1)

(a)Rebbi Nasan learns Nisuch ha'Mayim from the double expression in Pinchas "ba'Kodesh Hasech Nesech Sheichar la'Hashem"(one of which pertains to Nisuch ha'Yayin, and the other, to Nisuch ha'Mayim). He knows that both words do not refer to Nisuch ha'Yayin - because if they did, then the Torah would have written "Hasech Hasech" or "Nesech Nesech".

(b)We initially reject the suggestion that the Mishnah in Sukah 'Nisuch ha'Mayim Kol Shiv'ah' is ...

1. ... Rebbi Yehoshua ('Mazkirin al ha'Geshamim mi'Sha'as Hanachaso'), since according to him, we initially think that Nisuch ha'Mayim was performed only on one day.

2. ... Rebbi Akiva ('b'Shishi b'Chag Hu Mazkir') - because according to him, Nisuch ha'Mayim was performed only on two days (the sixth and the seventh days of Sukos).

3. ... Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira ('Ne'emar ba'Sheni v'Niskeihem ... ') - because we think that, according to him, Nisuch ha'Mayim was performed only on six days (from the second day until the seventh days of Sukos)

(c)We therefore try to establish the Mishnah in Sukah like Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira, by equating him partially with Rebbi Yehudah (in the Mishnah in Sukah) - who maintains that Nisuch ha'Mayim lasted eight days ... 'Halachah l'Moshe mi'Sinai'.

(d)And we establish the Mishnah in Sukah like Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira - by equating him with Rebbi Yehudah with regard to the eighth day (with which he replaces the first day).

(e)The basis for this explanation is a combination of the Pasuk cited earlier by Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira ("v'Niskeihem" and Rebbi Yehudah's Halachah l'Moshe mi'Sinai).

2)

(a)We reject the current suggestion however - because in the same way as we eliminate the first day, because the Derashah only begins on the second, so too, must we eliminate the eighth, because the Limud ends on the seventh.

(b)We ultimately establish the Mishnah in Sukah like Rebbi Yehoshua, by equating him with a statement by Rebbi Ami in the name of Rebbi Nechunya Ish Bika'as, who rules - that 'Eser Neti'os' (ten saplings), 'Aravah' and 'Nisuch ha'Mayim' are all Halachah l'Moshe mi'Sinai'.

3)

(a)The other Tana who might be the author of our Mishnah is Rebbi Eliezer ...

(b)... because he holds that one mentions rain already from the first day of Sukos (mi'Yom Tov ha'Rishon shel Chag').

(c)Nevertheless, we do not establish it like him - because that would be obvious, and so, we establish it even like Rebbi Yehoshua, to preclude Rebbi Akiva and Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira.

4)

(a)Rebbi Nechunya Ish Baka'as meant by ...

1. ... 'Eser Neti'os' - that one is permitted to water a field of a Beis Sa'ah (fifth by fifty Amos) in which ten saplings are growing, right up to Rosh Hashanah of the Shemitah (even though other fields are forbidden already thirty days earlier.

2. ... 'Aravah' - the Mitzvah of taking the Aravah in the Beis Hamikdash on Sukos and circling the Mizbe'ach with it (as we learned in Sukah).

(b)Rebbi Yehudah in the Beraisa quotes Rebbi Yehoshua, who says that it is only the Ba'al Musaf on Shemini Atzeres who mentions rain. He cannot have been referring to Rebbi Yehoshua (ben Chananya) ...

1. ... of our Mishnah - because he says that one mentions rain on the last day (implying the Ba'al Shacharis, too.

2. ... of the Beraisa that we discussed earlier - because he says there that they began mentioning rain as soon as one stops taking Lulav (at the end of the seventh day - meaning already from Ma'ariv of the eighth).

(c)The 'ben Beseira' in the Beraisa who conforms with the seven days of Rebbi Yehudah quoting Rebbi Yehoshua, cannot be Rebbi Yehudah ben Beseira - according to whom, they only began on the second day (until the sixth - a total of five days).

(d)We finally kill two birds with one stone, as it were, by establishing both the identity of Rebbi Yehoshua quoted by Rebbi Yehudah, and that of ben Beseira - as being Rebbi Yehoshua ben Beseira ...

(e)... to whom they referred to him as ben Beseira before he received Semichah, and as Rebbi Yehoshua, afterwards.

5)

(a)The Beraisa rules - that one is not obligated to say 'Mashiv ha'Ru'ach or 'Morid ha'Tal' either in the winter or in the summer, though one is permitted to do so (regarding the advantages of saying 'Morid ha'Tal', see Tosfos, Amud Beis, DH 'bi'Yemos').

