1)

(a)Each of the two men put down two hundred Zuz, and whoever would succeed in making Hillel angry would take the lot.

(b)The one man set about winning his debt by deliberately disturbing him in the middle of his Shabbos preparations. He called him out, time after time - in a manner that was both rude and insulting - to ask him silly, unproductive questions.

(c)Hillel gave the reason for ...

1. ... the Babylonians' heads being misshapen - because they did not have expert midwives, and so were mishandled at childbirth.

2. ... the Tarmudians' eyes being round - because they lived in sandy areas, so Hash-m created them that way, so that that the sand should not settle in their eyes.

3. ... the Africans' feet being wide, he explained, because (Hash-m created them that way) so that they should not sink in the marshy areas in which they lived. Alternatively, they were flat-footed, as a result of their having to walk bare-footed.

2)

(a)Hillel's reaction to the better's rudeness - was to answer every question that the better asked him - quietly civilly.

(b)Ultimately, it was not Hillel who lost his patience, but the better - when, realizing that he had failed to make Hillel angry, and saw that he was about to lose four hundred Zuz.

(c)But it was Hillel who had the last word. When the better wished Hillel that there should not be many more like him, and explained to him why (possibly in a final attempt to provoke Hillel), Hillel told him to control himself, and that it was preferable for him to lose twice that amount, than that Hillel should lose his patience!

3)

(a)Hillel's unparalleled patience brought three people under the wings of the Shechinah. He ...

1. ... prevailed upon the first of the three Nochrim to accept the fact that there is an oral Torah - by first teaching the gentile the Aleph-Beis in the correct order. When, on the following day, he reversed the order, and the Nochri queried him about it, he replied that, since it was evident that he had no choice but to rely on him entirely for his knowledge of the written Torah, why did he not also rely on him equally with regard to the oral Torah?

2. ... taught the second Nochri 'de'Alach Sani, le'Chavrech Lo Sa'aved' (which is the basis of the entire Torah) whilst he (the Nochri) stood on one leg.

(b)The Pasuk 've'Ahavta le'Rei'acha Kamocha' comprises the whole Torah are: 1. because "Rei'acha" incorporates both all Jews and Hash-m (who is also called 'Rei'acha' - in the Pasuk in Mishlei "Rei'acha ve'Rei'a Avicha, Al Ta'azov"). 2. because the majority of Torah lies in the section of Torah that is 'Bein Adam la'Chavero'.

(c)The third Nochri was walking past a Beis ha'Medrash, when he overheard a Rebbe learning with his pupils the Parshah of the eight garments of the Kohen Gadol. After inquiring who wore them, he decided that that was just the job for him.

(d)Hillel convinced the Nochri that it was not worth going for - by advising him to first learn the tactics of the Kehunah Gedolah. He soon discovered that the penalty for the wrong person wearing them (even David ha'Melech) was death, and he concluded that, if David ha'Melech could not survive the Kehunah, then neither could he!

4)

(a)"Emunas" represents Seder Zera'im; "Itecha" - Mo'ed; "Chosen" - Nashim; "Yeshu'os" - Nezikin; "Chochmas" - Kodshim, and "Da'as" - Taharos.

(b)Seder Zera'im is called Zera'im, because separating one's tithes correctly is an act of faith. Tosfos explains that the very act of sowing one's seeds and planting, is an act of faith (see also Maharsha in Agados).

(c)The key point in the Pasuk is "Yir'as Hash-m Hi Otzaro"! which comes to teach us that the Fear of G-d is what Hash-m treasures more than anything else in the world.

5)

(a)The six questions which everyone will be asked by the Heavenly Court are:

1. Were you honest in your business dealings?

2. Did you fix times (daily) to study-Torah?

3. Did you attempt to have children?

4. Did you look forward to the ultimate redemption?

5. Did you study Torah in-depth?

6. Did you progress in your learning - to derive one thing from the other?

(b)Fixing times to learn Torah is imperative - because, due to the need to earn one's Parnasah, one may well get so caught up in this vital occupation, that one remains with no time at all to study Torah.

(c)A wheat-merchant is permitted to add as much as one Kav of Chumtun per Kur (one hundred and eighty Kabin = one Kur).

6)

(a)When Chazal compare someone who possesses Torah but no Yir'as Shamayim to a treasurer who has been handed the inner keys, but not the outer ones, they mean - that without Yir'as Shamayim, the Torah that one learns remains closed, because one has no access to it. It is only with Yir'as Shamayim that one's Torah becomes a meaningful part of oneself.

