Implied question: [Our Mishnah forbids] Bi'ah. Look - bathing is forbidden. All the more so Bi'ah is forbidden (one who has Bi'ah must immerse before praying. SHIREI KORBAN asks that the Tana must forbid after one prayed Minchah! Perhaps he always forbids Bi'ah during the day. MASA D'YERUSHALAYIM - one must pray Ne'ilah at the end of the day.)

Answer: [Our Mishnah needs to teach about] a place where they do not immerse, or [it was taught] before Ezra enacted that a Ba'al Keri must immerse.

(R. Yakov bar Acha citing R. Imi citing R. Yehoshua ben Levi): Keri [that obligates Tevilah] is only from Bi'ah.

(Rav Huna): It is even if he saw himself having Bi'ah in a dream (and had an emission).

They wanted to say that this is only [if he saw himself having Bi'ah] with a woman. (Rav Huna explains R. Yehoshua ben Levi. He does not argue with him.)

Rebuttal (R. Yonah and R. Yosa): It is even if [he saw Keri] due to something else.

Question: A Mishnah (Yuma 8:1) taught that on Yom Kipur, eating, drinking, bathing, Sichah (anointing), wearing shoes and Bi'ah are forbidden, and a Beraisa taught about this that a Ba'al Keri immerses normally in private on Yom Kipur. Doesn't this argue with R. Yehoshua ben Levi [who said that Tevilah is needed only for one who had Bi'ah]?

Answer: The case is, he had Bi'ah before Yom Kipur, and forgot and did not immerse.

Objection: It was taught that a case occurred with R. Yosi bar Chalifta, that they saw him immerse covertly on Yom Kipur. Can you say about that Kadosh body that he forgot?!

(R. Yudah bar Pazi citing R. Chanin citing R. Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak): When Noach entered the ark, Bi'ah was forbidden to him. What is the source? "U'Vasa El ha'Teivah Atah u'Vanecha v'Ishtecha u'Neshei Vanecha Itach'' (the men are by themselves, and the women by themselves);

And when he left, Bi'ah was permitted to him. What is the source? "Tzei Min ha'Teivah Atah v'Ishtecha u'Vanecha u'Neshei Vanecha Itach.''

(R. Chiya bar Ba): "L'Mishpechoseihem Yatz'u Min ha'Teivah'' - through guarding their lineage (not crossbreeding), they merited to be saved from the ark.

Proof: We learned there that Cham, the dog and the raven ruined their deeds (had Bi'ah in the ark). Cham left black, the dog left publicized in its Bi'ah (they cannot separate for a while), and the raven left different from [other] creations (the male spits its seed into the female's mouth).

(R. Avun): It says "b'Cheser uv'Chafan Galmud'' - at a time that you see lack [of food] come to the world, distance your wife.

(R. Levi): It says "ul'Yosef Yulad Shnei Banim'' - when? "B'Terem Tavo Shenas ha'Ra'av.''

(Beraisa - in the name of R. Yehudah): People who desire children (they do not have children yet) may have relations.

(R. Yosi): [Childless people are permitted] only on the night she immerses (Magen Avraham 574:5, unlike Beis Yosef 574, who permits all on Leil Tevilah.)

(Mishnah): If these and these [fasts] passed and they were not answered, Beis Din decrees another seven fasts on the Tzibur.

How are these greater than the first ones? In these, we blow the Shofar and lock the stores. On Monday we open slightly close to dark, and on Thursday they are permitted, for the honor of Shabbos.

(Gemara - R. Yudan brei d'R. Chama of the village Techamin): (In all there are 13 fasts on Mondays and Thursdays. They span six weeks and a day, i.e. 41 days if we exclude the first and last day.) This is like the 40 days that Moshe was on Har [Sinai. He was 40 full days, which spanned 41 days, since he ascended and descended in the middle of the day.]

(R. Yosah): [We do not decree more than this] because we do not exert the Tzibur too much.

(Chiya bar Ba): If there were two things to fast over, e.g. lack of rain and locusts, we blow the Shofar due to them [immediately].

Question: Why is this [only] for these two matters?

(R. Yosi bei R. Bun): These two matters, the ruin is great.

(Mishnah): On Monday we open slightly close to dark.

Explanation: He opens one [door] and closes one.

(Mishnah): On Thursday they are permitted [to be open the entire day], for the honor of Shabbos.

Question: Does he open one [door the entire day] and close the other, or does he open both?

(Mishnah): If these and these passed and they were not answered, we diminish buying and selling, building and planting, Eirusin and Nisu'in and She'elas Shalom between man and his friend. They are like outcasts to Hash-m.

Individuals return and fast until Nisan ends. If Nisan ends and rain fell, it is a Siman of a curse, for it says "ha'Lo Ketzir Chitim ha'Yom'' (and Hash-m will send rain, to show that He is angry).

(Gemara - R. Yehoshua ben Levi): (A Mishnah (1:7) says that we decrease building.) This refers to building of Simchah, but [other building is permitted;] if one's wall was leaning to fall, he destroys it and rebuilds it.

(Shmuel): [R. Yehoshua ben Levi permits rebuilding] a wall [of a house] in which he sleeps. (If a wedding hall wall is leaning, he destroys it and does not build it - HA'GAON RAV C. KANIEVSKY, SHLITA, based on the Ran.)

(R. Ba bar Kohen, in front of R. Yosah): R. Acha said in the name of R. Yakov bar Idi, it is forbidden to be Mekadesh a woman on Erev Shabbos.

Explanation: One may not make a Seudah [of Eirusin], but one may be Mekadesh.

(Shmuel): Even on Tish'ah b'Av one may be Mekadesh, lest someone else [be Mekadesh her] first.

Question: Shmuel contradicts himself! There he said "Elokim Moshiv Yechidim Beisah'', "b'Moznayim La'alos Hemah me'Hevel Yachad'' (Hash-m makes matches while they are fetuses), and here he says so (it depends on people's actions)!

Answer: Rather, it is lest someone else [be Mekadesh her] first through prayer. Even so, it will not last (she will be widowed or divorced, and marry the one whom Hash-m intended for her - RAN, Mo'ed Katan 18b).

Question: Was it not taught that we do not give to Shalom to Chaverim (very pious people) on Tish'ah b'Av, but we return [Shalom] to commoners (who did not know this) in a solemn voice? (Ta'anis Tzibur is like Tish'ah b'Av. Why does our Mishnah say that we merely decrease Shalom? - PNEI MOSHE)

Answer: It is needed for days in between [the fasts].

(Mishnah): If Nisan ends and rain fell, it is a Siman of a curse.

(R. Yosi bei R. Bun): This refers to Nisan of the Tekufah (based on the equinox and Mazalos; it does not depend on whether or not it was made a leap year).

(R. Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak): This is when rain did not fall already, but if it fell already, it is a Siman of Brachah.