1)

(a)We learned in our Mishnah that on Erev Tisha b'Av, one is not permitted to eat meat, drink wine, or to eat two cooked dishes. Rav Yehudah requires two conditions to be met for the prohibition to be effective - 1. That it is after mid-day and 2. That it is the last meal before the fast begins.

(b)He needs both rulings. Had he taught only that ...

1. ... after mid-day is Asur, we would have thought it is forbidden even if it is not the last meal before the fast.

2. ... the last meal is Asur, we would have thought that it is forbidden even if one eats it before midday.

(c)We corroborate both statement of Rav Yehudah - by citing two Beraisos, one that supports each statement.

(d)In the Beraisa that supports his first statement, Raban Shimon ben Gamliel requires a change from the norm after midday. Rebbi Yehudah gives three examples of this: 1. That one eats one cooked dish instead of two - 2. That instead of eating with ten people (for example), one eats with only five, or that one drinks only five cups of wine instead of ten.

2)

(a)In another Beraisa, Rebbi Meir learns like the Tana of our Mishnah, and the Chachamim require that one changes from two cooked dishes, and eats less meat and drinks less wine than usual. Raban Shimon ben Gamliel holds - that someone who is accustomed to eat radishes or salted fish or meat at the end of the meal (as a dessert) may do so.

(b)In yet another Beraisa, the Tana Kama forbids eating meat, drinking wine and bathing, whenever it is because of Tisha b'Av - meaning the final meal before the fast.

(c)He permits it however, by a meal, which is not because of Tisha b'Av - though bathing is forbidden.

(d)Rebbi Yishmael b'Rebbi Yosi says in the name of his father - that as long as one is permitted to eat, one is also permitted to wash oneself.

3)

(a)Whatever is forbidden to an Avel, says the Beraisa, is also forbidden on Tisha b'Av. Besides the five Inuyim (afflictions) - this incorporates Torah-study.

(b)The five Inuyim are - eating, drinking, anointing, bathing and marital relations.

4)

(a)Torah-study is forbidden - because it makes a person happy ...

(b)... as David Ha'melech wrote in Tehilim "Pikudei Hash-m Yesharim, Mesamchei Lev".

(c)According to the Tana Kama ...

1. ... besides the sad things, such as Kinos, Sefer Iyov, and the sad parts of Yirmeyahu - one is permitted to learn something that one is unaccustomed to learning, which is difficult and does not give one much pleasure.

2. ... children are permitted to learn - because as far as they ae concerned, learning is not a pleasure.

(d)Rebbi Yehudah holds - that one is forbidden to learn even things that one is unaccustomed to learning, and that children are included in the prohibition.

5)

(a)Salted meat and wine from the vat are not included in the prohibition. To be permitted ...

1. ... the meat must have been salted - for three days. And we learn this from Shelamim - which were salted and were permitted for two days and the night in between. Longer than that, we do find salted meat being referred to as meat.

2. ... it is called wine from the vat - up until it stops bubbling (i.e. until three days).

(b)The reason that wine from the vat is also not forbidden if is it left uncovered (because snakes may have drunk from it - and left their venom inside) is - because snakes, which are afraid of the noise, will not dare to drink from it as long as it is bubbling.

(c)When the time arrived to eat the Se'udah ha'Mafsekes on Erev Tisha b'Av - Rebbi Yehudah would bring dry bread and sit on the floor between the oven and the stove (the ugliest spot in the house). He would then proceed to eat the bread followed by a jar of water, looking as dejected as if a deceased relative was lying in front of him.

6)

(a)We have learned in Pesachim that, whether one may or may not work on Tisha b'Av, depends on the local Minhag - Talmidei-Chachamim however, do not work on Tisha b'Av wherever they are.

(b)Raban Shimon ben Gamliel says - that everyone should consider himself a Talmid Chacham in this regard.

(c)He also encourages everyone to adopt the custom of Talmidei Chachamim - with regard to fasting (like Yechidim, as we learned above 10b).

(d)

1. Raban Shimon ben Gamliel says that someone who eats and drinks on Tisha b'Av - is considered as if he would have eaten and drunk on Yom Kippur.

2. Rebbi Akiva says that someone who works on Tisha b'Av (in a place where work is forbidden) - will never see a sign of blessing from whatever he achieved.

