1)

(a)Our Mishnah obligates a man to wait - ten years to have children from his wife ...

(b)... before divorcing her or marrying a second wife.

(c)Should he divorce her - she is permitted to marry someone else, since it may be due to her first husband's Mazal that he did not merit to build a family with her.

(d)The second husband is also permitted to wait ten years from the time that he marries her before taking action.

2)

(a)If she has a miscarriage during the ten-year period - the Din of ten years still applies, only one then counts ten years from the time of the miscarriage.

(b)The Beraisa - obligates a man who divorces his wife after ten childless years of marriage to pay her Kesubah - because of the possibility that she was able to have children, and it was due to her husband's Mazal that they did not succeed in building a family.

(c)We learn from the Pasuk in Lech Lecha (with regard to Avram's marriage to Hagar) "mi'Ketz Eser Shanim la'Sheves Avram b'Eretz Canaan" - that the years that one lived in Chutz la'Aretz are not included in the ten years of childlessness, once one moves to Eretz Yisrael.

(d)If either the man or the woman falls ill during that time - or if they were in prison, the period of illness is not included in the ten years.

3)

(a)In spite of the fact that Avraham was sterile just like Sarah, as we shall soon see, we can cite him as an example of the ten year waiting period - because the Pasuk which cites the years that he waited, is otherwise superfluous.

(b)Yitzchak and Rivkah were childless for - twenty years.

(c)We cannot learn from them that one should wait twenty years, Rav Nachman told Rava - since the Pasuk is needed for something else (as we shall now see).

4)

(a)The Pasuk (informing us that Yitzchak was sixty years old when he fathered Yakov and Esav) - helps us to prove that Yakov must have spent fourteen years in the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever.

(b)The reason that Rebbi Chiya bar Aba Amar Rebbi Yochanan gives to explain why we need to know this is - because we learn from there that learning Torah over-rides the Mitzvah of honoring one's parents.

(c)And we know that Yakov was not punished for those fourteen years - because he lost Yosef for twenty-two years, corresponding to the twenty-two years that he spent with Lavan, but excluding the fourteen years that he spent learning Torah in Yeshiva.

5)

(a)We learn from the Pasuk in Toldos "va'Ye'tar Yitzchak la'Hashem l'Nochach Ishto ki Akarah Hi" - that Yitzchak was sterile too.

(b)The Torah stresses "va'Ye'aser Lo Hash-m, teaching us that Hash-m answered his prayers and not hers - because the Tefilah of a Tzadik ben Tzadik is greater than that of a Tzadik ben Rasha (i.e. Rivkah) [not because the former is greater, but because his Tefilah is].

(c)Rebbi Yitzchak explains that ...

1. ... the Avos (and the Imahos) were sterile - in order to induce them to pray, since Hash-m loves the Tefilos of Tzadikim.

2. ... the Torah uses the Lashon "va'Ye'tar" and "v'Ye'asar" (whose root is 'Asar' - a pitch-fork) by the Tefilah of Yitzchak - because the Tefilah of a Tzadik works like a pitch-fork, turning over Hash-m's anger into mercy.

6)

(a)Rebbi Ami learns from the Pasuk "Habitu el Tzur Chutzavtem v'el Bor Nukartem" - that both Avraham and Sarah were Tumtumin (and that their sexual organs had to be carved out).

(b)We know that that Pasuk refers to Avraham and Sarah - because the following Pasuk explicitly says so.

(c)Rav Nachman Amar Rabah bar Avuhah disagrees. He learns from the Pasuk "va'Tehi Sarai Akarah Ein Lah Valad" - that she was an Aylonis (who did not even have a Beis Vlad [the part of the body that holds the baby).

7)

(a)Rav Yehudah brei d'Rav Shmuel bar Shilas says in the name of Rav that the ten years waiting period in our Mishnah is not relevant nowadays, because we do not live as long as they used to live then. According to him - one needs to wait two and a half years nowadays, corresponding to the three pregnancies of Sarah, Rivkah and Chanah, plus the one month of Tum'ah and Taharah that follows each pregnancy (a total of two and a half years).

(b)Rabah (or 'Rava') Amar Rav Nachman says three Pekidos - meaning the three years of Sarah, Rivkah and Chanan, because Hash-m answered their prayers on Rosh Hashanah (so she needs to wait for three Rosh Hashanahs to pass and then, the nine months of pregnancy).

(c)Rabah refutes the above theories, based on the Pasuk "Yemei Shenoseinu Bahem Shiv'im Shanah", from which we see that already in the time of David, man's years had diminished, yet Rebbi, who compiled the Mishnah, nevertheless spoke of a ten-year waiting period. Note, that nowadays, it is customary not to force a man to divorce his wife after ten years of childlessness.

8)

(a)Earlier, we cited the Beraisa that the woman nevertheless receives her Kesubah, because of the likelihood that it is the man himself who did not merit to build a family with her. It is more likely to attribute it to be the fault of the man than of the woman - because she is not commanded to have children anyway, and it is therefore unlikely that Hash-m would punish her in this way (since she will therefore not really care anyway).

(b)Rav Aba bar Zavda justified his not marrying a second wife, in spite of not having children from the first one - because, he claimed, had he merited, he would have had children from the latter.

(c)He said this in spite of our Mishnah, which advocates that the man should marry a second wife, in the hope that he merits having children from her - merely in order to put them off, since he knew that he was sterile and could not have children anyway.

