - by pointing out that the wound was on the top of his foot, which ), and Rav Ada bar Masna Amar Rav has said that a wound on the back of his hand or on top of the foot constitutes life-danger, which overrides Shabbos.

(e)According to the second Lashon - Ravina saw Rav Ashi soothing his foot using wine, and he queried him from Rava, who forbade the b'nei Mechuza to do so because they were finicky, and Rav Ashi was finicky, too.

4)

(a)The Chidush of the Beraisa, which permits bathing in the waters of G'rar and of Teverya - is that although the former is a little salty, and the latter warm and healing, people do bathe in it even not for healing purposes.

(b)The Tana forbids bathing in the ocean, in water in which flax has been soaked) or in the Salt-Sea - because they are locations where healthy people would not bathe, only sick ones.

(c)Rebbi Yochanan reconcile this Beraisa with the Beraisa which permits bathing in the ocean and in Mei Teverya - by establishing our Beraisa like Rebbi Yehudah, who distinguishes between the ocean and other seas, and the other Beraisa, like Rebbi Meir, who compares them.

5)

(a)In a Mishnah in Parah, Rebbi Meir considers all seas to have the Din of a Mikvah - meaning that it does not have the Din of a fountain (for a Zav to Tovel in it, to sprinkle on a Metzora or to sanctify the Mei Chatas with it.

(b)According to Rebbi Yehudah - only the ocean is compared to a Mikvah, but not other seas (note that some commentaries interpret 'Yam ha'Gadol' as the Mediterranean Sea (as opposed to the other oceans).

(c)The other distinction that exists between a Mikvah and a spring is - that the former is only Metaher when it is still and gathered in one place, whereas the latter is Metaher even as it flows.

(d)According to Rebbi Yehudah, the Pasuk mentions "Yamim" (in the plural) in connection with the ocean - because all the rivers flow into it.

6)

(a)According to Rebbi Yossi, the Torah compares the ocean to a Mikvah - to teach us that, even though it is Kasher to Tovel in (despite the movement of the water [like spring-water]), it is not Kasher for Tevilas Zavin and the other things that require Mei Ma'ayan (like a Mikvah).

(b)Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak queries Rebbi Yochanan's explanation (equating the two Beraisos with the opinions of Rebbi Meir and Rebbi Yehudah) however - in that their dispute is confined to matters of Tum'ah and Taharah (as is evident from the source Pasuk), but not about Shabbos.

(c)Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak therefore reconciles the Beraisa which permits bathing in the ocean with the Beraisa which forbids it - by establishing it with regard to remaining for a long time in the water.

7)

(a)We reject Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak's answer however, based on another Beraisa. What does the Tana there say about someone with scabs on his head?

(b)Disproving Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak's answer - in that the Beraisa that he is discussing ought not to have then forbidden bathing in water in which flax has been soaked.

(c)We reconcile this Beraisa with the earlier one, which forbade bathing in flax-water, by establishing the latter with regard to remaining a long time in the water; whereas the contradictory Beraisos concerning bathing in the ocean we finally reconcile - by establishing the one which permits it by the less murky water, where people bathe during the week, even for pleasure, whereas the Beraisa which forbids it speaks about bathing in the murky part of the sea.

8)

(a)Our Mishnah forbids eating Eizov Yavan (Greek hyssop) on Shabbos - but permits 'Yo'ezer' (the pennyroyal plant and Abubra'ah) on Shabbos.

(b)The reason for this distinction is - because the former is not generally eaten as a food, whereas the latter are.

9)

(a)The Mishnah rules that - with the exception of Mei Dekalim and Kos Ikrin, one may eat any food and drink any beverage, as a cure.

(b)The two are both forbidden on Shabbos - because they are designated for people with jaundice, and healthy people do not generally drink them.

(c)'Kos Ikrin' is - a beverage made of the roots of vegetables and spices (as will be explained in the Sugya).

(d)The Tana permits however ...

1. ... drinking Mei Dekalim to quench one's thirst.

2. ... anointing oneself with Kos Ikrin.

10)

(a)According to Rav Yosef, the Hyssop (Eizov Yavan) in our Mishnah is otherwise known as Abarsa bar Hinag, that in the Torah (which is used, among other thing, to sprinkle the Parah Adumah) as Abarsa bar Hemeg. According to some 'bar Hemeg' - means that it grows in a location or reeds ('Gemi') and 'bar Hinag' - that it grows among the thorn-bushes ('bein ha'Hegim').

