1)

(a)Our Mishnah learns from the Pasuk in Vayeira (in connection with Avimelech and Sarah) ...

1. ... "ve'Atah Hashev Eishes ha'Ish ... ve'Yispalel Ba'adcha" that even after paying for the Boshes, one does not obtain forgiveness until one has asked the Nizak for forgiveness.

2. ... "Va'yispalel Avraham el ha'Elokim" that the Nizak should be gracious (like Avraham) and readily forgive.

(b)The Tana says that if Reuven asks Shimon to blind his eye or to cut off his arm, and Shimon complies this does not absolve him from paying ...

(c)... even if he adds the words 'al-M'nas Liftor'.

(d)If Reuven asks Shimon ...

1. ... to break his jar and he complies he is Chayav to pay.

2. ... to break his jar, but he adds 'al-M'nas Liftor' he is Patur.

3. ... any of the above cases harm Levi or to damage Levi's property he is Chayav.

2)

(a)Our Mishnah obligates the Mazik to ask the Nizak for forgiveness. This does not pertain to Boshes, for which he has already paid, but to the pain that he feels over the Boshes for which nothing can atone, until he asks for, and receives, forgiveness.

(b)The problem the Tana has with the Pasuk "ve'Atah Hashev Eishes ha'Ish ki Navi Hu" is that this implies that had Avraham not been a Navi, Avimelech would not have been obligated to return Sarah, which is senseless.

(c)Rebbi Shmuel bar Nachmeni Amar Rebbi Yonasan therefore explains that Avimelech had to return Sarah in any event, and he explains the phrase "ki Navi Hu" to mean that in his capacity as a Navi, Avraham had already taught that when a guest comes to town, one asks (not after his beautiful wife, but) about whether he has somewhere to stay, a lesson, it seems, that was not absorbed by Avimelech. Consequently, all his arguments that he was innocent because he really did not know that Sarah was Avraham's wife, were insufficient to absolve him from Misah.

(d)We learn from here that a Nochri who had the opportunity to learn Derech Eretz and fails to do so, must suffer the consequences (even to the point that he is subsequently liable to receive the death-penalty for failing to do so).

3)

(a)According to Rebbi Elazar, the double expression in the Pasuk "Ki Atzor Atzar Hash-m be'ad Kol Rechem be'Veis Avimelech" teaches us that the Zera of the men was stopped and of the women, the Zera as well as the childbirth.

(b)According to a Beraisa, there were two stoppages by men and three by women, and according to Ravina, there were three by men and four by women. The extra stoppage affected both men and women ...

1. ... according to the Beraisa was that of urine.

2. ... according to Ravina over and above the previous one, was that of defecating.

(c)And according to Rebbi Yanai even the chickens of Avimelech's household stopped laying eggs.

4)

(a)Rabah bar Mari learns from Iyov that someone Davens on behalf of his friend and he needs the same thing is answered first. Rava learns it from Avraham, who Davened for Avimelech, his wife and his maidservants to have children (among other things). After the Pasuk informs us that Hash-m answered his prayers, the Pasuk continues "And Hash-m had (already) remembered Sarah ... ".

(b)What Rabah bar Mari learns from the Pasuk "Lamah Sarivu Elai Kulchem Pesha'tem Bi ... " (including the Navi), Rava learns from the Pasuk "Ad Masai Me'antem Li'shmor Mitzvosai ... ". He learns from here that 'the cabbage is smitten together with the thorns' (the Torah includes the Tzadik, who is innocent of the crime, together with those who are guilty).

(c)Rava prefers his sources to those of Rabah bar Mari because he prefers to learn from a Pasuk in the Torah than from one in Nevi'im or Kesuvim.

5)

(a)Rabah bar Mari explained that the Pasuk in Vayigash "u'Miktzeh Echav refers to Dan, Zevulun, Gad, Asher, and Naftali whom he jointly categorized as those whose names Moshe doubled in ve'Zos ha'B'rachah.

(b)Yosef picked specifically these five to present to Par'oh for the same reason that Moshe doubled their names because they looked weaker than their brothers, and were less likely to be conscripted into the army. Moshe, on the other hand, doubled their names in order to strengthen them.

(c)The name of Yehudah (who was the strongest of the brothers) does indeed occur twice but that is for a difference reason, as we shall now see.

6)

(a)Rebbi Shmuel bar Nachmeini Amar Rebbi Yonasan learns from the Pasuk in ve'Zos ha'Berachah ...

1. ... "Y'chi Reuven ve'Al Yamos ... ve'Zos li'Yehudah" that Moshe prayed to Hash-m to bring Yehudah's bones together, on the grounds that it was due to Yehudah's confession that Reuven confessed (and his bones were intact).

2. ... "Sh'ma Hash-m Kol Yehudah" that Hash-m responded to Moshe's request and brought Yehudah's bones together.

3. ... "ve'el Amo Tevi'enu" that He then brought him to the Yeshivah shel Ma'alah.

4. ... "Yadav Rav Lo" that he was able to join in the battle of Torah with the other Talmidei-Chachamim there.

5. ... "ve'Eizer mi'Tzarav Tih'yeh" that his opinion was accepted as Halachah.

(b)Yehudah confessed that he was the father of Tamar's unborn twins ...

(c)... and he confessed in order to save three innocent lives from burning.

