1)

(a)When the master whose Eved fled from Chutz la'Aretz to Eretz Yisrael, ran after him to bring him back Rebbi Ami instructed him to set him free (and Beis-Din would write a document obligating the Eved to pay him the value that they would assess).

(b)If he persisted in catching him, they warned him, they would simply set him free, based on the ruling of Rebbi Achi b'Rebbi Yoshiyah in a Beraisa.

(c)Rebbi Achi b'Rebbi Yoshiyah learned that it is forbidden to return an Eved in such a case from the Pasuk in Ki Setzei "Lo Sasgir Eved El Adonav".

(d)He declines to learn that it refers to a Nochri who undertakes not to serve idols, due to the fact that the Torah writes "asher Yinatzel Eilecha mi'Im Adonav", rather than " ... me'Im Aviv" (or " ... mi'Im Elohav"). He also refutes the suggestion that the Pasuk is referring to an Eved who runs from Eretz Yisrael to Chutz la'Aretz because " ... asher Yinatzel Eilecha" implies that he ran to Eretz Yisrael (otherwise it should have written "Asher Yinatzel 'me'Imach").

2)

(a)In another Beraisa, Rebbi establishes the Pasuk by someone who purchased an Eved in order to set him free. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak establishes the case where he wrote 'le'she'Ekachech, Harei Atzmecha Kenuyah Lach me'Achshav' ...

(b)... and Rebbi is coming to teach us the principle 'Adam Makneh Davar she'Lo Ba l'Olam' (like Rebbi Meir).

3)

(a)When an Eved belonging to Rav Chisda fled to the Bei Kuta'i, and Rav Chisda sent them a message requesting his return they quoted him the Pasuk 'Lo Sasgir Eved El Adonav'.

(b)Rav Chisda responded that the Pasuk refers to an Eved who fled from Chutz la'Aretz to Eretz Yisrael, as Rebbi Achi b'Rebbi Yoshiyah explained (and not from Bavel to Bavel, as his Eved had done).

(c)He quoted Rebbi Achi b'Rebbi Yoshiyah rather than Rebbi because he found the former's explanation more conducive to the Pesukim.

4)

(a)In order to retrieve his lost donkey, Abaye sent the Bei Kuta'i that it had a white belly.

(b)They were not impressed since all donkeys have white bellies.

(c)They nevertheless returned it to him because they were convinced that he was a Talmid-Chacham and was telling the truth (though it is unclear on what grounds they had the authority to return it on that basis).

5)

(a)The Mishnah prohibits redeeming a captive for more than his value, either in order not to overburden the community or so as not to encourage the Nochrim to capture Jews in order to obtain high ransoms for them.

(b)The difference between the two reasons lies in a case where a rich relative is willing to pay the exorbitant price demanded.

(c)We cannot bring a proof from Levi bar Darga, who redeemed his daughter for thirteen thousand golden Dinarim because it is possible that he acted against the Halachah.

(d)Chazal decreed at the same time that one may not help captives to escape, because of Tikun ha'Olam.

6)

(a)According to Raban Shimon ben Gamliel, the reason for the latter decree is not because of Tikun ha'Olam, but because of Takanas ha'Shevuyin. The meaning of ...

1. ... Tikun ha'Olam is so that future captives should not be clamped in chains as a result.

2. ... Takanas ha'Shevuyin is to protect current captives from being clamped in chains.

(b)The difference between the two reasons is there where there is only one captive, and it is only the well-being of future captives that is at stake.

(c)Rav Ilish was amazed when he saw the daughters of Rav Nachman stirring a boiling pot with their bare hands (a sign that they must have been righteous).

(d)He quoted the Pasuk in Koheles Adam Echad b'Elef Mata'si, v'Ishah b'Chol Eleh Lo Matza'si' (where Shlomo ha'Melech seemed to have forgotten about the daughters of Rav Nachman).

7)

(a)Rav Ilish was captured at the same time as Rav Nachman's daughters. The message he received from the birds via a man who was able to decipher bird's talk was 'Ilish, run away ... !'

(b)He declined to accept the message from the raven because, he said, the raven is a liar (i.e. it is unreliable, as we find with Noach).

(c)He ultimately accepted it from the dove, to which Yisrael is compared.

(d)The man who had deciphered the message fled together with him Rav Ilish miraculously succeeded in escaping across the bridge to freedom, but his companion was caught and killed.

8)

(a)Before fleeing, he overheard them referring to their captors as husbands (no less than the real husbands they had left behind), ascertaining that they were not as righteous as he had thought they were.

(b)He listened specifically in the vicinity of the bathroom because that was where women used to discuss their personal affairs.

(c)They decided to ask their captors to move them further away from home, to discourage their original husbands from coming to ransom them.

(d)So he attributed their ability to stir the boiling pot with their bare hands to witchcraft.

9)

(a)Rav Budya extrapolated from our Mishnah, which cites the decree not to purchase Sefarim, Tefilin and Mezuzos from Nochrim for more than their value that one may purchase them for their market value, and he inferred from this that one is permitted to subsequently use them.

(b)Rav Ashi explained however that the Tana may well mean that one must redeem them because of the possibility that they were written Lishman, but that, seeing as they may not have been, they must be placed in Genizah.

