1)

(a)Rav's 'Kal va'Chomer' is based on the Pasuk in Zecharyah "v'Safdah ha'Aretz Mishpechos Mishpechos""v'Safdah ha'Aretz Mishpechos Mishpechos" - which refers to the Hesped that will take place after the battle of Gog and Magog, where they will be divided into families ...

(b)... the family of Beis David on its own and the women on their own.

(c)Rebbi Dosa and the Rabanan argue over the identity of the 'person' who will be eulogized - according to the one, it will be Mashi'ach ben Yosef; according to the other, it will be the Yetzer ha'Ra.

(d)The problem with the second opinion is that - surely the death of the Yetzer ha'Ra is more of a reason to rejoice than to hold a Hesped!?

2)

(a)Rebbi Yehudah explains that it is both the Tzadikim and the Resha'im who will weep. The ...

1. ... Tzadikim will weep - when they see the immensity of the Yetzer-ha'Ra. They will cry with incredulity, unable to conceive how they could overcome such a huge antagonist (who is really nothing less than a reflection of their own greatness).

2. ... Resha'im will weep - when they see how small their Yetzer ha'Ra was. They will weep out of consternation, unable to believe that they were unable to overcome such a weak enemy (who is nothing more than a reflection of their own insignificance).

(b)Hash-m will react to their weeping - by expressing as much amazement as they "Gam b'Einai Yipalei"!

(c)The Yetzer ha'Ra is at first as easy to break as cob-webs. Later, as one gives in to him, it become as difficult to break him as the ropes with which one ties the cow to the plow-share (in spite of the fact that he becomes smaller, as we just saw).

(d)Mashi'ach ben David will eventually ask Hash-m to deliver the nations into his hands. Initially, when he sees Mashi'ach ben Yosef lying slain - he will ask for life. Hash-m however, will respond that - his ancestor David has already prophesied in Tehilim that he will live.

3)

(a)The Yetzer ha'Ra has seven names (each one describing either his character or his tactics): Hash-m called him 'evil' - Moshe called him Arel (uncircumcised).

(b)David called him 'Tamei'. His son Shlomo called him 'Sonei' (an enemy).

(c)When Shlomo advised that one feeds him bread and water when he is hungry - he meant that one should study Torah, which is called both 'bread' and 'water'.

(d)If one follows Shlomo's advice - it is like pouring hot coals on the Yetzer ha'Ra's head, and will cause Hash-m to force the Yetzer ha'Ra to make peace with him.

4)

(a)Yeshayah referred to the Yetzer ha'Ra as a stumbling-block - Yechezkel, as a stone.

(b)The Navi Yo'el called him 'Tzif'oni' - meaning hidden, because he is hidden inside a person's heart (since one is not aware that he is there).

(c)The Tzif'oni (which also can mean a snake) sets his sights on 'the former Sea' - the first Beis Hamikdash, and on 'the latter Sea' - the second Beis Hamikdash.

(d)The Beis Hamikdash is referred to as 'a sea' - because everyone goes there, just like all the rivers flow into the sea.

5)

(a)The Yetzer ha'Ra is more concerned with Jews than with Nochrim, whereas among Jews - he prefers the Talmidei-Chachamim to the Amei ha'Aretz.

(b)When Abaye overheard a certain man suggest to a female co-traveler that they travel together - convinced that they would sin, he decided to follow them and to stop them from sinning when the need arose.

(c)When their ways parted, one pointed out to the other that, unfortunately, their destinations were far apart, and how nice it would have been to have finished their journey together.

(d)When Abaye, thinking that he must be on a lower level than those two travelers, became depressed...

(e)...that old man consoled him by informing him that the greater a person, the more powerful his Yetzer ha'Ra [as we just explained in (a)].

6)

(a)Based on the Pasuk "Rak Ra Kol ha'Yom", Rav Yitzchak learns that the Yetzer ha'Ra works full-time to get a Jew to sin. Resh Lakish adds that he also wants to kill him, because the Pasuk in Tehilim writes "Tzofeh Rasha la'Tzadik, u'Mevakesh Lahamiso ... ".

(b)A person on his own, stands no chance against an angel - that is why David ha'Melech adds "Hash-m Lo Ya'azvenu b'Yado", to teach us that with Hash-m's assistance (through Tefilah), and with Hash-m's assistance alone, one can overcome him.

(c)If one takes the Yetzer ha'Ra to the Beis Hamedrash, if he is ...

1. ... a stone - he will melt.

2. ... iron - he will break into a thousand pieces (See Tosfos DH 'Im Barzel Hu'). According to Rashi, the Pasuk ("u'che'Patish Yefotzetz Sela") refers to the myriad of sparks that fly from the rock when it is struck with a hammer.

7)

(a)Rebbi Shmuel bar Nachmeni Amar Rebbi Yonasan teaches that, after enticing a person in this world - the Yetzer ha'Ra testifies against him in the World to Come (elsewhere, Chazal say that he is also the Satan, as well as being the Angel of Death).

(b)The Pasuk in Mishlei "v'Achariso Yih'yeh Manon" means - that in the end, he (the Yetzer ha'Ra) will be a witness ... (as we just explained).