7)

(a)Rabah bar Mari learns from the Mishnah in Bikurim the mantra 'Poverty follows the poor'. The Tana says there that the rich brought their Bikurim in golden baskets, whilst the poor brought theirs in willow wickerwork baskets.

(b)The golden baskets were returned to their wealthy owners whereas the wickerwork baskets remained the Kohen's.

(c)Rava learns the same thing from the Pasuk in Tazri'a "ve'Tamei Tamei Yikra", which teaches us that a Metzora leaving the camp had to announce that he was Tamei, adding salt onto his wounds, by having to publicize his predicament, as if the pain he felt at having been proclaimed a Metzora was not sufficient.

8)

(a)Rabah bar Mari learns from the Pasuk in Yeshayah "Lo Yir'avu, ve'Lo Yitz'ma'u ve'Lo Yakem Sharav va'Shamesh" that 'sixty racing men who have not eaten breakfast cannot catch the one who has'.

(b)Rava learns it from the Pasuk in Beshalach. According to him, the Pasuk ...

1. ... "va'Avadtem es Hash-m Elokeichem" pertains to K'ri'as Sh'ma and Tefilah.

2. ... "u'Veirach es Lachmecha ve'es Meimecha" to bread and salt and a jar of water (for breakfast).

3. ... "va'Hasirosi Machlah mi'Kirbecha" to what will follow.

(c)The Beraisa interprets "Machlah" as a sick gall (of the liver).

(d)This ties up with the numerical value of the word eighty-three, which is equivalent to the number of illnesses that are connected with it.

9)

(a)Rabah bar Mari learns from the Pasuk in ...

1. ... Lech-L'cha "va'Yomar, 'Hagar Shifchas Sarai Ei mi'Zeh Ba's ... va'Tomar, Mipnei Sarai Gevirti Anochi Borachas' " that if someone calls you a donkey, tie a donkey's saddle on yourself.

2. ... Chayei-Sarah "va'Yomar, Eved Avraham Anochi" that right at the outset, one should announce one's faults.

3. ... Shmuel "ve'Heitiv Hash-m la'Adoni ve'Zacharta es Amasecha" (Avigayil to David) the goose may be a lowly creature, but it looks far ahead (that one should not be shy to ask for one's needs, whatever they may be).

(b)

1. Rabah bar Mari learns the mantra 'Sixty pains reach the tooth that hears its friend eating whilst it itself is not eating' from Nasan ha'Navi who complained that Adoniyahu had not invited Tzadok ha'Kohen, Benayahu ben Yehoyada, Shlomoh ha'Melech and himself to his party.

2. Rava learns it from Avraham who married Keturah immediately after Yitzchak married Rifkah.

10)

(a)Rabah bar Mari learns from ...

1. ... the fact that one Pasuk explains how Hash-m instructed Moshe to place his hand on Yehoshua, to fill him with wisdom, in order that Yisrael should listen to him, and another relates how Moshe placed his hands on Yehoshua ... that one tends to thank the waiter, even though the meal was provided by the owner (see also Tosfos).

2. ... the Pasuk in Mishlei " ... ve'Nefesh Re'eivah Kol Mar Masok" that a hungry dog will eat anything, even stones (or dung).

(b)When Rava asked Rabah bar Mari for the source of the mantra that barren date-palms go and live among non-fruit bearing trees, he replied that this was to be found in a Pasuk in Torah, in Nevi'im and in Kesuvim, in a Mishnah and in a Beraisa.

(c)He learned it from ...

1. ... the Chumash from Yishmael who married Machalas, a daughter of Eisav.

2. ... Nevi'im from Yiftach who, the Pasuk relates, was initially an outcast, and who attracted "empty men".

3. ... Kesuvim (ben Sira) from the well-known saying "Birds of a feather flock together".

11)

(a)The Mishnah in Keilim says 'Kol ha'Mechubar ...

1. ... el ha'Tamei' Tamei ...

2. ... el ha'Tahor' Tahor. Consequently, metal hooks of a bed or a table (which are themselves subject to Tum'ah), are subject to Tum'ah too, whereas those of a wooden candelabra (which is not), are not subject to Tum'ah, either.

(b)Rebbi Eliezer in a Beraisa proves from the fact that the starling went to nest with the raven that it must belong to the same family as the raven, and like it, is therefore a Tamei species.

(c)Rabah bar Mari learns from the Pasuk ...

1. ... in Yechezkel "Ya'an Tihartich ve'Lo Tihart mi'Tum'asich, Lo Titahari Od"- that if someone fails to respond to a rebuke one is permitted to push a wall on him (i.e. let him go to his own doom).

2. ... "ve'Lo Sesa'ev Mitzri ki Ger Hayisa be'Artzo" that one should not throw things into a pit from which drank (repay bad for good [irrespective of who one's benefactor is]).

(d)Rabah bar Mari learns the mantra 'If you will help me carry the load I will carry it, otherwise, I won't' from Barak, who told Devorah that he would only lead Yisrael into battle if she would accompany him.

12)

(a)Rabah bar Mari derives the saying ...

1. ... 'When we were young we were like men, and now that we have grown-up, we are like children' from Yisrael in the desert, who, at first, were accompanied by the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire, which were led by Hash-m Himself, whereas later Hash-m told them that He would send an Angel to protect them.

2. ... 'Go after a wealthy man and you will draw fat' from Lot, who, the Pasuk in Lech-L'cha teaches us, became rich only because he accompanied Avraham.