(R. Zeirah citing Rav Chisda): [If a Mezuzah] was made like a triangle (wider at the top), the top line that has two lines below it must have [at least] three words. The bottom line must have two. I do not know about the middle;

R. Yirmeyah said that R. Zeirah said [the following law] in the name of Rav Chisda. R. Yonah and R. Yosah, both of them say that R. Zeirah said so in the name of Asiyan bar Nidvah. Talmidim say that R. Zeirah said so in the name of Rav Chananel;

If the ink came out between the holes [in the parchment], it is Pasul. How does he do [to fix it]? He licks [the parchment] with his tongue, and it seals [the holes].

(Beraisa #1): If one erred and omitted Hash-m's name, he suspends Hash-m's name (writes it between the lines).

(Beraisa #2): He erases the Chol (a Chulin word), writes Hash-m's name, and suspends the Chol.

(R. Zeirah citing Rav Chananel citing Rav): The Halachah follows the opinion that he erases the Chol, writes Hash-m's name, and suspends the Chol.

(R. Zeirah citing Rav Chananel citing Rav): If [he omitted] "Ani Hash-m Elokeichem", it is permitted [to suspend these words].

Question: Why is it permitted - because there are three words (it looks like a line of text. It does not look so sloppy), or because there is Chol (a secular word with Hash-m's name)?

These differ about "Kel Elokim Hash-m." If you will say that it is because they are three words, they are three words;

If you will say that it is because there is Chol (with Hash-m's name), there is no Chol.

Questions: [If he omitted] la'Shem, this requires [investigation]; ba'Shem, this requires [investigation].

(R. Yehoshua brei d'Rav Chananel): One must write the Hei below the leg of the Lamed (where it bends, when writing) "hala'Shem Tigmelu Zos" [so it can be read like a separate word] - to Hash-m, will you bestow like this?!

(Beraisa #1): A Mezuzah has an open [break between the Parshyos].

(Beraisa #2): It has a closed [break].

(Shmuel bar Shilas citing Rav): The Halachah follows the one who says that it is open, for this is not its place (the Parshiyos are not adjacent in the Torah).

If a line is open (there is blank parchment the width of nine letters) at its beginning, this is a closed [break]. If a line is open at its end, this is an open [break]. If it is open on both sides (at its end and at the beginning of the next line), it is closed.

If one erred and omitted a verse - if it occupies two or three lines, he fixes it and he may read in it. (He writes one line of the omission above [the two lines above and below the omitted verse], one line between them, and one below them. Alternatively, he erases three lines, and writes six small lines in place of them.) If it occupies four lines, he may not read in it.

Note: If letters in the small lines are half as tall as the others, they should be half as wide, and twice as many should fit on each line. If so, he should be able to fit the content of 12 lines in the six small lines! Perhaps the letters in the small lines are almost as tall as the others, but the spaces between them are very small, so six small lines and seven spaces fit in the area that contained three regular lines and four spaces. Also, since the spaces are small, some letters extend into the line above or below (e.g. Lamed and final Chaf), so sometimes the scribe makes wide letters, lest extensions of letters from above or below enter the middle of a letter or word.

(R. Zeirah citing Rav Chananel): The same applies to a tear. (If the parchment tore through three lines, he fixes it and he may read in it. If it enters four, he may not read in it.)

(Beraisa): A Sefer that has two or three mistakes in every Daf (parchment), he fixes it and he may read in it. If there are four, he may not read in it.

Contradiction (Beraisa): If a Sefer has 85 mistakes, like [the number of letters in] Parshas "va'Yhi bi'Nso'a ha'Aron", he fixes it and he may read in it.

Resolution (R. Shamai): This refers to a big Sefer (up to 85 mistakes, he fixes it). This refers to a small Sefer (up to three mistakes on every Daf, one may fix it.)

(R. Zeirah citing Rav Chananel): If he found one complete Daf, it saves the entire [Sefer].

Question: What is called complete - it does not have three (or even one or two) mistakes, or it does not have four?

Chagra the brother of R. Ba bar Binah gave a Sefer Torah to Rav Chananel to read in it. He said "this Sefer Torah needs clear thinking [to determine whether or not it must be buried]." In the end, he found one complete Daf, and saved the entire [Sefer].

Question: What is called complete - it does not have [any] mistakes, or it does not have four?

(R. Zeirah citing Rav Chananel): Sewing [all the parchments of Sefer Torah together] is a tradition from Sinai.

(R. Yirmeyah citing R. Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak): The knot of Tefilin is a tradition from Sinai.