10)

(a)Rav Nachman rules that a Sefer-Torah that was written by ...

1. ... a Miyn (someone who is addicted to Avodah-Zarah) must be burned (because it was certainly written in the name of idolatry).

2. ... a Nochri must be placed in Genizah (as we just explained).

(b)He also rules that a Sefer-Torah obtained from ...

1. ... a Min must be placed in Genizah (because he may have written it).

2. ... a Nochri must, according to some, be placed in Genizah, whereas according to others, it may be used, since it may have been written by a Yisrael, and even assuming the Nochri wrote it, he may have written it Lishmah.

(c)We establish the Beraisa that ...

1. ... requires a Sefer-Torah that is written by a Nochri to be burned according to Rebbi Eliezer who says that even a Nochri always has Avodah-Zarah uppermost in his mind .

2. ... permits one to read from such a Sefer like the Tana who specifically permits it, provided the Nochri wrote it Lishmah. The Tana of a third Beraisa (cited by Rav Hamnuna b'rei d'Rava mi'Pashrunya) invalidates a Sefer written by a Masur, a Nochri, an Eved, a woman, a Katan, a Kuti or a Yisrael Mumar on the basis of the Hekesh "u'Keshartam u'Chesavtam" (Ekev), which teaches us that only someone who is subject to the Mitzvah of wearing Tefilin may write them (and Sefarim and Mezuzos are compared to Tefilin).

(d)In this list, a Mumar and a Masur have simply thrown off the yoke of Mitzvos, and this Tana considers Kusim Geirei Arayos (Gerim who converted only on account of a plague of lions). Women and Avadim are not subject to the Mitzvah of Tefilin because it is a 'Mitzvas Aseh she'ha'Zeman Geramah' (a time-related Mitzvah [seeing as it does not apply on Shabbos and in the night], from which they are exempt).

11)

(a)The Tana Kama of a Beraisa invalidates Tefilin that have been overlaid with gold or that are covered with the skin of a non-Kosher animal because the Torah writes in Parshas Bo (with regard to Tefilin) "b'Ficha", from which we learn that only what is permitted to eat is eligible for Tefilin.

(b)

1. ... He permits Tefilin that are covered with the skin of a Kosher animal.

2. ... Raban Shimon ben Gamliel forbids them, unless it has been tanned Lishmah.

(c)Rabah bar Shmuel reconcile this with the previous Beraisa, which permits reading from Sefarim written by Nochrim, by establishing it with regard to a Ger who reverted to his former beliefs. The problem with that is that if he reverted to his former beliefs he is a Miyn, which only reinforces the Kashya.

(d)Rav Ashi resolves the problem by finally establishing that the Ger reverted to his former beliefs, not out of conviction, but out of fear of his former co-religionists, who were threatening to kill him.

12)

(a)The prohibition to redeem Sefarim from a Nochri for more than their current value is not absolute because the Beraisa permits up to one Tarpe'ik more, which Rav Sheshes explains to be one Sela Medinah or half a Dinar.

(b)Abaye offered that Arab woman who brought him a Chaysa d'Tefili (a sack of Tefilin) a few dates per pair.

(c)She became so angry that she threw the entire sack in the river.

(d)Abaye subsequently commented that he should not have belittled the Tefilin to that extent.

13)

(a)Our Mishnah forbids someone who divorced his wife because of a rumor that she had committed adultery or because she had made Nedarim, to take her back. The prohibition in the case of Nedarim only applies, according to ...

1. ... Rebbi Yehudah, if the Neder was publicly known. The reason for the prohibition according to him is to prevent the Benos Yisrael from becoming lax in Nedarim, and this is only applicable in the case of Nedarim that are publicly known.

2. ... Rebbi Meir, if the Neder requires a Chacham to annul it, and he could not have done so himself. The reason for the prohibition, according to him is to prevent the husband from claiming that had he known that a Chacham was able to annul the Neder he would never have divorced her (and her Get is null and void and her children from the second husband Mamzerim ['Kilkul']). And Kilkul will not apply there where he as able to annul his wife's Nedarim but failed to do so.

(b)When Rebbi Elazar says 'Lo Asru Zeh (Tzarich) Ela Mipnei Zeh' (Eino Tzarich) he (too holds of the reason of Kilkul, like Rebbi Meir, and he) means that on the contrary, in the case of 'Tzarich' Kilkul does not apply, because a man does not wish his wife to go to Beis-Din, and it is only Nedarim that he could annul himself that we are afraid of Kilkul (because he will say, that had he known, he would have annulled the Nedarim).

(c)According to the first Lashon of Rav Yosef bar Minyumi Amar Rav Nachman, the Tana Kama only says 'Lo Yachzir' (by Shem Ra and Neder) if the husband specifically stated that he was divorcing his wife for those reasons because in his opinion, the reason of the Tana Kama is because of Kilkul, and it is only if he specified why he is divorcing her that he can later claim that he would not have done so had he known.

(d)According to the second Lashon, the reason for the decree is to prevent the Benos Yisrael from becoming lax in their morals and in Nedarim. What Rav Yosef bar Minyumi Amar Rav Nachman says there is that we make him declare that this is why he is divorcing her. Whether he said it or not however, he is not permitted to take her back.