[40a - 44 lines; 40b - 5 lines]
1a)[line 4]שכיבדוSHE'KIBDU- that they swept
b)[line 5]וריבצוV'RIBTZU- and they sprinkled the floor with water in order to make the dust settle
2)[line 15]יומא קדמאה דחלישYOMA KADMA'A D'CHALISH- on the first day that he would become sick
3)[line 15]לא תיגלו לאינישLO SIGLU L'INISH- do not reveal my sickness to any person
4)[line 16]דלא לתרע מזליהD'LO LISRA MAZALEI- so that his (i.e. my) fortune should not go bad
5)[line 17]פוקו ואכריזו בשוקאPUKU V'ACHRIZU B'SHUKA- go out and announce in the marketplace [that Rava is sick]
6)[line 18]דסני ליD'SANI LI- who hates me
7)[line 18]ליחדי ליLE'CHEDEI LI- should be happy about me (and thereby I will incur the mercy of Heaven)
8)[line 19]ודרחים ליUD'RACHIM LI- and anyone who loves me
9)[line 21]"אשרי משכיל אל דל ביום רעה ימלטהו ה'""ASHREI MASKIL EL DAL, B'YOM RA'AH YEMALTEHU HASH-M."- "Praiseworthy is he who takes the needy into account, on the day of evil HaSh-m will deliver him." (Tehilim 41:2)
10)[line 23]"... מדלה יבצעני""... MI'DALAH YEVATZ'ENI..."- "[(I thought that) My dwelling is plucked up, and removed from me as a shepherd's tent; that I had shortened my life like a weaver;] He (HaSh-m) cuts me off through this sickness; [from day to night You make an end of me.]" (Yeshayah 38:12)
11)[line 24]"ויאמר לו מדוע אתה ככה דל בן המלך בבקר בבקר הלוא תגיד לי ויאמר לא אמנון את תמר אחות אבשלום אחי אני אהב" -"VA'YOMER LO, 'MADU'A ATAH KACHAH DAL BEN HA'MELECH BA'BOKER BA'BOKER? HA'LO TAGEID LI?' VA'YOMER LO AMNON, 'ES TAMAR ACHOS AVSHALOM ACHI ANI OHEV.'" - "And he (Amnon) said to him (Yonadav), 'Why do you look so poorly each morning, Prince? Won't you tell me?' And Amnon said to him, 'I have fallen in love with Tamar, Avshalom's sister.'" (Shmuel II 13:4). (AMNON AND TAMAR)
See Background to Megilah 25:13.
12)[line 25]"כל פעל ה' למענהו וגם רשע ליום רעה""KOL PA'AL HASH-M LA'MA'ANEIHU, V'GAM RASHA L'YOM RA'AH."- "HaSh-m has made all things for Himself (for His praise); even the wicked for the day of evil." (Mishlei 16:4)
13)[line 28]"ה' ישמרהו ויחייהו ואושר בארץ...""HASH-M YISHMEREHU VI'YECHAYEHU, V'USHAR BA'ARETZ..."- "HaSh-m will preserve him, and keep him alive; he is called happy on earth; and You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies." (Tehilim 41:3)
14)[line 31]כנעמן שריפו את צרעתוK'NA'AMAN SHE'RIPU ES TZARATO- like [the friends] of Na'aman who cured his Tzara'as [through their good advice] (see Melachim II 5:1-19, especially verse 13)
15)[line 31]כרחבעם שחילקו את מלכותוK'RECHAVAM, SHE'CHILKU ES MALCHUSO- like [the friends of] Rechavam, who divided his kingdom. Upon the death of Shlomo ha'Melech, Rechavam, his son, took the counsel of his young advisors to increase the high tax and hard labor that Shlomo had instituted (Melachim I 12:14). As a result, ten tribes rebelled under the leadership of Yeravam ben Nevat of the tribe of Efrayim, and made him their king, as recorded in Melachim I 11:26-12:20. In order to prevent the people of the ten tribes of Israel from returning to the leadership of the Davidic kings (whose region of sovereignty became subsequently known as the Kingdom of Yehudah), Yeravam outlawed the Mitzvah of Aliyah l'Regel (traveling to the Beis ha'Mikdash for Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukos). Instead, he set up two golden calves (ibid. I 12:28), one in Beis El and one in Dan, and proclaimed that they should be served.
16)[line 34]"ויבאו רחבעם ירושלים ויקהל את כל בית יהודה ואת שבט בנימן מאה ושמונים אלף בחור עשה מלחמה להלחם עם בית ישראל להשיב את המלוכה לרחבעם בן שלמה""VA'YAVO RECHAVAM YERUSHALAYIM, VA'YAKHEL ES KOL BEIS YEHUDAH V'ES SHEVET BINYAMIN, ME'AH U'SHEMONIM ELEF BACHUR, OSEH MILCHAMAH, L'HILACHEM IM BEIS YISRAEL, L'HASHIV ES HA'MELUCHAH LI'RECHAVAM BEN SHLOMO." - "And Rechavam came to Yerushalayim, and he gathered the whole house of Yehudah and the tribe of Binyamin, 180,000 young men, all men of war, to fight with the House of Yisrael, to return the kingship to Rechavam, the son of Shlomo." (Melachim I 12:21) (RECHAVAM PREPARES FOR WAR AGAINST YISRAEL)
(a)When Yeravam ben Nevat led a delegation to the newly-appointed King Rechavam with a request to ease the heavy burden of taxes placed on them by his father Shlomo, he asked for three days to consider their request. Declining to accept the advice of the elders, who advised him to accede to the request of the people who would respond by serving him faithfully all his days, he turned to the group of youths with whom he had grown-up. They advised him to increase the taxes and to treat the people with a heavy hand.