The strap of R. Yirmeyah's Tefilin snapped. He asked R. Ba bar Mamal, who told him "u'Kshartam" - even the tying must be pure (and not through a broken strap sewn together).

The sinew [used to tie the broken] strap of R. Zeirah's Tefilin snapped. He asked Rav Huna and Rav Katina. They permitted him. It snapped a second time, and they permitted him, without a tradition [to permit - Pnei Moshe].

(R. Ba brei d'R. Chiyah citing R. Yochanan): This Halachah (tradition from Sinai) that he sews, he must leave above and below enough [not sewn] so it will not tear.

Question (R. Ba): If it is a Halachah, why do we need [the reason] lest it tear? If [there is concern] lest it tear, why do we need a Halachah?

It is a tradition from Sinai that we write on hides, and we write with ink, and we scratch [lines] with a reed [to help write straight], and [after rolling the parchments], we tie them with hair, and cover [the Parshiyos] with a cloth, and [if he wants to use for the hand Tefilin Parshiyos written in separate parchments,] we stick them together with glue, and we sew with sinews, and when he sews, it must be like this (with sinews);

He must leave between one line and the next like the thickness of a line. He must leave between one word and the next like the thickness of a letter. He must leave between one letter and the next any amount.

Between one Daf and another, he leaves a full Godel (thumb's width). If he made the end of a Daf the same as the beginning, it is Pasul. (ha'Gaon Rav C. Kanievsky, Shlita - he did not leave space between Dapim. Alei Tamar, citing Regel Yesharah - he repeated the last line of a Daf at the top of the next Daf.)

One must put a space above of two fingers, and three below;

Rebbi says, in Torah one must put a space above of three [fingers], and a Tefach below.

He must leave between one Sefer and another like [the thickness of] four lines, and in the 12 minor Nevi'im, three lines.

He must finish [a Chumash] in the middle of a Daf and begin in the middle [lest one cut them apart], and in the Navi he [may] finish at the bottom and begin at the top, and in the 12 minor Nevi'im it is forbidden.

We do not make a less than three columns on a parchment, and not more than eight. This is at the beginning [or the middle], but at the end, one may make any amount [even one Daf on the last parchment].

Chachamim did not give a Shi'ur for [the length and width] of parchments.

(People used to be able to divide hide into two layers. Gevil is a full hide.) One must write on Gevil on the side where the hair was, and on Klaf (the outer layer on the side of the hair) on its bottom (what faced the meat). If he deviated, it is Pasul.

One may not write half on hide (Gevil, i.e. a full hide - ha'Gaon Rav C. Kanievsky, Shlita) and half on Klaf, but he may write half on hide of a Tahor Behemah, and half on hide of a Tahor Chayah.

We write only on hide of a Tahor animal. What is the reason? It says "Lema'an Tihyeh Toras Hash-m b'Ficha" - from what you may put in your mouth.

Question: A Beraisa teaches that one may write on hide of Neveilos and Tereifos!

Answer: It must be a species that you may put in your mouth.

We make a pole for [rolling] a Sefer [of Nevi'im or Kesuvim] at its end. For a Sefer Torah, we make at its beginning and at its end. Therefore, a Sefer [of Nevi'im or Kesuvim] is rolled to its beginning, and a Sefer Torah to its middle.

(R. Shmuel citing R. Zeirah citing Rav Chiyah bar Yosef): Even if it is only two parchments [on one side, this is considered in the middle].

(R. Zeirah citing Shmuel bar Shilas citing Kahana): He must roll to where it is sewn (so if it tears, the stitching will tear, and not a parchment).

(R. Acha citing R. Shmuel bar Nachman): If a Sefer does not have a cloth on it, one turns it over on the writing, lest the writing be disgraced.

All the doubled letters in the alphabet, he writes the first at the beginning or in the middle of a word, and the latter at the end of a word. If he deviated, it is Pasul.

They said in the name of R. Masyah ben Charash that Menatzpach is a tradition from Sinai.

Question: What is Menatzpach?

Answer (R. Yirmeyah citing R. Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak): It is what Tzofin enacted for you.

Question: Who are these Tzofin?

Answer: A case occurred on a very rainy day, that Chachamim did not enter the Beis Midrash, and children entered. They said "let us make an assembly [for learning], lest [the Beis Midrash] be Batel;

They said "why is it written Mem Mem, Nun Nunu, Tzadi Tzadi, Pe Pe, Kaf Kaf? From the Ma'amar (utterance of Hash-m) to the Ma'amar [of Moshe to Yisrael, it was not changed], from the Ne'eman (faithful, i.e. Hash-m) to the Ne'eman (Moshe), from the Tzadik to the Tzadik, from Peh (mouth) to Peh, [the Luchos were given] from Kaf (Hash-m's hand) to [Moshe's] Kaf."

