1)

(a)According to the Rabanan of Aba Yossa ben Yochanan (who maintain the Azarah had only seven gates) - the thirteen prostrations were performed at the thirteen points where the Greeks breached the walls of the Beis-Hamikdash (and which the Chashmona'im subsequently repaired).

(b)When the Beraisa speaks about something that, from the Kodesh Kodshim up to the Paroches resembles the horns of a snail, it is referring to - the stream which will flow through the third Beis Hamikdash.

(c)The stream from the Paroches until it reaches ...

1. ... the Mizbe'ach ha'Zahav - will be as thick as locusts' antenna.

2. ... to the threshold of the house (according to the text of the Gra) - like the thread of the warp.

3. ... from there till the Azaros - like the thread of the woof.

(d)From the time it leaves the right-hand side of the Azaros for the next thousand Amos it will become as thick as the mouth of a small earthenware jar.

2)

(a)The stream will become ankle-deep for another thousand Amos, and knee-deep for another thousand Amos, and then up to the loins. After that, it will become uncrossable - even by boat.

(b)It will then be called "Mei Sachu" - because it will be impossible to swim across ('Lischos' means to swim).

(c)According to Rebbi Yonasan, from Beis David until Yerushalayim the water will be Kasher for a Nidah and for Mei Chatas, but beyond that, only for the former but not for the latter - because it will be mixed with rain-water, which is Kasher for a Nidah, but not for Mei Chatas (which requires natural spring-water).

(d)According to Rebbi Elazar, beyond Yerushalayim, the water will not even be Kasher for a Nidah either - because from that point on, it will contain water that flowed into it down steep mountain slopes via planks.

3)

(a)A better-known name for ...

1. ... Yam ha'Aravah - is Yamah shel Teverya.

2. ... ha'Yamah - the Yam ha'Melach.

3. ... Yamah ha'Motze'im - the Mediterranean Sea.

(b)Another four seas surround Eretz Yisrael.

(c)The Navi refers to the Yam ha'Gadol as "ha'Yamah ha'Motze'im" - because on two occasions it broke its boundaries (to flood part of the world), once in the time of the generation of Enosh (Adam's grandson, in whose days they began worshipping idols; the other time in the days of the tower of Bavel.

(d)According to one opinion, the water on those two occasions went as far as France or Barbaria (possibly Germany). According to the second opinion, the second deluge only went as far as the towns referred to in the Pasuk in Iyov "Ad Poh Savo" - "u'Poh Yashis Ge'on Galecha". These refer to Acco and Yaffo (both towns in Eretz Yisrael).

4)

(a)By falling into the (sweet) Yam shel Teverya - the water of the river will cause the fish to flourish unnaturally, even to produce numerous new species

(b)They brought before Raban Shimon ben Gamliel in Tzidon three hundred different kinds of fish (though some do say that the number three hundred, like the number sixty, is often used in exaggeration).

(c)Even though the holy water of that river will possess healing powers, one place will deliberately remain salty - because salt is needed to add taste to many foods.

(d)According to Rebbi Yosi, the water will cause the crops to grow (not monthly, but) every fifteen days, and the fruit of the trees to grow monthly (rather than once every two months). The former contention actually occurred in the days of Yo'el, when, after the first rains fell only on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the crops had miraculously grown in time for the Omer on the sixteenth of the month. The fruit of the tree will continue to produce at half the rate of the crops, as it does in this world. "la'Chadashav Yevaker" - means according to him (not bi-monthly), but on each of the months.

5)

(a)Rebbi Yochanan explains that one will be able to suck the leaves of the tree and be sustained as if he ate its fruit. (This is how some Meforshim explain 'Meitzitz Aleha v'Taraf Mezonah'). Others explain the word "li'Terufah" as an acronym for 'Lehatir Peh', which means either to make the dumb speak (and "Peh" means literally mouth), or to make the sterile have children (in which "Peh" metaphorically refers to the womb).

(b)Nevuchadnetzar desisted from destroying Yerushalayim in the days of Yechonyah (eleven years before the Churban) - provided Yechonyah gives himself up (following the advice of his advisors, who had warned him that the son of a rebel - Yehoyakim - was bound to go in the ways of his father).