(b)The reason for this, Rebbi Chanina explains, is because the wind and the dew never cease anyway, so saying them or not saying them, makes no real difference.

6)

(a)We learn from the fact that Hash-m instructed Eliyahu to go and appear before Achav and inform him that He was about to send (specifically) rain (without mentioning dew) - that the dew did not cease to function (despite the fact that Hash-m seemed to have said that it would).

(b)When, three years earlier, Eliyahu had warned Achav of the impending drought, he told him that there would be no rain and no dew for the next few years - he was referring to the dew of Berachah.

(c)Hash-m did not add the dew of blessing when He instructed Eliyahu to inform Achav that He was about to send rain - because and dew which was not of Berachah had been falling all the time, and there is no way of distinguishing between dew which is not of Berachah, and dew which is.

7)

(a)The Pasuk in Zecharyah "Ki k'Arba Ruchos ha'Shamayim Perasti Eschem, Ne'um Hash-m" - is saying that just as the world cannot exist without winds (because of the unbearable heat and humidity that would then prevail), so too, can it not exist without Yisrael (on whose behalf it was created).

(b)Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi learns from there - that the winds never cease to function.

(c)Had the Navi meant to say that Hash-m spread us across the four corners of the earth - then he should have said "Ki b'Arba (rather than 'k'Arba') Ruchos ha'Shamayim Perasti Eschem, Ne'um Hash-m".

(d)Rebbi Chanina therefore rules that one ...

1. ... does not need to go back for saying 'Mashiv ha'Ru'ach' in summer, or for not saying it in winter - because, as we learned earlier, since the wind will blow anyway, it makes no difference whether one says it or not.

2. ... needs to go back for saying 'Morid ha'Gashem' in summer or for not saying it in winter - because rain is a sign of curse in summer, and its absence a tremendous loss in winter.

3. ... does not need to go back for saying 'Ma'avir ha'Ru'ach u'Mafri'ach ha'Tal', since, like not saying 'Mashiv ha'Ru'ach ... ', his words will not change anything.

8)

(a)The Torah writes "v'Atzar es ha'Shamayim (v'Lo Yiheyeh Matar)", implying that there will be no thick clouds and no winds - because we already know that there will be no rain from the next words in the Pasuk "v'Lo Yiheyeh Matar".

(b)This appears to clash with what we just learned (that both the clouds and the winds will never cease). To answer this discrepancy (with regard to the clouds), we differentiate between clouds that appear before the rain (which can not cease) and those that follow it (which can). Nevertheless, we do not mention the clouds together with the rain on account of the clouds that follow the rain - since not all clouds cease.

(c)We answer the same discrepancy regarding the winds - by differentiating between regular winds (which do not cease) and strong winds (which do).

(d)We cannot differentiate between the clouds that appear before the rain and those that appear afterwards (like we answered by the clouds) - because regular winds never cease, (not even those that blow before the rain).

9)

(a)We do not mention the winds on account of the strong ones (which we just explained, can cease, and) which are needed for the threshing of the corn - because one can get by without them by using artificial wind (such as by blowing bellows).

(b)When the Tana of the Beraisa says that the wind is only second to the rain - he is referring to the wind that follows the rain, which is beneficial.

(c)According to Ula (or Rav Yehudah), the Pasuk which says "Hash-m will turn the rain of your land into powder and dust" - is referring to the wind that follows the rain.

(d)We reconcile Ula (or Rav Yehudah), who learns that the wind that follows the rain is damaging, with the Beraisa, which implies that it is beneficial - by establishing the latter by a gentle wind (which does not blow dust on to the produce); whereas Ula (or Rav Yehudah), who learns that it is damaging, speaks about a strong wind (which does).

10)

(a)If both wind and thick clouds that follow the rain are like one rain, then sunshine that follows the rain (which is extremely beneficial) - is considered as two.

(b)The above list comes to preclude (besides night-flashes) - sunlight that shines through the gaps in the clouds, which is not beneficial at all.

11)

(a)Rava now discusses the benefits of some of the elements. Snow is five times more beneficial to the mountains than rain, he says - because (unlike rain, which flows down their slopes without getting a chance to become absorbed in the ground) it settles nicely and seeps slowly into the ground.

(b)

1. Strong rain, he says - is most beneficial for the trees themselves.

2. Medium rain - for the fruit.

3. Drizzle - is beneficial even for the grains of corn that are waiting to grow below the surface of the ground.

(c)'Urfila' (drizzle) is the acronym of 'Uru Pili' (Tosfos DH 'Urfila') - which means 'it arouses the grains'(waiting to grow below the surface of the earth).