1)

(a)The Tana learns from the Pasuk in Mishlei "Ad Lo Asah Eretz v'Chutzos - that Eretz Yisrael was created before the rest of the world.

(b)Besides the fact that Eretz Yisrael receives its rain directly from Hash-m, and the rest of the world through a Shali'ach - Eretz Yisrael also enjoys the advantage of drinking the rain-water directly, and of receiving its rainfall first (at such times that Eretz Yisrael and other countries are due to receive rain at the same time); whereas other countries drink the leftovers of the rain that Eretz Yisrael receives, and they also receive their rain only after Eretz Yisrael has received its quota.

(c)We compare these three things - to someone who mixes a dough. He takes the food and leaves over the waste for others (see Agados Maharsha).

2)

(a)Rebbi Yochanan learns from a combination of the two Pesukim "Cheshchas Mayim" (Tehilim) and "Chashras Mayim" (Shmuel) that (according to Rebbi Eliezer) the water becomes sweet in the clouds - by taking the 'Chaf' (from the second half of "Cheshchas") and joining it to the 'Shin' (in "Chashras"), (and, bearing in mind that a 'Ches' (in this case, at the beginning of "Chashras") and a 'Hey' are interchangeable), we now have the word 'Hachsharas Mayim' (meaning 'the preparation of water in the clouds').

(b)Rebbi Yehoshua explains the two Pesukim to mean - that when the clouds are light, then the rain comes down in a drizzle (like through a sieve - which is what "Chashras" means - see Agados Maharsha), and when the clouds are heavy, then there is a lot of rain.

(c)The Beraisa, which explains that the waters of the heaven are held there by the word of Hash-m, and that the Pasuk in Tehilim "mi'Pri Ma'asecha Tisba ha'Aretz" refers to the rain that emanates from them, goes like Rebbi Yehoshua. According to Rebbi Eliezer - the Pasuk is not referring to rain at all, but to the word (commands) of Hash-m.

(d)According to Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi, the entire world is watered from the remains of the water of Gan Eden. When the Beraisa says 'mi'Tamtzis Beis Kur Shisah Tarkav' - it means that, just as, with the remains of the water in a vessel that can water a Beis Kur (thirty Sa'ah), one can water a Tarkav (three Kav = half a Sa'ah = one sixtieth of a Kur), so too, with the remains of the water in the clouds that water the 'Garden' (of Eden), one can water the world (which is one sixtieth of the 'Garden').

3)

(a)The Beraisa gives the measurement for the land of Egypt - as four hundred Parsah by four hundred Parsah.

(b)Egypt, says the Tana, is one sixtieth of Kush (Ethiopia). And he gives the ...

1. Kush as - one sixtieth of the world.

2. The world as - one sixtieth of the 'Garden'.

3. The 'Garden' as - one sixtieth of Eden.

4. Eden as - one sixtieth of Gehinom.

(c)The entire world is - like the lid of a pot compared to Gehinom.

(d)Some say that Gehinom has no Shi'ur; others - that it is Eden that has no Shi'ur.

4)

(a)The abundance of corn in the storehouses of Bavel - is due to the fact that it is situated in very low country, with the result that all the water flows from the surrounding mountains into it, and it is always well- watered.

(b)What makes Bavel a 'rich' country - is the fact that one is able to harvest the corn even when there has been no rain.

(c)Abaye says - that too much rain is preferable to insufficient rain.

5)

(a)Raban Gamliel gives the date for asking for rain as the seventh of Marcheshvan - because that is fifteen days after the termination of Sukos, just enough time for the last of the Olei Regel to have returned home from Eretz Yisrael, before the rain season begins.

(b)According to Chananya in a Beraisa - the Bnei Golah ask for rain sixty days after the Tekufah (on the fourth or fifth of December).

(c)We reconcile Shmuel, who rules like Chananya, with his own statement that gives the date for asking for rain in Bavel as from the time that one brings fire-wood into the store-house (in preparation for winter) - by equating the two.

6)

(a)Rav says that the sixtieth day is like after the sixtieth day - meaning that one already begins to ask for rain on the sixtieth day.

(b)Shmuel says - that the sixtieth day is like the days that precede it, and we do not ask for rain until the sixty-first.

(c)Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak gave a Siman by which to remember who said what: 'The upper ones need water, he said; the lower ones do not' - by which he meant that Rav, who came from Eretz Yisrael, where they require more rain, is the one who says that they begin already on the sixtieth day; whereas Shmuel, who hailed from Bavel, which needed less rain, said that they should begin only on the sixty-first day. (See also Rabeinu Chanan'el).

(d)Rav Papa rules - that the sixtieth day is like the sixty-first (like Rav).

7)

(a)If no rain has fallen by the seventeenth of Marcheshvan (according to Rebbi Meir), Yechidim (Talmidei-Chachamim) begin fasting - seven fasts; Monday, Thursday, Monday, Thursday ... .

(b)Each fast begins - only in the morning.

(c)The prohibitions of Tish'ah b'Av (washing, anointing, wearing shoes and marital relations), says the Tana - do not apply to them.

