1)

(a)Rav draws a distinction between someone who, after reciting a 'Motzi' (on Shabbos), hands a slice of bread to one of the participants and says 'Tul Baruch! - [Take a piece of bread over which the B'rachah was recited']) and where he says 'Bring salt' or 'condiments'.

(b)One of the sources for the Din that speaking between the B'rachah and the eating is considered a Hefsek is the Din that someone who speaks between the Tefilin shel Yad and the Tefilin shel Rosh must recite another B'rachah. The other is - the obligation to recite a B'rachah over the Kisuy ha'Dam of each bird that one has Shechted, because the subsequent Shechitah is considered a Hefsek.

(c)Rav now rules that - the latter requires another Birchas 'ha'Motzi', the former not does ...

(d)... since he does not consider 'Tul Baruch' a Hefsek, whereas 'Havei Melach ... ' he does.

2)

(a)Rebbi Yochanan considers both statements to be an intrinsic part of Birchas ha'Motzi - and neither therefore requires another B'rachah.

(b)Rav Sheishes goes even further. According to him - even 'G'vil le'Turi!' does not require another B'rachah.

(c)'G'vil le'Turi!' means - mix (the bran) for the oxen.

(d)This ruling is based on a statement of Rav Yehudah, who said - that a person is forbidden to eat before having fed one's animals.

(e)This ruling is based on the Pasuk in the second paragraph of the 'Sh'ma' - "Venasati Eisev be'Sadcha li'Vehemtecha, ve'Achalta ve'Sava'ta".

3)

(a)Rava bar Shmuel in the name of Rebbi Chiya rules that the person who is going to recite ha'Motzi on behalf of others - may go ahead and do so - only after all the participants have salt and a condiment to go with the bread.

(b)When Rava bar Shmuel himself once ate by the Resh Gelusa and they brought him bread over which to recite the B'rachah - he did so immediately.

(c)When they asked him as to why he did not abide by his own ruling, he replied - the bread was of such good qualify that it did not require anything to make it tastier.

(d)'Leis Dein Tzarich Bashash' means - 'There is no point in delaying' (See also Hagahos Mahari Landau').

4)

(a)Rava bar Shmuel in the name of Rebbi Chiya says that - the urine will only empty from the bladder if one urinates sitting down ...

(b)... because someone who urinates standing - afraid that the urine will splash on his legs (thereby creating the impression that he is a K'rus Shafchah who cannot have children). will hold himself back.

(c)Rav Kahana says 'even if one is standing' - provided he urinates in sot earth ...

(d)... which absorbs the urine, and which therefore eliminates the fear of splashing.

(e)The other option (if there is no soft earth) is - to urinate in an elevated location so that the urine flows down a slope.

5)

(a)Rava bar Shmuel also says in the name of Rebbi Chiya that one should ...

1. ... eat - salt after one's meal, in order to avoid health problems, and that one should likewise ...

2. ... drink - water after having drunk other beverages.

(b)After citing a Beraisa in support of Rava bar Shmuel's latest statement, we cite a second Beraisa which warns what will happen if one does not take heed of this advice. Someone who fails to do so ...

1. ... by day - will suffer from foul breath, and ..

2. ... by night - from croup (a illness that causes choking).

6)

(a)A third Beraisa says that someone who drinks a lot of water after eating (until his food floats in water) - prevents illnesses.

(b)Rav Chisda explains that one needs to drink - a jar of water after eating bread.

(c)And Rav Mari Amar Rebbi Yochanan says that one should eat ...

1. ... lentils once every thirty days to avoid contracting Ask'ra (croup) ...

2. ... mustard once every thirty days to avoid contracting any illness.

(d)The reason for his first statement is - because croup is caused by constipation, and lentils serve as a good laxative.

(e)One should not however, eat mustard every day - because it gives a person a weak heart.

7)

(a)According to Rav Chiya bar Ashi Amar Rav, small fish prevent - prevent stomach ailments.

(b)Besides keeping a person's body fit, another good reason to eat small fish - is it enhances childbirth.