Chachamim identified [those children], and they all became great people. They say that R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshua were among them.

(R. Yirmeyah citing R. Chiya bar Ba, and R. Simon): The Torah of the early Chachamim, their Hei was not closed [above], and not their Mem. This implies that their Samech was closed. (Mar'eh ha'Panim - this explains why we did not say that Mem in the Luchos stood miraculously, according to the opinion that it was in Ashuris.)

(R. Simon and R. Shmuel bar Nachman): People of Yerushalayim used to write 'Yerushalayim' with a regular Mem at the end, and they were not particular, and similarly Tzafon and Teiman [with a regular Nun].

Chachamim changed 13 matters [when translating the Torah into Yevanis] for Tolemi ha'Melech. (The 70 or 72 Chachamim were placed in separate rooms, and were not told beforehand that they would be asked to translate it. It was a miracle that all made the same changes, which we now list);

They wrote "Elokim Bara Bereishis" [lest it sound as if something called Bereishis created Hash-m], "I (in place of We) will make man in the image and in a form (in place of in Our image and in Our form)", 'male with his openings (in place of "and female") He created them';

[They wrote] "and He finished on the sixth and ceased on the seventh" (in place of "He finished on the seventh"), "come and I (in place of We) will descend", "and Sarah laughed bi'Kroveha (amidst her relatives, to justify why Hash-m criticized her, and not Avraham, who also laughed), saying";

"For in their anger they killed an ox (in place of man, lest he say that they were murderers), and in their desire they uprooted a trough (in place of ox)", "Moshe took his wife and sons and placed them to ride on bearers of people (in place of donkey, which is not so dignified)", "the dwelling that Bnei Yisrael lived in Mitzrayim and all lands (these last three words they added, lest he say that the calculation was wrong) was 30 and 400 years",

"Es ha'Arneves" they changed to [the animal] of small legs (lest he thnk that they mock him), for Tolemi's mother was named Arnasa. "Not one coveted matter (in place of donkey) of theirs did I take" (lest he say that he took other matters);

"[The luminaries] that Hash-m your G-d apportioned to illuminate to all the nations under all of Shamayim" (they added "to illuminate", lest he say that the verse permits Nochrim to serve them). "That I did not command the nations to serve them" (these last five words they added, lest he say that Hash-m did not command to create them, and they came about by themselves).

All letters written with Hash-m's name before it, they are Chol, and they may be erased, e.g. la'Shem, ba'Shem, me'Hashem, ka'Shem, sheha'Shem;

Source: We find in the Tzitz that [the prefix] was separated [from Hash-m's name] - "Kodesh [and the letter] Lamed" was below, and Hash-m's name was above.

All letters written with Hash-m's name after it, they are Kodesh, and they may not be erased, e.g. Elokeinu, Elokeichem.

The following names [of Hash-m] may not be erased - one who writes Hash-m's name with four letters (Yud Kei Vov Kei, or just) Yud Kei, with Aleph Dalet, Kel, Elokim, Elokecha, Elokei, Elokeinu, Elokeichem, Shakai, Tzevakos, Echyeh Asher Echyeh;

If one wrote Aleph Dalet from His name (Aleph Dalet Nun Yud), Aleph Hei from Echyeh, Shin Dalet from Shakai, Tzadi Beis from Tzevakos, they may be erased;

One may erase letters [prefixes] subordinate to them - in lei'Lokim he may erase the Lamed, in la'Shem he may erase the Lamed.

If one wrote Yud Kei from the four letter name (Yud Kei Vov Kei), or Aleph Lamed from Elokim, one may not erase it. The general rule is, what is valid [for Hash-m's name by itself] elsewhere, may not be erased.

(Beraisa - R. Yosi): People of Beis Chagirah were skilled scribes in Yerushalayim. They would erase Tzevakos [when needed], for it is a Chol name elsewhere - "u'Fakdu Sarei Tzeva'os b'Rosh Ha'am."

All the Shemos written regarding Avraham Avinu are Kodesh, except for one, which is Chol - "va'Yhi Ka'asher His'u Osi Elohim mi'Beis Avi" (when idolators of my father's house forced me to wander - R. Bechaye);

Some say that even this is Kodesh - it means that if not for Elokim, people would have already made me stray.

All the Shemos written regarding Michah, even though they are written with Yud Kei, they are Chol, except for one, which is Kodesh - "Kol Yemei Heyos Beis Elohim b'Shilo."

All the Shemos written regarding Navos, even though they are written with Aleph Lamed, they are Kodesh - "Berach Navos Elokim va'Melech."