(d)If no rain has fallen by Rosh Chodesh Kislev - then Beis-Din fix three fasts for everybody, under exactly the same conditions as those that pertained to the Yechidim before them.

8)

(a)The Mishnah later will teach us that a series of fasts cannot begin on Thursday (only on Monday) - because the store-keepers might misconstrue the reason for the fast. They may believe that there is a shortage of food, and raise the prices of the food that people are purchasing for Shabbos.

(b)The Tana needs to tell us the same thing in the case of the fasts of the 'Yechidim' in our Mishnah - because we might otherwise have thought that the reasoning there does not apply to Yechidim, since why would the store-keepers raise the prices just because of a few individuals.

(c)Should Rosh Chodesh or any of the Yamim-Tovim mentioned in Megilas Ta'anis occur during the fasts of which we are speaking - then one stops fasting.

9)

(a)A Yachid is someone who is fit to be appointed leader of a community; a Talmid is someone whom one can ask anything on the Masechta that he is learning, and he is able to answer it (see Tosfos DH 'Eizehu').

(b)This Beraisa says that a Talmid should not abstain from fasting together with the Yechidim, on the grounds that he is not worthy of joining their ranks - 'because all Talmidei-Chachamim are Yechidim (in this regard)'.

(c)This Beraisa follows the opinion of Rebbi Yosi (and Raban Shimon ben Gamliel) in other Beraisos. Rebbi Meir (and Rebbi Shimon ben Elazar) maintain that not everyone is permitted to adopt the customs of a Talmid, or of a Yachid (not even a Talmid of a Yachid, and not even as regards fasting).

(d)The reasoning behind R. Yosi and (and Raban Shimon ben Gamliel), who even go so far as to praise anybody who joins the Yechidim is - because they are merely suffering together with them (rather than gaining anything).

10)

(a)The Beraisa rules that if someone is fasting on account of a particular problem or for a sick person, and the problem passes, or the sick person gets better (or dies) - he is obligated to continuing fasting, so as not to convey the impression that he is making conditions with Hash-m (This Halachah does not apply to a community. See Rosh, Siman 20).

(b)The Tana rules that someone who goes from a place where they have ...

1. ... not undertaken to fast to a place where they have - is obligated to fast with them.

2. ... goes (in the middle of the fast) from a place where they have undertaken to fast to a place where they have not - must continue fasting (see Tosfos DH 'ha'Holech').

(c)The Tana also rules that, in a case where he forgot and began to eat, he is nevertheless forbidden to eat in front of the residents of that town. He is forbidden - to indulge in luxuries, and is permitted to eat only basic foods.

(d)We learn the former - from Yakov Avinu, who sent his sons down to Egypt to purchase corn, even though they had sufficient stocks, merely to avoid appearing different than the rest of the community (that the community are starving, whilst they have sufficient to eat).

11)

(a)R. Elazar explains the Pasuk (said by Yosef to his brothers, when they returned to Cana'an with the provisions) "Al Tirgezu ba'Darech" to mean - that they should not get involved in Halachic issues on the way, so as not to delay their journey home.

(b)Rebbi Ila'I bar Berechyah explain that in the Pasuk in Melachim, which describes the fiery chariot and horses that descended and divided between Eliyahu and Elisha. The reason that they did not get burned was - because they were learning Torah.

(c)We learn from this Pasuk - that two people who are traveling together and who do not learn Torah deserve to be burned.

(d)We reconcile this with Yosef's instructions to his brothers - by differentiating between learning deeply (which is inadvisable whilst traveling), and revising texts (which is crucial).

12)

(a)The Beraisa interprets the Pasuk "Al Tirgezu ba'Darech" differently. Based on its interpretation, the Tana states - that one should not ...

1. ... leave town before sunrise or arrive at one's destination after sunset.

2. ... take large steps

(b)The ...

1. ... source for the latter statement is - the Pasuk in Vayigasgh "Al Tirgezu ba'Darech" (Vayigash), which as the Gemara explains in Pesachim, was a warning on the part of Yosef to his brothers not to take large steps, as doing so deprives a person of one hundredth of one's eyesight.

2. ... reason for the former statement lies in the Pasuk in Miketz (in connection with the brothers departure from Egypt, with Yosef's goblet in Binyamin's sack) "ha'Boker Or, v'ha'Anashim Shulchu ... ", which, Rav Yehudah Amar Rav interprets to mean that one should not set out on a journey until it is light, and arrive at one's destination before dark (either because of robbers or pitfalls or to avoid being libeled as being a spy or a thief).

13)

(a)Rebbi Chiya advises a traveler against eating more than a bare minimum (as one does in time of famine). In Bavel they attributed this to the fact that food, combined with the extensive walking, will cause him stomach trouble. In Eretz Yisrael, they explained that it was - because he may run out of food.

(b)One difference between the two reasons affects someone who is traveling (who does not walk extensively) - the other, someone who is traveling from one inn to another, where he will have no problem in obtaining fresh food.

(c)Rav Papa used to eat a loaf of bread after every Parsah (four Mil - seventy-two minutes walking distance) that he traveled - because he agreed with the first of the above reasons; and he had no reason to worry about stomach trouble, because he was extremely fat.