(b)Ula maintains that the Eizov in the Torah is Maru Chivra (the sage- plant), whereas Rav Papi translates it as Shumshuk. Rebbi Yirmiyah from Difti preferred Rav Papi's translation, because it fits the Mishnah in Parah, which states - that for the Mitzvah of Eizov one requires three stems, each of which contains three stalks, which fits the description of Shumshuk exactly.

(c)Eizov Yavan is eaten as an antidote to worms in the intestines - together with seven black dates.

(d)The worms are created from eating barley-flour that is at least forty days old (from the time that it was ground).

11)

(a)The pennyroyal plant in our Mishnah is an antidote for Ark'sa, which is - worms in the liver.

(b)Together with the plant one eats - seven white dates.

(c)Ark'sa is caused by eating meat roasted on coals and water, juicy meat or ox-meat, nuts or fenugreek stalks - which cause Ark'sa when eaten on an empty stomach.

(d)Alternative cures consisted of eating white cress or fasting and breaking one's fast on juicy meat - which one roasts the juicy meat on coals, and then sucks the bones and sips vinegar.

(e)Others omit vinegar from the recipe however - because it is bad for the liver.

12)

(a)A final cure for Ark'sa is to eat shavings from a bush, which were scraped in a downward direction, because the shavings were scraped in an upward direction - the worms would come out of his mouth.

(b)He then prepares the shavings - by boiling them in beer at dusk ('bei Shiv'vi', which might also mean in a neighbor's house, because the smell of the boiling potion will cause him harm).

(c)It is advisable to block one's nostrils the day after drinking the potion - in order to avoid smelling it (or his nostrils and ears - so that the effects of the potion should not escape from inside his body).

(d)And one subsequently relieves oneself - next to a date-palm at a point where the branches have been severed.

13)

(a)Our Mishnah permits someone who has drunk liquid that was left uncovered (from which a snake may have drunk) to take Abubra'ah (a one-shoot tree) on Shabbos.

(b)The alternative cure is five roses and five cups of beer - which are boiled together until nothing but a Revi'is (one and a half egg-volumes) remains. Then one drinks it.

(c)After giving a man who had drunk uncovered liquid a potion consisting of one rose and one cup of beer to drink, heated up an oven, Rav Achdevai bar Ami's mother removed the coals, and seated him on a brick in the oven, following which the man excreted the snake poison which came out 'like a green palm 'branch'.

(d)Other possible antidotes for drinking uncovered water are a Revi'is ha'Lug of a white goat's milk (Rav Ivya), or a sweet Esrog (Rav Huna bar Yehudah) - which is eaten after cutting a cavity in it, filling it with honey, and placing it on coals burning in the oven.

14)

(a)Rebbi Chanina prescribes urine that is forty days old (or from a forty-day old baby) as a cure for various ailments. A tiny cup-full for a hornet-sting, a Revi'is ha'Lug for that of a scorpion. The amount needed for ...

1. ... snake-bite - is half a Log.

2. ... witchcraft - is one Lug.

(b)Rebbi Yochanan prescribes water in which a herb called Bang'ri (or beets [it is unclear which of the two is correct]) - for both uncovered water and for witchcraft.

(c)One feeds a patient who has swallowed a small snake - hops with salt, and forces him to run three Mil, at which it come out in chunks.

15)

(a)Rav Shimi bar Ashi appeared before the man who swallowed a snake in the form of a horse-rider (soldier), and grabbed hold of him - in order to give him a shock (which is part of the cure). He made him drink hops with salt, and then forced him to run in front of him for a distance of three Mil. The snake came out in pieces.

(b)Some say that Rav Shimi bar swallowed the snake, and the man who saved him was none other than - Eliyahu ha'Navi.

(c)The antidote for someone who has been bitten by a snake involves the fetus of a white donkey - which is cut open and placed on the patient been bitten by the snake.

(d)This remedy will only work however - if the donkey is not a Tereifah.

16)

(a)We learn from the Pasuk "u'Poretz Geder Yishchenu Nachash" - that the punishment for transgressing a de'Rabbanan on which a Cherem has been pronounced is - snake-bite.

(b)When a certain officer in Pumbedisa was bitten by a snake, and they Shechted thirteen white donkeys on his behalf - all thirteen donkeys turned out to be Tereifos.

(c)When they eventually discovered one that was not Tereifah on the other side of the river - a lion ate it before they had a chance to transport it.

(d)When Abaye suggested that perhaps a 'Rabbinical snake' had bitten him, for which there was no cure, they replied - that he had transgressed the decree issued by Rav Yitzchak bar Bisna, following the death of Rav - (the spiritual leader of Bavel) forbidding dancing at weddings with a myrtle twig and little bells (as was the custom at that time).