1)

(a)Rebbi Preida also attributed his longevity to three causes: Firstly, to the fact that nobody ever arrived in the Beis ha'Midrash before him and secondly, he never ate from an animal before the Matanos - (the right fore-leg, the cheeks and the stomach) were separated.

(b)This is based on Rav Yitzchak, who says that if someone eats from an animal before the Matanos have been separated, it is as if he had eaten Tevalim. The Halachah however, is - that one may eat part of the animal first and separate the Matanos afterwards.

(c)The third thing on Rebbi Preida's list was that whenever there was a Kohen present - he would not recite the Berachah of Mezuman.

(d)We reconcile this with Rebbi Yochanan, who maintains that it is a Chilul Hash-m to allow an unlearned Kohen (even if he is a Kohen Gadol) to Bentch before a Talmid-Chacham - by confining Rebbi Preida's practice to a Kohen who was at least a Talmid-Chacham, even if he was not on the same level as Rebbi Preida himself. He was not referring to a Kohan Am ha'Aretz.

2)

(a)Rebbi Nechunya ben Hakanah ascribed his longevity to 1. not deriving honor from his friend's shame; 2. not going to bed with his friend's curse on his lips; 3. giving away his money easily. We illustrate not deriving honor from his friend's shame from an incident with Rav Huna - who was once carrying a load on his shoulders, and who refused to allow Rav Chana bar Chanilai to relieve him of the load until he assured him that he would not have been embarrassed to carry such a load in his own town.

(b)Before going to bed each night, Mar Zutra used to say - 'May Hash-m forgive whoever caused me pain'.

(c)Rebbi Nechunya ben Hakanah learned from Iyov - to be easy-going with his money (when it came to benefiting others), because Iyov used to leave an extra Perutah with the store keeper.

3)

(a)When Rebbi Akiva asked Rebbi Nechunya ha'Gadol what he done to live so long - Rebbi Nechunya's servants, thinking that Rebbi Akiva was wishing their Rebbi dead, lay about him with sticks.

(b)Rebbi Akiva climbed a tree for safety. Rebbi Nechunya instructed his servants to leave Rebbi Akiva alone - when, from the tree-top, the latter asked him why, in the Pasuk in Pinchas "es ha'Keves Echad Ta'aseh ba'Boker", the word "Echad" is not superfluous, from which he realized that Rebbi Akiva was a Talmid-Chacham.

(c)The Torah inserts it - to teach us that the lamb should be 'Meyuchad she'be'Edro' (a special one).

(d)Rebbi Nechunya ha'Gadol (like Rebbi Nechunya ben Hakanah) was easy going with his money. He did not stand on his honor (he was ready to forgive the sins of others towards him), and he never accepted gifts - on the basis of the Pasuk in Mishlei "Sonei Matanos Yichyeh".

4)

(a)Rebbi Elazar too, would not accept gifts from the Nasi's family, nor would he accept invitations. Rebbi Zeira would not accept gifts, yet he would accept invitations - because he felt that his hosts were receiving more from his company than he was from theirs.

(b)Rava interprets the Pasuk in Michah "Nosei Avon v'Over al Pesha" - to mean that Hash-m forgives the sins of those who forego what others have done to them.

(c)Rebbi Yehoshua ben Korchah was surprised when Rebbi asked him why he had lived so long. Rebbi's motive in asking the question - was in order to discover what is good in Hash-m's eyes, and to emulate his example.

(d)Rebbi Yehoshua ben Korchah replied that he never looked at the face of a Rasha, like Rebbi Yochanan, who learned it - from the Navi Elisha, who told Yehoram the son of Achav that he would not look at him, were it not out of respect for Yehoshafat (King of Yehudah, his brother-in-law and current ally).

5)

(a)Rebbi Eliezer said that someone who looks at the face of a Rasha will go blind - like Yitzchak Avinu, who went blind because he looked in the face of his son Esav.

(b)We reconcile Rebbi Eliezer's words with the statement of Rav Yitzchak (which we learned already above) that Yitzchak became blind on account of Avimelech's curse on Sarah "Hinei Hu Lach K'sus Einayim" - by explaining that the one served as the catalyst that caused the other to become fulfilled.

(c)Rava learns what we just said from the Pasuk in Mishlei "Se'es Pnei Rasha Lo Tov".

(d)When Rebbi asked Rebbi Yehoshua ben Korchah for a Berachah, he responded by wishing him that he should reach half his years - not all his years, because Rebbi was a Prince, and it is only right that he should leave some years for his sons to take over his greatness.

6)

(a)Avuha bar Ihi and Meniman bar Ihi were brothers. One of them declared that he deserved praise for never looking at a Nochri - the other one for never entering into a partnership with one.

(b)When they asked Rebbi Zeira to what he ascribed his longevity, he gave them a long list of seven attributes: He never got angry with his family; he never walked in front of someone who was greater than him; he never thought words of Torah in dirty alleyways or walked four Amos without Torah and Tefilin. The remaining three are - that he never slept in the Beis-ha'Medrash (even just a cat-nap), never rejoiced at his friend's downfall and never called friends by their nicknames (even names that were not derogatory).