However, Chanun, Rachum, Erech Apayim, v'Rav Chesed, Melech Malchei ha'Melachim, Merumam, Gadol, Nora, Elyon, Adir, Tzadik, Yashar, Chasid, Tamim, Gibor, these are Chol.

The following names may not be divided - Ami'el, Amishadai, Tzuri'el, Tzurishadai Gamliel, Pedahtzur, Pedah'el.

The following names may be divided - Beis Kel, Beis Ohn, v'Charah Af, v'Charah Api, Poti Fera, Tzafnas Pane'ach.

Hallelukah - Rav and Shmuel argue about this. One says [that it is two words,] Hallelu Kah, and the other says [that it is one word,] Hallelukah;

The one who says that it is Hallelu Kah, it is divided, and it may not be erased. The one who says that it is Hallelukah, it may not be divided, and it may be erased. We do not know who said that, and who said this.

From this that Rav said "I heard from my dear [uncle and Rebbi, i.e. R. Chiya] "if one would give to me the Sefer Tehilim of R. Meir, I would erase every Hallelukah in it, for he did not intend to be Mekadesh it, this shows that [Rav] said Hallelukah. (R. Meir was expert, and knew that it is not Kadosh.)

[The following] words of Rabanan argue [with Rav and Shmuel]. R. Simon said in the name of R. Yehoshua ben Levi that 10 expressions of praise are said in Sefer Tehilim - Ishur, Nitzu'ach, Nigun, Shir, Mizor, Haskel, Todah, and Tefilah. The greatest of them is Hallelukah, for Hash-m's name and praise are included in it. (They hold that it is one word, and even so it may not be erased, for it has Hash-m's name.)

Question (R. Zeirah, to R. Avahu): What do we answer [to be Yotzei Hallel through someone else? It says in Sukah (38a) that one answers Hallelukah.]

Answer (R. Avahu): Bend your stature (bow, and then you need not answer - ha'Gaon Rav C. Kanievsky, Shlita).

Remark: R. Yonah answered this and like this (sometimes one word, and sometimes two words). R. Lazar answered this and like this.

Source (for R. Avahu's answer): A Beraisa teaches that if he heard and did not answer, he was Yotzei. If he answered and did not hear, he was not Yotzei;

(Rav citing R. Aba bar Chanah, and some say R. Aba bar Chanah citing Rav): [He was Yotzei Hallel if he heard and did not answer Hallelukah to every matter -] this is if he answered Roshei Perakim.

Question (R. Zeirah): What are Roshei Perakim?

Answer: It is [the first verse of each chapter, e.g.] "Hallelukah Hallelu Avdei Hash-m Hallelu Es Shem Hash-m."

Question (to R. Chiyah bar Ba): What is the source that if he heard and did not answer, he was Yotzei?

Answer (R. Chiyah bar Ba): We know this, for we see that great Rabanan stand in the Tzibur, and these (part of the Tzibur) say "Baruch ha'Ba" and [others are quiet, and then] these (the others) say "b'Shem", and both of them are Yotzei. (We infer that Rabanan condone this.)

(R. Hoshayah): One answers Amen [to a Zimun] even if he did not eat. He does not say "blessed is [He whose food] we ate" unless he ate.

(Beraisa): We do not answer an orphaned Amen (this will be explained), and not a truncated Amen (he does not enunciate the Nun properly).

Ben Azai says, one who answers an orphaned Amen, he said children will be orphans. If he answers a truncated Amen, his Neshamah will be truncated (he will die prematurely). If he answers a long Amen, he will live well, and a long time.

What is an orphaned Amen? Rav Huna said, it is one that [the listener] is obligated to bless, and he answers, and he did not hear what he answers to.

(Beraisa): If a Nochri blessed Hash-m, we answer Amen. We do not answer Amen to [a Brachah of] a Kusi (the Nochrim that Sancherv settled in place of the 10 tribes; they converted because lions were eating them).

(R. Tanchumah): If a Nochri blessed you, answer Amen, for it says "Baruch Tihyeh mi'Kol ha'Amim."

One Nochri encountered R. Yishmael, and blessed him. He responded "your matter (what you deserve for this) is already written" [in the Torah like it says below, so I need not return a Brachah, even though normally one must bless one who blesses him].

One [Nochri] encountered [R. Yishmael], and cursed him. He responded "your matter is already written in the Torah."

His Talmidim: Rebbi, what you said to this, you said to this! (How can you equate them?)

R. Yishmael (to his Talmidim): It is written "Orerecha Arur u'Mevarachecha Baruch." (The former is blessed, and the latter is cursed.)