(c)And according to Rebbi Chama b'Rebbi Chanina, a person who eats Ketzach (black cumin) - will avoid heart-ache.

8)

(a)We query this however, from a Beraisa, where the Tana ...

1. ... describes Ketzach as being - one sixtieth of death?

2. ... writes that someone who sleeps on the east side of a Ketzach granary - is potentially guilty of his own death.

(b)Specifically on the east - since the west wind is moist, and therefore drives the smell of the Ketzach into one's body.

(c)We reconcile Rebbi Chama b'Rebbi Chanina with the Beraisa - by establishing him with regard to eating, and the Beraisa, with regard to smell.

(d)When Rebbi Yirmiyah's mother, whilst baking bread for her son, decided to add Ketzach - she stuck some on to the bread during the baking, and skimmed it off afterwards ...

(e)... so that the bread should adopt its taste but not its smell.

9)

(a)Rebbi Yehudah learned in our Mishnah that over various species of herbs one recites 'Borei Miynei Desha'im'. Rebbi Zeira (or Rebbi Chin'na bar Papa) Paskens - like the Tana Kama (who holds that 'Borei P'ri ha'Adamah covers everything that grows from the ground).

(b)To explain Rebbi Yehudah's reasoning, the same Amora cites the Pasuk in Tehilim "Baruch Hash-m Yom Yom", which cannot be taken literally - because Hash-m's blessing is not confined to daytime.

(c)He therefore explain it - to mean that each day one should ascribe to Hash-m the B'rachos of that day, and that likewise each species deserves its own B'rachah.

10)

(a)The same Amora remarks that Hash-m is different that human beings - in that whereas vessels belonging to the latter will only accept more contents when they are empty but not when they are full, those of Hash-m will accept more contents only when they are already full.

(b)He learns the former from the Pasuk in Beshalach "ve'Hayah Im Shamo'a Tishma" - which he interprets to mean that only someone who listens to Hash-m once (filling the cup), will succeed in listening to him again (and pour in more).

(c)Alternatively, he explain the same Pasuk to mean - that it is only if one revises what one has already learned that one will be able to learn more and add to one's knowledge ...

(d)... but someone who turns his heart away (by failing to revise what he has learnt) will lose interest in learning anything new.

11)

(a)The Mishnah rules that someone who recites 'Borei P'ri ...

1. ... ha'Adamah' over fruit that grows on a tree - is Yotzei.

2. ... ha'Eitz over fruit that grows from the ground - is not Yotzei ...

(b)... because whereas a tree grows from the ground, a vegetable does not grow from a tree.

(c)The Tana concludes that someone who recites 'Shehakol' over either of those two - is Yotzei.

12)

(a)In a case where the fountain that waters the tree dries up or the tree is cut down the Tana Kama in the Mishnah in Bikurim rules - that the fruit is subject to Bikurim, but without a B'rachah.

(b)According to Rebbi Yehudah - the owner recites a B'rachah, too ...

(c)... because he holds - that the main cause of the fdrujit's growth is the ground.

(d)Based on that Mishnah, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak establishes our Mishnah (which renders Yotzei someone who recites 'Borei P'ri ha'Adamah' over the fruit of a tree) - like Rebbi Yehudah (See Tosfos DH 'Rebbi Yehudah Hi').

13)

(a)The problem with the Mishnah, which rules that someone who recites 'Borei P'ri ha'Eitz' over fruit that grows from the ground is not Yotzei is - that it is obvious (and therefore superfluous).

(b)Here too, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak establishes the author as Rebbi Yehudah, who maintains that the tree from which Adam ha'Rishon ate was - a wheat-tree ...

(c)... since we find that a child begins to speak (to call out 'Aba' and 'Ima') when he first tastes wheat (in the form of bread).

(d)Nevertheless - the Mishnah holds that if one recites 'Borei P'ri ha'Eitz' over wheat, one is not Yotzei.

14)

(a)Based on the Pasuk in No'ach "Vayesht min ha'Yayin va'Yishkor", Rebbi Meir maintains that the fruit in question - was a vine ...