9)

(a)Rav Aba bar Zavda, Rav Gidel, Rav Chelbo and Rav Sheshes had in common - the fact that they were so engrossed with the Shi'ur of Rav Huna, that they all became sterile.

(b)Altogether - sixty Chachamim were affected in this way as a result of Rav Huna's Derashos.

(c)When Rav Acha bar Yakov quoted the Pasuk "ha'Chochmah Techayeh Ba'alehah", he meant - that he was the only one to act wisely. He, alongside the other Chachamim, contracted the illness that results from holding oneself back, and which results, in turn, in sterility; only he then suspended himself from a cedar-tree, and the matter emerged from him looking like a green palm-branch.

10)

(a)The author of our Mishnah, which permits a second man to marry the woman, but not a third, is Rebbi - who is of the opinion that two times creates a Chazakah.

(b)Raban Shimon ben Gamliel rules - that if one brother after the other died as a result of the Milah, it is only the fourth son whom one is forbidden to circumcise; the third is still permitted (because he holds that a Chazakah is only created after three times).

(c)We have a problem with a Beraisa that inverts the two opinions. The correct version will be the one - that was learned later.

11)

(a)We try to resolve the problem by citing Rebbi Chiya bar Aba quoting Rebbi Yochanan, who relates how, at the end of his life, Raban Shimon ben Gamliel forbade the circumcision of the son of a fourth sister, after a son from each of the first three sisters had died as a result of the Milah - implying that the third son, he would have permitted. This proves our initial version of Raban Shimon ben Gamliel to be correct.

(b)We refute the suggestion that, had they asked him earlier, he would also have forbidden the third son to be circumcised - because if that were so, Rebbi Chiya bar Aba would not be teaching us anything.

(c)We refute this refutation however - on the grounds that Rebbi Chiya bar Aba may well be coming to teach us that three, or even two, sisters create a Chazakah (regarding their sons, and that the babies do not need to be brothers in order to be forbidden).

12)

(a)We can learn from the principle 'Achyos Mechazkos' - that one should avoid marrying into a family of epileptics or lepers which has a Chazakah of three cases.

(b)Rav Yitzchak bar Yosef cited an episode where Rebbi Yochanan permitted the Milah of the son of a third sister, even though the sons of two sisters had previously died on account of the Milah. When Abaye commented that Rav Yitzchak bar Yosef was permitting a (Safek) Isur as well as a (Safek) murder - he was referring to the fact that he had permitted the Milah to be performed on Yom Kippur which fell on Shabbos.

(c)We know that Abaye nevertheless accepted Rav Yitzchak bar Yosef ruling - because he married Chomah, even though she had already lost two husbands (Rachba from Pumbedisa and Rav Yitzchak, the son of Rabah bar bar Chanah).

(d)Rava expressed surprise at Abaye's acceptance of Rav Yitzchak bar Yosef 's previous testimony of Rebbi Yochanan - because Abaye had himself stated that Rav Yitzchak bar Yosef was not as reliable as Rav Avin, because he did not revise his learning (or because he did not sit constantly at Rebbi Yochanan's feet, like Rav Avin did).

13)

(a)What makes us think that Rebbi and Raban Shimon ben Gamliel confine their Machlokes to Milah, but do not argue by marriage - is the fact that whereas by the former, it is logical to ascribe the weakness of the babies to a family, to say that one particular family is prone to die as a result of the Milah, and another is not; whereas by the latter, what reason could there possibly be to ascribe the death of three husbands to the Chazakah of one woman?!

(b)We know that they argue by marriage as well - because they do so explicitly in a Beraisa.

(c)According to Avimi from Hagrunya quoting Rav Huna, the Chazakah determines that she causes the death of her husbands through intimacy. Rav Ashi maintains - that it is through her Mazal.

(d)The difference between the two explanations would be one of two cases; one of them, there where the first husband dies after the engagement. The other - where he died through an accident (such as falling off a tree), where it is clear that his death was not the result of intimacy.

14)

(a)Rav Yosef the son of Rava asked his father whether, when Rav Yosef (Rava's Rebbe) once told him that the Halachah was like Rebbi and another time, like Raban Shimon ben Gamliel, he was pulling his leg. Rava replied - in the negative.

(b)In fact, he told him, he both rulings followed Stam Mishnahs, but in different areas of Halachah.

(c)Regarding Nisu'in and Malkiyos, he told him, Rav Yosef ruled like Stam Mishnahs that followed the opinion of Rebbi. The case of 'Malkiyos' is - when someone, after transgressing a Lav for which he received Malkus, repeats the sin a second time, he is placed him in an extremely confined room, and fed raw barley until his stomach splits.

15)

(a)On the other hand, Rav Yosef ruled like Stam Mishnahs that followed the opinion of Raban Shimon ben Gamliel - by Vestos and Shor ha'Mu'ad.

(b)The two aspects of the case of 'Vestos' - are 1. to become a Nidah: after three consecutive sightings at equal intervals (which make her a Nidah with regard to not rendering Tamei retroactively, any Taharos that she touched between one period and the next), and with regard to assuming that she is Tamei when her time to see arrives); 2. to lose her Veses, which she only does after fixing a new Veses three consecutive times.

(c)The case of Shor ha'Mu'ad - is that of an animal that damages willfully, which is considered a Tam (to pay only half-damages from the body of the one causing damage), and which becomes a Mu'ad (to pay full damage from one's own pocket) after it has damaged three times (see Tosfos DH 'v'Shor').