(c)When the Sanhedrin informed him that Nevuchadnetzar wanted him - he calmly went to the Beis Hamikdash, taking the keys of the Beis Hamikdash with him, in order to take leave of Hash-m.

6)

(a)After taking leave of Hash-m in the Beis Hamikdash, he took the keys of the Beis Hamikdash and threw them into the air - because he realized that Hash-m no longer consider Yisrael worthy guardians of His house (though it is not clear why this is - considering that Yisrael would enjoy another eleven years - most of them bountiful ones - under its influence).

(b)Some say that the keys rose into the air and have yet to descend (to demonstrate that Hash-m agreed with him), others that the image of a hand came down and took them (to demonstrate that Hash-m positively rejected their service - Tiklin Chadtin).

(c)When the princes of Yehudah saw that Hash-m did not want their service and that the king had given up in despair - they climbed up onto their roofs and jumped to their deaths (the question is raised as to what right they had to commit suicide - see Pesher Davar).

7)

(a)Eight of the tables in the Beis-Hamikdash were placed in the slaughter-house. They were made of marble and the innards were washed on them.

(b)Two tables were placed on the west of the Mizbe'ach - they would place the limbs before the Kohanim carried them up the ramp, on the marble table, and on the silver one they placed the ninety-three Klei Shares each morning, before they proceeded with the Avodah.

(c)Two tables were placed in the Ulam (just outside the Heichal, where the main marble-table which housed the Lechem ha'Panim for eight days was located), one of marble, one of gold. Each Friday afternoon, they would place the freshly-baked loaves on the marble table, where they would lie until Shabbos afternoon, when they were arranged on the Shulchan, to replace the old loaves. Then the old loaves had been removed, they were placed on the golden table, (because of the principle 'Ma'lin ba'Kodesh, v'Lo Moridin') until distribution time that night.

8)

(a)The Tana of our Mishnah disagree with the Tana of the Beraisa, who maintains that, due to 'Ein Aniyus bi'Mekom Ashirus', the second table in the Ulam was made of silver, rather than of marble - because silver is likely to heat the loaves, causing the loaves to go bad.

(b)The Tana of the Beraisa counters that by quoting the Pasuk "la'Sum Lechem Cham b'Yom Hilakcho" - from which we see that the loaves anyway remained miraculously hot for eight days; in that case, it would make no difference whether they placed them on a silver table or on a marble one

(c)The Tana of our Mishnah however, maintains 'Ein Somchin Al ha'Nes'. Hash-m may well have performed a miracle, but we are not permitted to rely on miracles. Consequently, they were obligated to place the loaves on a marble table and not a silver one, to prevent them from going bad.

9)

(a)The Gemara asks whether, if there is no fresh bread to put on the table, they should leave the loaves that are already there for another seven days - in spite of the fact that they would normally become Pasul b'Linah, if they remained on the table any longer.

(b)The Gemara resolves the She'eilah from the Pasuk "v'Nasata al ha'Shulchan Lechem Panim Lefanai Tamid" - which instructs that the loaves should be permanently on the table (even if they are Pasul - see also Tiklin Chadtin DH 'va'Afilu').

10)

(a)The ten extra tables that Shlomo made were arranged in two rows of five.

(b)"Chamishah mi'Yemin, va'Chamishah mi'Semol" - means five on the right of Moshe's table and five on the left.

(c)We cannot interpret "right" and "left" literally (i.e. that five of the tables were placed on the right of the entrance (i.e. on the north side of the Heichal), and five on the left (i.e. on the south side) - because the tables are only Kasher on the north-side of the Azarah (as the Torah writes in Terumah "v'es ha'Shulchan Titen b'Tzela Tzafon".

(d)

1. The Tana Kama learns from the Pasuk "es ha'Shulchan Asher Alav Lechem ha'Panim" - that the Lechem ha'Panim were confined to the one table of Moshe only (and were not to be placed on the other ten tables).

2. Rebbi Yosi b'Rebbi Yehudah learns from the Pasuk "es ha'Shulchanos va'Aleihem Lechem ha'Panim" - that loaves were placed on all the tables.

11)

(a)According to Rebbi, the tables were placed from east to west, as we explained earlier. Rebbi Yosi b'Rebbi Yehudah holds that they were placed from north to south. (See Tiklin Chadtin 17b DH 'Hag Ma'n d'Amar Tzafon v'Darom').