WHAT IS FORBIDDEN
Rejection #2 (and Answer #3 to Question d:1 - Rav Ashi): The Beraisa discusses the fat surrounding the Gid ha'Nasheh;
(Beraisa): Mid'Oraisa, the fat around the Gid is permitted. Yisrael are Kedoshim, and they do not eat it.
Rejection #3 (and Answer #4 - Ravina): The Beraisa discusses the outer Gid;
(Rav Yehudah): The inner Gid, close to the bone, is forbidden mid'Oraisa. One who eats it is lashed;
The outer Gid, close to the flesh, is forbidden mid'Rabanan. One who eats it is exempt.
Answer #2 (to Question 4:c - Beraisa) : If one ate a k'Zayis of each Gid, he receives 80 lashes;
R. Yehudah says, he gets 40 lashes.
We understand this if R. Yehudah is sure. However, if he is unsure, why is he lashed? He received Hasra'as Safek (no one could warn him that what he is about to eat is surely forbidden)!
We know that R. Yehudah disqualifies Hasra'as Safek;
(Beraisa): If we are unsure if Reuven is the son of David or Moshe, and Reuven strikes or curses David and Moshe, one after the other or at the same time, he is liable;
R. Yehudah says, he is liable only if he struck or cursed both at the same time.
Rejection: Really, R. Yehudah is unsure. Our Tana holds (like the following Tana) that R. Yehudah says that Safek Hasra'ah is valid;
(Beraisa - R. Yehudah): "You may not leave over (from the Korban Pesach) until morning. You will burn what is left over" - the Torah gives a Mitzvas Aseh after the Lav, to exempt from lashes.
(R. Yakov): No. One is not lashed because this Lav is not transgressed through an action, rather, through inaction.
Answer #3 (Beraisa): If one ate two Gidim from two animals, he receives 80 lashes;
R. Yehudah obligates only 40 lashes.
Inference: Surely, both are (right Gidim, and) forbidden. If one was a left Gid, the Tana would discuss the simpler case of the two Gidim of one animal!
R. Yehudah must be sure. If not, he would exempt from lashes!
Question: Why does R. Yehudah obligate only 40 lashes?
Answer: The case is, each Gid is less than a k'Zayis.
(Beraisa): If one eats a Gid ha'Nasheh that is less than a k'Zayis, he is lashed;
R. Yehudah exempts.
THE FIGHT WITH THE ANGEL
Question: How did R. Yehudah decide that the right Gid is forbidden?
Answer #1 (Rava): "Ha'Yarech" connotes the special thigh;
Chachamim explain that this is the Gid that extends throughout the entire thigh, i.e. the inner Gid.
Answer #2 (R. Yehoshua ben Levi): "(The angel) wrestled with (Yakov)" - like a man who embraces a man. His right hand reaches around to the other's right thigh. (Presumably, the angel's right hand injured Yakov.)
(R. Shmuel bar Nachmani): The angel (was walking towards Yakov. He) appeared to Yakov like a Nochri.
If one encounters a Nochri on the road, he should position himself so that the Nochri is on his right side.
(R. Shmuel bar Acha): The angel (was going in the same direction as Yakov. He) appeared like a Chacham. (Yakov positioned himself so the angel would be on Yakov's right side, to honor him);
If one walks to the right side of his Rebbi, he is boorish.
Chachamim forbid both Gidin. They say that the angel came from behind Yakov, and hit him on both thighs.
Question: What do Chachamim learn from "He'avko (he wrestled) with him"?
Answer: They explain like R. Yehoshua ben Levi, that the Avak (dust) went up from their feet to the Kisei ha'Kavod. (Rashba - this indicates that they fought about fundamentals of our belief. Their fight will persist until the Kisei will be complete, in the end of days.)
(R. Yehoshua ben Levi): It is called the Gid ha'Nasheh because Nashah (it was dislocated) from its place.
(R. Yosi bar Chanina): "Slaughter and prepare" - (Yosef instructed Menasheh to) show (to his brothers) the slaughtered neck of the animal;
"And prepare" - remove the Gid ha'Nasheh in front of them.