(c)"Manon" comes to mean 'a witness', by means of the 'Alef Beis' of 'A-t Ba-ch', where 'Alef='Tav', 'Beis'='Ches', and so on (of the units - each pair of which add up to ten); 'Yud'='Tzadei', 'Chaf'='Pei', and so on (in the tens - that add up to a hundred), and 'Kuf'=final 'Tzadei' [whose true numerical value is nine hundred], 'Reish'='final 'Pei' (in the hundreds - that add up to a thousand). the 'Hey', 'Nun' and final 'Chaf' - which have no 'partner' - join together to make the final group. In this way "Manon"= "Sahadah" ('Mem'='Samech', 'Nun'='Hei', 'Vav'='Daled', 'Nun'='Hei'), which is the Aramaic for 'Eidus' - testimony.

8)

(a)Initially, the Yetzer ha'Ra just leads a person astray, and it is only after he has sinned that he enters him to become an integral part of his being (like with Adam ha'Rishon). Nasan ha'Navi described to David ha'Melech the Yetzer ha'Ra in his three progressive stages: first of all - 'a passer-by', then - 'a guest' and finally, once he has established himself as being in charge - the 'master of the house'.

(b)The little limb that is satisfied when one starves it, but starved when one satisfies it - is none other than the Eiver ha'Tashmish, which, the more one gives it, the more it wants (in the same vein as what Chazal have said with regard to money 'Yesh Lo Manah, Rotzeh Masayim' - someone who has one Manah, wants two).

(c)Hash-m was 'sorry' for having created the Kasdim and the Yishme'eilim - the Yetzer ha'Ra and Galus (the institution of exile).

9)

(a)The connection between the three Pesukim "I did evil" (in creating the Yetzer ha'Ra [Michah]); "Behold he is like clay in the hands of a potter" (Yirmeyahu); "And I shall remove the stone-heart from your flesh" (Yechezkel) is - that Hash-m (kiv'Yachol) shoulders part of the blame for our sins, inasmuch as he first blames Himself for creating the Yetzer ha'Ra, then admits that He controls a person's heart, and finally testifies that the Yetzer ha'Ra turns a person's heart into stone. The message therefore is that "I did evil" (in creating the Yetzer ha'Ra - past); "Behold he is like clay in the hands of a potter" - present; "And I shall remove the stone-heart from your flesh" - future.

(b)Hash-m showed Yechezkel four artisans: Mashi'ach ben David, Mashi'ach ben Yosef, Eliyahu ha'Navi and Kohen Tzedek - alias Sheim ben Noach.

(c)They are referred to as artisans - because Mashi'ach ben David and Mashi'ach ben Yosef will build the Beis-Hamikdash (perhaps the latter will help plan it before being slain); Eliyahu ha'Navi - built the Mizbe'ach on Har ha'Carmel (with its intricate system of water-trenches), and Kohen Tzedek - helped construct the giant boat that withstood the waters of the flood for a whole year.

10)

(a)When Rav Chisda asked Rav Chana bar Bizna how these four can possibly fit the description (that follows) "These are the horns that will scatter Yehudah", he replied that they are not supposed to fit, because that phrase belongs with the phrase that follows it, which speaks of the nations that set out to destroy Yehudah. And the earlier Pasuk is informing us that the four artisans will destroy those nations.

(b)When Rav Sheshes heard Rav Chana's reply - he exclaimed that he was no match for Rav Chana when it came to the world of Agadah.

(c)Rav Chana was called 'Bagdesa'a' - because he hailed from Baghdad.

11)

(a)Of the seven world leaders, David will be in the middle, Adam, Shes and Mesushelach will flank him on his right - and Avraham, Yakov and Moshe on his left.

(b)Yitzchak will not be among them - because he will have gone to plead with Hash-m to save his people Yisrael from the Din of Gehinom (see Shabbos 89b).

(c)Yishai, Shaul, Shmuel, Amos, Tzefanyah and Tzidkiyah (or Chizkiyahu) were six of the world's greatest monarchs - the remaining two are Mashi'ach and Eliyahu.

12)

(a)The height of the Menoros that they used for the Simchas Beis ha'Sho'eivah - was fifty Amos (approximately eighty feet).

(b)When the young Kohanim climbed the four ladders that led up to one of the bowls - between them they held jars that contained 120 Lugin (720 egg-volumes) of oil; each one held a bowl containing thirty Lugin.

(c)These Kohanim displayed more agility than the son of Marsa bas Baytus - who would walk up the ramp of the Mizbe'ach (using goose-steps), carrying the two thighs of a large ox, until the other Kohanim stopped him - on account of the Pasuk 'be'Rov Am Hadras Melech' (the more people who are recruited to serve Hash-m, the greater the Kavod).

(d)The feat of the young Kohanim carrying the jars of oil was greater than that of Marsa bas Baytus' son - inasmuch as not only is a ramp (with its solid surface) generally easier to climb than a ladder, but, in addition, the ramp of the Mizbe'ach was nowhere near as steep as the ladders of the Simchas Beis Hasho'evah were.

13)

(a)A woman was able - to select wheat by the light of those Menoros.

(b)She would have declined to do so however - because the wicks and the oil were Kodesh, and it is forbidden to derive any personal benefit from them (see Tosfos 53a. DH 'Ishah').