(b)... since we see - that wine brings 'wailing' upon the world.

(c)Whereas Rebbi Nechemyah says that they ate from the fig-tree - the tree which subsequently provided the leaves which (partially) rectified the sin.

15)

(a)One does not recite 'Borei P'ri ha'Eitz' over the fruit of a tree - which does not retain its branches after the fruit has been picked.

(b)The B'rachah that one recites over it is - 'Borei P'ri ha'Adamah'.

16)

(a)According to Rav Huna, the two exceptions to the Mishnah's ruling that if one recites 'Shehakol' over any of the species listed there one is Yotzei are - bread and wine.

(b)Rebbi Yochanan rules - that one is Yotzei even regarding bread and wine.

17)

(a)Rebbi Meir rules in a Beraisa that someone who, before eating bread (or a fig), says 'How nice is this bread (fig), Baruch ha'Makom she'Bara'o (she'Bera'ah)' - he is Yotzei

(b)Rebbi Yossi - that he is not Yotzei, because 'Whoever deviates from the text which the Chachamim initiated is not Yotzei.

(c)Initially, we try to establish ...

1. ... Rav Huna - like Rebbei Yossi, and ...

2. ... Rebbi Yochanan - like Rebbi Meir.

(d)We reconcile ...

1. ... Rav Huna with Rebbi Meir however, by suggesting that even the latter will agree that one will not be Yotzei if one recites 'Shehakol' over bread - since he did not mention bread.

2. ... Rebbi Yochanan with Rebbi Yossi, by suggesting that even the latter will agree that one will be Yotzei if one recites 'Shehakol' over bread - since 'Shehakol' is a text that the Chachamim initiated.

18)

(a)When Binyamin the shepherd recited the B'rachah 'B'rich Ma'rei de'hai Pita (Blessed be the master of this bread)', Rav commented - that he was Yotzei.

(b)The problem with this ruling, based on another statement of Rav is - that any B'rachah must contain the Name of Hash-m.

(c)To answer the Kashya, we therefore insert the word - 'Rachmana' (after 'B'rich'), which is the Name of Hash-m.

(d)We refute the Kashya that over bread, one needs to recite three B'rachos (Birchas ha'Mazon) - by establishing Binyamin the shepherd by the B'rachah Rishonah.

19)

(a)We query Rav from a Mishnah in Sotah, which states that Parshas Sotah, Viduy Ma'aser, K'ri'as Sh'ma, Tefilah and Birchas ha'Mazon - can be said in any language ...

(b)... a Kashya on Rav, whose ruling is therefore superfluous.

(c)We answer, that were it not for Rav, we would have confined the Mishnah to where the other language is merely a translation of the text of the B'rachah, but not where it differs from it.

20)

(a)If, as we just learned, Rav holds that 'Any B'rachah that does not contain the Name of Hash-m is not a B'rachah', what does Rebbi Yochanan says that one also requires 'Malchus' (Melech ha'Olam) in the text.

(b)Abaye cites a Beraisa which explains the Pasuk in Ki Savo (in connection with Viduy Ma'aser) " ... Lo Avarti mi'Mitzvosecha ve'Lo Shachachti". The Tana learns from "Lo Avarti mi'Mitzvosecha", 'mi'le'Varech'cha alav', and from "ve'Lo Shachachti" - 'mi'Lehazkir Shimcha alav' ...

(c)... but not necessarily 'Malchus'.

(d)Rebbi Yochanan amends the Beraisa to read - "ve'Lo Shachachti" - 'mi'Lehazkir Shimcha u'Malchuscha alav'.

21)

(a)The Mishnah requires 'Shehakol' to be recited - over anything that does not grow from the gvround.

(b)The Tana rules that over vinegar, Novlos and locusts - one recites 'Shehakol'.

(c)Rebbi Yehudah disagrees - since each of these arfe the result of a curse, in which case one does not recite a B'rachah at all.

(d)According to Rebbi Yehudah, if a number of species contain the Shiv'as ha'Minim (the seven species with which Eretz Yisrael is specifically blessed), then that takes preference. The Chachamim maintain that one recites the Brachah over whichever species one prefers.