This is like the opinion that Gid ha'Nasheh was forbidden before the Torah was given.
(R. Elazar): "And Yakov remained alone" - he remained to take small flasks.
This shows that Tzadikim are more careful about their money than their bodies.
Question: What is the reason?
Answer: It is because they are careful not to steal. (They fear to wax poor, lest they be temted to steal.)
(R. Yitzchak): "A man wrestled with him until the dawn" teaches that a Chacham should not go out alone at night.
(R. Aba bar Kahana): We learn from "Bo'az will winnow" (and stay in the granary. He would not go out alone at night.)
(R. Avahu): We learn from "va'Yashkem Avraham ba'Boker." (Even though he was accompanied, he waited until morning. All the more so a Chacham should not go out alone at night!)
(Rabanan): We learn from "Lech Na Re'e Es Shelom Achecha" (during the day, when one can see.).
YAKOV'S DREAM
(Rav): We learn from "The sun shone for him (so he could travel)."
Question (R. Akiva): why does it say "the sun shone for him"? It shines for the whole world!
Answer (R. Yitzchak): Previously, the sun had set early for him. Now, it rose early for him;
"Yakov... came to Charan... he encountered the place" - when he reached Charan, he regretted that he did not pray where his father and grandfather had prayed (at the Akeidah);
He decided to return. Immediately, he miraculously encountered the place.
After he prayed, he planned to resume traveling. Hash-m wanted him to spend the night there, so he made the sun set prematurely.
Contradiction: It says "he took from the stones of the place", and it says "he took the stone"!
Answer (R. Yitzchak): All the stones of the area gathered. Each asserted that Yakov should rest his head on it. They all fused together.
(Beraisa): "He dreamed. A ladder was set on the ground" - the ladder was 8000 Parsa'os wide.
"Angels were ascending and descending" - two were ascending and two descending. It follows that the ladder was wide enough to hold four (where they crossed);
"Its (an angel's) body is like the Tarshish Sea", which is 2000 Parsa'os.
(Beraisa): The angels ascended and gazed at Yakov's image on Hash-m's Merkavah. They descended and gazed at Yakov's image;
Yakov was in danger (because they were jealous). Therefore, "Hash-m stood over him."
(Reish Lakish): Hash-m was like a father blowing a bellows so his son will not be hot. It would be forbidden to say this if not for the verse.
Question: "The land you are sleeping on (I will give to your seed)" is a very small promise!
Answer (R. Yitzchak): Hash-m folded up all of Eretz Yisrael under Yakov, and promised that it would be as easy to conquer as the four Amos under Yakov.
"(The angel) said 'send me, for dawn has come.'"
Yakov: Are you a thief or kidnapper (Rashi; Tosfos - dice-player), therefore you are afraid to come out by day?
The angel: I am an angel. This is the first time it is my turn to sing (to Hash-m).
This supports Rav Chananel;
(Rav Chananel): Three groups of angels sing. One says "Kadosh". The next responds "Kadosh". The third responds "Kadosh Hash-m Tzevakos."
Question (Beraisa): Yisrael are dearer to Hash-m than the angels. Yisrael sing constantly to Hash-m;
Opinions vary how often (any one) angel sings - once every day, or week, or month, or year, or seven years, or Yovel cycle, or only once.
Yisrael say Hash-m's Name after only two words - "Shma Yisrael, Hash-m... ";
Angels only say His Name after three words - "Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Hash-m Tzevakos" (this is unlike Rav Chananel.)
Angels may not sing above until Yisrael sing below - "when the morning stars (Yisrael) sing together, (then) all angels will resound".
Correction (Rav Chananel): Rather, one group of angels says "Kadosh", the next responds "Kadosh, Kadosh", and the third responds "Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Hash-m Tzevakos."
Question: Also angels say His Name after two words - "Baruch Kevod Hash-m mi'Mekomo"!
Answer #1: The Ofanim say that, but not the regular (ministering) angels.
Answer #2: Once angels have permission to say His Name (after saying "Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh"), they no longer need to say three words before it.