7)

(a)Rebbi Yehudah in our Mishnah lists four things that are prohibited in the ruins of a Shul: 1. Eulogizing; 2. Twisting ropes; 3. Setting traps - 4. Placing fruit on its roof to dry.

(b)He learns from the Pasuk "va'Hashimosi es Mikdesheichem" - that a holy place (such as a Shul) retains its Kedushah even after it has been destroyed.

(c)He forbids cutting the grass there - in order to create an aura of sadness, which will compel people to set about rebuilding it.

8)

(a)The Tana of the Beraisa presents a list of things that are forbidden in a Shul due to lightheadedness. Besides eating, drinking and adorning oneself - he also forbids strolling in a Shul, entering it because of the heat or the rain, and making a Hesped (eulogy) there.

(b)He permits a public Hesped (which will be defined shortly) ...

(c)... as well as learning Chumash and Mishnah there.

(d)We amend the Beraisa to read that one sweeps a Shul and settles the dust to prevent the grass from growing there. Rebbi Yehudah comments on that - that this applies only to a Shul that is complete, but that in the case of the ruins of a Shul, on the contrary, one deliberately allows the grass to grow (as he taught in our Mishnah).

9)

(a)Rav Asi says that the Shuls in Bavel are made on the express condition that, after they have been destroyed, one may do with them whatever one wishes (see end of Tosfos DH 'Batei Knesiyos').

(b)Making one's calculations nevertheless remains forbidden (see Tosfos DH 've'Af-al-pi-Kein' and Maharsha) - because it is particularly lighthearted.

(c)When Rav Asi warned that if people make their calculations in Shul, they will leave a dead person in it overnight - he meant that people in that town will die who do not have anyone to bury them.

(d)We cannot understand his words literally - because it implies that it is permitted to do so; whereas we have learned that leaving a corpse unburied overnight is prohibited.

10)

(a)Chachamim and their disciples - are permitted to eat in a Shul or in a Beis ha'Midrash, because, as the title 'Bei Rabanan' suggests, it is their home.

(b)In spite of the prohibition of entering a Shul because of the rain, Rava (in the process of answering a She'eilah of theirs) once took Ravina and Rav Ada bar Masna into Shul when it started raining - because, they did not enter the Shul to escape the rain, but because it is difficult to concentrate in the rain, and Torah-study requires a lucid mind.

(c)Someone who needs to call his friend out of Shul, assuming he is ...

1. ... a Talmid-Chacham - should first say ... a Halachah.

2. ... an expert in Mishnayos - ... a Mishnah.

3. ... proficient in Chumash . ... a Pasuk.

4. ... none of these - should either first ask a child to say over a Pasuk he has learned, or linger in Shul a short while before calling him.

11)

(a)When Rav Sheshes pointed at Rav Chisda, and Rav Chisda pointed at Rav Sheshes - they were simply giving examples of what is considered a public Hesped (i.e. one which is attended by a great man who draws crowds).

(b)Rafram eulogized his daughter-in-law in Shul - either because she had been a great woman in her life-time (and a lot of people would come to her Hesped), or because people would come to the Hesped because he was giving it, or even simply because he was there.

(c)Resh Lakish eulogized a certain Talmid-Chacham who taught Mishnayos to twenty-four rows of Talmidim; Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak, on the other hand, when asked to eulogize a Talmid-Chacham who had taught Mishnah, Sifra, Sifri and Tosefta - declined, on the grounds that he was no more than a parrot.

(d)This prompted the declaration 'Come and see the difference between the tough men of Eretz Yisrael and the pious men of Bavel!'. The source for referring to ...

1. ... Resh Lakish as a tough man - is the fact that he was extremely fussy with whom he spoke in the market-place. So much so, that anyone seen doing so was considered sufficiently trustworthy for people to enter into major business transactions with him without witnesses.

2. ... Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak as a pious man - was himself, inasmuch he protested at the suggestion that the fear of G-d no longer existed, on the grounds that he himself was a G-d-fearing man.

12)

(a)Resh Lakish explains the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos 'ud'Ishtamesh b'Saga Chalaf' to mean - that using a person who has learned Mishnah for one's own benefit is prohibited.

(b)Ula disagrees, confining the prohibition (not to someone who has learned four Sedarim [Mo'ed, Nashim, Nezikim and Kodshim] but), to someone who has taught them.

(c)Resh Lakish condescended to allow the man who had learned four Sedarim of Mishnayos to carry him across the river - only on condition that he learn something from him (from Resh Lakish).

(d)He subsequently taught him - that even though min ha'Torah, a woman needs to wait seven clean days only when she has seen blood on three consecutive days, the women themselves undertook to wait seven clean days even after seeing no more than one drop the size of a mustard-seed.

(e)He cited that in the name of Rebbi Zeira.

13)

(a)Tana d'Bei Eliyahu interprets the Pasuk in Chavakuk "Halichos Olam Lo" - as if it had written "Halachos Olam Lo".

(b)He derives from there - that anyone who learns Halachos (Mishnah) every day is assured of a place in the World to Come.