22)

(a)Regarding the B'rachah of 'Shehakol', the Beraisa adds to the list of ...

1. ... meat of Beheimos, Chayos and fowl - fish.

2. ... milk and eggs - cheese.

(b)The Tana rules that over ...

1. ... bread that became moldy and wine that became ropey (formed a skin) ...

2. ... a cooked dish that has lost its form and ...

3. ... salt, salt-water and mushrooms - one recites 'Shehakol'.

23)

(a)We query the very last ruling, from the Beraisa which forbids someone who makes a Neder from fruit of the ground to benefit from fruit of the ground. He incorporates mushrooms in this ruling - provided the owner specified 'Kol Gidulei Karka alai'.

(b)Abaye answers - that although mushrooms grow from the moist of the ground, they do not feed from the ground.

(c)We reconcile this with the fact that our Mishnah says 'al Davar she'Ein Gidulo min ha'Aretz' (including mushrooms) - by amending the wording to 'al Davar she'Ein Yoneik' min ha'Aretz.

24)

(a)Rebbi Zeira and Rebbi Ila'a argue over the meaning of 'Novlos' in our Mishnah. One of them says it is 'Bushli Kamra' (dates that are sun-burnt), the other, 'Tamri de'Zika' - dates that have been detached by the wind and have fallen to the ground.

(b)We query the latter opinion from Rebbi Yehudah in our Mishnah, who refers to Novlos as a kind of curse - which 'Tamri de'Zika' is not.

(c)And we answer - that Rebbi Yehudah argues with the Tana Kama only in the other two cases, but not in the case of Tamri de'Zika.

25)

(a)Alternatively, we query the same opinion from the ruling in our Mishnah that the B'rachah over Novlos is 'Shehakol' - whereas surely - the B'rachah over Tamri de'Zika ought to be 'Borei P'ri ha'Eitz'?

(b)We answer that there is no Machlokes over 'Novlos' S'tam - which everybody agrees is 'Bushli de'Tamri' ...

(c)... and their Machlokes is confined to 'Novlos di'Temarah' ...

(d)... which appears in the Mishnah in D'mai, as we shall now see.

26)

(a)The Mishnah in D'mai discusses 'ha'Kalin she'bi'Demai' - which means the various kinds of fruit which the Chachamim exempted from the Din of D'mai (i.e. the obligation to Ma'aser what one buys from an Am ha'Aretz).

(b)The list includes Shitin and Rimin (a species of white figs and of wild-figs), Uzradin (sorb-apples), B'nos-Shu'ach (another species of fig) and B'nos Shikmah (a fig branch that has been grafted into a chestnut tree), Gufnin (winter-grapes), Nitzpeh (a caper-bush) and Novlos Temarim (over which Rebbi Zeira and Rebbi Ila'a argue). All of these the Chachamim exempted from the Din of D'mai - because they are not Chashuv, and the Amei ha'Aretz do not object to Ma'asering them.

27)

(a)Seeing as the Tana exempts all of the above from D'mai, we can extrapolate that if the owner has not yet Ma'asered them - they are all Subject to 'Ma'asros.

(b)The problem this create with the opinion that defines Novlos Temarim as Tamri de'Zika is - that Tamri de'Zika (that have fallen off the tree) are Hefker, and Hefker is Patur from Ma'aser?

(c)We solve the problem, based on the ruling of Rebbi Yitzchak ... quoting Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov, who says that Leket, Shikchah and Pe'ah which the poor man gathers into the granary - becomes Chayav be'Ma'aser.

(d)Likewise here - the implication that Tamri de'Zika are subject to Ma'aser speaks where the person who gathers them places them in his granary.

28)

(a)Others point out a discrepancy between the wording of our Mishnah and that of the Beraisa, according to the opinion that defines 'Novlos Temarim' as 'Bushli Kamra' - how one Mishnah it refers to them as 'Novlos', and the other as - Tamri de'Zika.

(b)The Gemara's conclusion is 'Kashya'.