(b)And when they declare (referring to someone who learns, but has no Yir'as Shamayim) 'What a pity when someone builds a door to his non-existent house'!, they mean - that Yir'as Shamayim is the end, towards which Torah is the means. If Torah does not lead to Yir'as Shamayim, then it is as worthless as a door without a house.

(c)The Pasuk in Koheles "ve'ha'Elokim Asah, she'Yir'u mi'Lefanav" means - that, in fact, Yir'as Shamayim is the purpose of the creation.

7)

(a)When Rebbi Ya'akov bar Aba walked past Rebbi Simon and Rebbi Elazar, one of them wanted to stand up because he was a ben Torah, the other one, because he was a Yer'ei Shamayim. Rebbi Elazar must have been the proponent of the second reason - since he was the one to say that Hash-m cares for nothing in the world that He created other than Yir'as Shamayim. He learns this from two sources: 1. From the Pasuk in Eikev "ve'Ata Yisrael, Mah Hash-m Elokecha Sho'el Me'Imach Ki Im le'Yir'ah es Hash-m" etc.; and 2. from the Pasuk in Mishlei "va'Yomer la'Adam, Hein (meaning one - unique) Yir'as Hash-m Hi Chochmah".

8)

(a)We learn from ...

1. ... "Al Tirsha Harbeh" - that someone who has eaten garlic, should not continue to eat garlic, meaning that it is not because someone has performed one sin, that he may go on to perform another (negating the popular maxim 'One may as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb').

2. "Ki Ein Char*tzubos* le'Mosam ... " - that not only do the Resha'im not tremble (Chareidim), nor are they sad (va'Atzavim) at their day of death - to deter them from sinning, but their hearts are even wide (confident) like a banquet-hall (as the Pasuk concludes "u'Bari Ulam").

(b)The Pasuk (also in Tehilim) "Zeh Darkam Kesel Lamo - va'Achareihem be'Fihen Yirtzu Sela" supports the latter D'rashah - because it continues "Zeh Darkam" (they know full well that that is where they are going, yet) "Kesel Lamo" (their kidneys - the source of advice - are covered with Cheilev, which prevents them from admitting the truth) "ve'Acharehem be'Fihem Yirtzu Sela" (they do not forget their end, since they always talk about it and accept it - and still they do not relent).

9)

(a)Rebbi Yossi can hold like Rebbi Yehudah (who renders one Chayav for performing a Melachah she'Einah Tzerichah le'Gufah'), and the reason that he says Patur in all the cases except for when he wants to save the wick, is because he holds that someone who performs one of the negative acts i.e. demolishing, extinguishing, tearing and erasing (and which are listed in the Mishnah in K'lal Gadol, as Avos Melachos, provided one's intention is to then reconstruct - to re-light, to re-stitch or to re-write), is Chayav only if he intends to then re-do the positive Melachah in the same place as he performed the negative one, but not if he intends to re-do it in a different location. In our Mishnah, it is only if he wants to save the wick that fits into this category of Chiyuv, since it is the very same wick which he is extinguishing which he later wants to re-kindle; whereas, if he extinguishes the wick because he wants to save the lamp, or the oil,it is like demolishing in one place to build in another (since the wick that he is extinguishing and the lamp or the oil are intrinsically two different entities in two different locations, for which, according to Rebbi Yossi, he will be Patur.

(b)Rebbi Yossi holds that 'Soser Al M'nas Livnos she'Lo bi'Mekomo' is always Patur, on spite of the fact that, in the desert, they did so with the intention of setting it up in a different location - because in the desert, wherever they put up the Mishkan, it was considered like its place (so that the previous Soser was always done with the intention of re-building it in its place). This is because the Torah writes "Al Pi Hash-m Yachanu".

(c)According to Rebbi Yochanan, Rebbi Yossi holds like Rebbi Shimon (in whose opinion, Melachah she'Einah Tzerichah le'Gufah, Patur'). Nevertheless, he says, 'Chutz min ha'Pesilah ... ' - because we are speaking about a new wick that has not yet been singed, and since singing improves the wick for lighting, by extinguishing the lamp in order to save the wick, one creates a wick that is fit for use the next time, and which was not fit for use before Shabbos (for hich will be Chayav even according to Rebbi Shimon).

(d)This is proven from the Lashon of Rebbi Yossi in the Mishnah ('Mipnei she'Hu Osah Pecham' -rather than 'Mipnei she'Na'asis Pecham') - implying that he deliberately turned it into charcoal (by singing it), implying that it was not charcoal before (see Gilyon ha'Shas).

10)

(a)Women are prone to die at childbirth - for not taking due care with regard to the Mitzvos of Nidah, Chalah and Hadlakas ha'Ner.