(e)Whereas the Chachamim say that someone who ...

1. ... works on Tisha b'Av and fails to mourn for Yerushalayim - will not rejoice with it when the time arrives.

2. ... does mourn for Yerushalayim - will.

7)

(a)The Pasuk in Yechezkel writes "u'Sehi Avonosam al Atzmosam" - about people who eat meat and drink wine on Tisha b'Av.

8)

(a)The Chachamim asked Rebbi Yehudah (who obligated overturning one's bed on Tisha b'Av) what pregnant and feeding women should do. He answered them - that he was referring, not to people who cannot do so, but to those who can.

(b)According to the Beraisa, the Chachamim actually agree with Rebbi Yehudah with regard to beds which are used for sleeping, and they argue with him - by beds that are not meant for sleeping.

(c)Rava disregards the Beraisa in his final ruling, because - he rules like the Chachamim in our Mishnah, who argue with Rebbi Yehudah, and permit sleeping on all beds, even if they are used for sleeping and even if one is able to sleep on the floor.

9)

(a)We have no problem in explaining why Yom Kippur is the happiest of days. It is - because it is a day of forgiveness (the catalyst being the day when Moshe descended from Har Sinai with the second Luchos, a sign that Hash-m had forgiven Yisrael for the sin of the Egel).

(b)Rav Yehudah Amar Shmuel gives the reason for the happy character of Chamishah-Asar b'Av as 'the day when the tribes were permitted to intermarry'. He is referring to - the permission for the tribes of Yisrael to marry one another (following the initial prohibition, following their entry into Eretz Yisrael, to prevent the inheritance from passing from one tribe to another so soon after receiving the land.

(c)We learn this prohibition - from the daughters of Tzelofchad (who were from the tribe of Menasheh), and who were forbidden to marry anyone from another tribe.

10)

(a)Rav Nachman Amar Rav Yosef gives a similar reason, but with regard to the tribe of Binyamin - whom the other tribes had sworn not to marry (following the episode of Pilegesh ba'Givah).

(b)What happened there was - that the concubine of an out-of-town guest died after being gang-raped. Following the refusal of the leaders of the town to co-operate with the demand to hand over the culprits to be judged, the other tribes went to war with the tribe of Binyamin, and ultimately defeated them almost down to the last man.

(c)Rav Nachman learns from the Pasuk in Shoftim "Ish Yisrael Nishba ba'Mitzpeh Leimor 'Ish Mimenu Lo Yiten es Beno' " - that the prohibition was confined to those who had sinned, but not to their children.

11)

(a)Rabah bar bar Chanah Amar Rebbi Yochanan attributes the Yom-Tov to the 'dead of the desert' - the generation of the spies (between the ages of twenty and sixty) all of whom had to die before Yisrael could enter Eretz Yisrael. Consequently, each year on Erev Tisha b'Av, all those who were included in the decree would dig their graves and lie in them until the morning, when a Heavenly Voice would announce 'Let those who are still alive separate from the dead'! At which those who had not died arose from their graves.

(b)That year, when the Heavenly Voice announced 'Let those who are still alive separate from the dead' - everyone arose (because the decree had terminated, letting the last batch of the fifteen thousand who died annually off the hook). They therefore thought that they must have made a mistake with Rosh Chodesh. So they repeated this procedure on the tenth and the eleventh ... until the fifteenth, when because it was mid-month (when the moon is full), they realized that Tisha b'Av must have passed and that the decree had therefore cancelled.

12)

(a)We learn from the Pasuk "va'Yehi Ki Tamu Kol Anshei ha'Milchamah la'Mus, va'Yedaber Hash-m Elai Leimor" - that, as long as someone from that generation was still alive, Hash-m did not speak with Moshe (using a Lashon of Dibur - signifying endearment - only one of Amirah). In fact, this was the first time that Hash-m spoke to Moshe (directly) using a Lashon Dibur since the episode of the spies.

(b)According to Ula, Chamishah-Asar b'Av is connected with Hoshei'a ben Eilah, who nullified the border guards - that Yarav'am ben Nevat set up hundreds of years earlier (to prevent Yisrael from going to Yerushalayim on Yom-Tov).

(c)Generally, Hoshei'a ben Eilah - was a Rasha, like most other kings of Yisrael, only he had this one good deed to his credit.