(b)Rechavam followed the advice of his young friends. When the delegation returned after three days, he told them bluntly that if his father had taxed them heavily, he would increase their load, and if his father had "chastised them with sticks, he would chastise them with scorpions." If Rechavam ignored the people's request, the verse testifies, it was by Divine decree, a means to crown Yeravam ben Nevat king over the ten tribes, as the prophet Achiyah ha'Shiloni had promised him.
(c)Indeed, following the King's harsh response to their request, the ten tribes broke away from the Kingdom of Yehudah. Meanwhile, Rechavam, in an attempt to force his hand, sent his chief tax-collector, Adoram, to collect taxes from the people. The people resented it, however, and stoned him to death. Rechavam, for his part, had to flee for his life to Yerushalayim. Following that episode, the ten tribes crowned Yeravam king, leaving Rechavam with only Yehudah and Binyamin. That was when Rechavam gathered an army to reclaim the kingdom from Yeravam ben Nevat.
(d)No battle took place, however, because HaSh-m sent a Navi (Shemayah Ish ha'Elokim) with instructions that Rechavam should send his soldiers home, since what had happened was by Divine decree and was irreversible. Rechavam obeyed and the army disbanded.
17)[line 35]לא ליסעוד איניש קציראLO LIS'OD INISH KETZIRA- one should not visit a sick person
18)[line 35]בתלת שעי קדמייתאBI'TELAS SHA'EI KADMAISA- during the first three hours of the day
19)[line 36]דלא ליסח דעתיה מן רחמיD 'LO LEISACH DA'ATEI MIN RACHAMEI- so that he should not take his mind off prayer (i.e. give up hope)
20)[line 37]רווחא דעתיהRAVCHA DA'ATEI- he feels better [such that one might think that he has recovered]
21)[line 37]תקיף חולשיהTAKIF CHULSHEI- his sickness is so intense [that one might think that he has no hope]
22)[line 38]זן את החולהZAN ES HA'CHOLEH- nourishes a sick person
23)[line 38]"ה' יסעדנו על ערש דוי""HASH-M YIS'ADENU AL ERES DEVAI..."- "HaSh-m will fortify him on the bed of his misery..." (Tehilim 41:4)
24)[line 43]מטרא במערבא סהדא רבה פרתMITRA B'MA'ARAVA, SAHADA RABAH PERAS- the rise of the Euphrates is testimony that rain has fallen in the vicinity of Eretz Yisrael
25)[line 43]נהרא מכיפיה מתבריךNAHARA MI'KIFEI MISBARICH- A river's own underground source (lit. its rock) is what causes its water level to periodically increase (and not an influx of rainwater)
26)[last line]בזוחליןZOCHALIN (NOTFIN / ZOCHALIN)
(a)Rainwater (Notfin) is Metaher (purifies) if it is collected in a cavity, or "b'Ashboren," a fact that is learned from Vayikra 11:36, where the verse states that a "Mikveh Mayim" (an accumulation of water) purifies. While the rainwater is flowing (down a slope, for example,) it cannot be Metaher.
(b)Spring water is Metaher both while it is flowing (Zochalin) as in a river, and when it is collected in a cavity.
(c)Avuha d'Shmuel felt that during the month of Nisan the rivers swell from an influx of rainwater and melting snow. The rivers may contain a majority of Notfin, making them invalid for Taharah while flowing. He therefore constructed Mikva'os in which to immerse.
40b----------------------------------------40b
27)[line 2]מקוואותMIKVA'OS- pools of rainwater
28)[line 3]ומפציU'MAFTZEI- and mats
29)[last line]"ואתה בן אדם עשה לך כלי גולה וגלה יומם לעיניהם וגלית ממקומך אל מקום אחר לעיניהם אולי יראו כי בית מרי המה""V'ATAH BEN ADAM, ASEH LECHA KLEI GOLAH, U'GELAH YOMAM L'EINEIHEM, V'GALISA MI'MEKOMCHA EL MAKOM ACHER L'EINEIHEM. ULAI YIR'U KI BEIS MERI HEMAH." - "And you, son of man, make for yourself vessels of exile, and exile yourself for one day, by going into exile from your place to another place, before their eyes. Perhaps they will realize that they are rebels." (Yechezkel 12:3) (PREPARING FOR GALUS)
(a)Yechezkel was instructed to do these things to impress upon the inhabitants of Yerushalayim (who refused to believe that they were destined to go into exile) that the Galus would indeed take place, just as all the signs had predicted.
(b)He was told to prepare vessels of exile (comprising a flask for drawing water and for use as a cushion, a dish in which to eat and drink, and a carpet on which to sit and to sleep, says the Midrash). According to Rashi, they included a drinking vessel and a piece of earthenware in which to knead dough. The verse relates how HaSh-m ordered him to take out these vessels both in the day of his exile and in the night, in the way that one would transport them when going into exile (in a sack over his shoulders and with a stick in his hand (Radak). All this he was to do in front of the people.
(c)The message to the people was that they should emulate Yechezkel and make for themselves vessels, just as Yechezkel had done, and to take them with them on their journey to exile. They did not listen. Consequently, when they arrived in Bavel, they had to dig holes in the ground in which to knead their dough. As a result, their bread was full of earth and pebbles, on which they subsequently broke their teeth, as the verse says in Eichah (3:16), "He ground my teeth on gravel."