1)

(a)The punishment for Inuy ha'Din, Ivus ha'Din and Kilkul ha'Din, is the enemy's sword, marauders, pestilence, drought and hunger in various forms.'Inuy ha'Din' - means when the Beis-Din delay with issuing a ruling, in spite of the fact that they have reached their decision; 'Ivus ha'Din' - when they twist the Din deliberately (due to bribery or for other reasons); 'Kilkul ha'Din' - when they twist it due to a lack of care and deliberation.

(b)For Shevu'as Shav and Shevu'as Sheker, Chilul Hash-m and Chilul Shabbos, Yisrael suffer a drop in numbers of the flocks and the herds, and of people, and the streets becoming desolate. A Shevu'as Shav - is an oath which is clearly a false one; e.g. that a man is a woman; whereas a Shevu'as Sheker - is one which is not so obvious, and which is made with the express intention of tricking people into believing what he has sworn.

(c)The punishment for rampant murder - is the destruction of the Beis ha'Mikdash and the departure of the Shechinah from Yisrael.

(d)And the punishment for idolatry, adultery and for not keeping the laws of Shemitah and Yovel - is Galus, and Eretz Yisrael becoming inhabited by other nations.

2)

(a)For the punishment of increased Tzaros, the young men dying and their widows crying out in vain - Yisrael would have been guilty of unclean speech.

(b)"Od Yado Netuyah" means - that Hash-m will punish even those who discuss why a Kalah goes under the Chupah, in spite of the fact that everyone knows why. (From now on, it appears, we are discussing personal sins, not communal ones.)

(c)We learn from the Pasuk ...

1. ... "Shuchah Amukah Pi Zarus - that one deepens Gehinom for individuals who use unclean speech,

2. ... and from that of "Ze'om Hash-m Yipol Sham" - that not only those who speak it will end up there, but also those who listen to them.

3)

(a)'ha'Memarek Atzmo la'Aveirah' - refers to someone who actually stops from his other activities to go and sin. (He incites his Yeitzer ha'Ra, instead of his Yeitzer ha'Ra inciting him.)

(b)Someone who is guilty of this - will find wounds and sores breaking out all over his body.

(c)When the Beraisa, describing the three kinds of Hadrokun (dropsy) states ...

1. ... 'Shel Aveirah, Avah', it means that - when it is the result of sin (i.e. adultery), it appears in the form of the flesh thickening;

2. ... 've'Shel Ra'av, Tafu'ach' - when it is the result of starvation, it causes the skin to swell, with water filling the space between the flesh and the skin - giving it a glassy appearance.

3. ... 've'Shel Keshafim, Dak' - when it is the result of magic spell, it causes the flesh to become thin and weak-looking.

(d)There is a fourth kind, which results from not relieving oneself when the need arises. Despite the fact that Rava warned of this, he himself contracted it - because when he gave a Shiur, he was often detained for long periods by his Talmidim, and was unable to leave, even when he needed to relieve himself.

4)

(a)There are four signs: Hadrokun (dropsy) is a sign of adultery.

1. Jaundice - is the result of Sin'as Chinam.

2. ... poverty in Torah - of pride.

3. ... Askara (croup) - of failing to give one's Ma'asros.

5)

(a)Askara begins from the stomach and ends in the mouth according to ...

1. ... Rebbi Yehudah, because Lashon ha'Ra begins in the area of the stomach (the kidneys which advise the heart what to do) and ends in the mouth.

2. ... Rebbi Elazar b'Rebbi Yossi, because, after chewing the un'Ma'asered crops in one's mouth, it goes down to the stomach.

3. ... Rebbi Shimon, for the same reason as Rebbi Yehudah.

(b)We know that Misah bi'Yedei Shamayim is the punishment for ...

1. ... Lashon ha'Ra, from the Pasuk in Tehilim "Meloshni Re'ehu ba'Seser, Oso Lo Atzmis" - which is a Lashon of destruction.

2. ... Bitul Torah, from "Lema'an Yirbu Yemeichem" etc., which refers, not only to Mezuzah, which is written in the previous Pasuk, but also to the Pasuk before, which mentions Talmud-Torah (for which we can infer that for contravening it, oe's days are cut short).

(c)Even though Askarah is the punishment for Bitul Torah, it is contractable by ...

1. ... women because they disturb their husbands when they are learning Torah (just as they are rewarded for assisting their husbands in their Torah-study - Berachos 17a, so too, will they be punished for disturbing them).

2. ... Nochrim, too, will contract Askarah for disturbing Jews from their Torah-study.

3. ... Children will contract Askarah for the same reason as Nochrim and women.

4. ... Tinokos Shel Beis Rabban, because when there are no Tzadikim in that generation (for Hash-m to remove, to atone for the generation), then he takes the 'Tinokos Shel Beis Rabban'.

(d)When Rebbi Eliezer b'Rebbi Yossi in the earlier Beraisa, ascribed Askarah to Lashon ha'Ra, he meant also to Lashon ha'Ra - besides to eating Tevel.

6)

(a)Rebbi Yehudah was appointed by the Romans to be the Jews' chief spokesman, for praising the Romans' achievements in setting up market-places, and in building bridges and bath-houses.

(b)Rebbi Yossi was silent, and Rebbi Shimon objected, on the grounds that their intentions were totally selfish - not to help the Jews to study Torah (which seems to have been the gist of Rebbi Yehudah's praise - see Avodah Zarah 2b): they set up market-places for their prostitutes, bath-houses for their own beautification and bridges for the purpose of bringing in taxes, he claimed.

(c)The Romans discovered what was said at that meeting, through Yehudah ben Geirim, who told his disciples - or his parents - and from them, word reached the Romans.

(d)The Romans decreed - that Rebbi Yossi, who was silent, must go into exile, and Rebbi Shimon, who condemned them, must die.

7)

(a)What made Rebbi Shimon decide to move his and his son, Rebbi Elazar's hiding-place, from the Beis Hamedrash to the cave - was the fear that the Romans might torture his wife (who initially brought them food to the Beis-Hamedrash) and force her to divulge where they were hiding. That is when they moved to the cave.

(b)They survived for twelve years by means of a carab-tree and a water-fountain that suddenly appeared - miraculously - at the entrance of the cave.

(c)Early in the morning, when they would begin to learn, they would remove their clothes, and study Torah together until night-time, buried up to their necks in the sand - explaining how their clothes were preserved.

(d)They discovered that the decree had been rescinded - when Eliyahu appeared at the entrance of the cave, and announced 'Who will inform bar Yochai that the Emperor has died and the decree has been nullified'?

8)

(a)Rebbi Shimon and his son had to return to the cave - because, unable to grasp how there could be Jews not studying Torah (See Berachos 35b), they began to burn up the places at which they looked. So Hash-m ordered them back to their cave.

(b)They left - when, after they decided that they had suffered the equivalent of the punishment of Gehinom (twelve months), a Heavenly voice concurred with them and permitted them to leave.

(c)Rebbi Shimon told his son (who, in his anguish (at seeing people not studying Torah), could not restrain himself from burning up Hash-m's world) - that the world would survive, even if they were the only two people who would learn full-time.

(d)They were finally pacified - when they saw that old man running on Erev Shabbos at dusk, holding two myrtle-twigs, one corresponding to "Zachor" and one to "Shamor" - li'Ch'vod Shabbos ( perhaps to smell, in order to make up the hundred Berachos). It was when they realized the extent to which Yisrael endeared the Mitzvos, that their minds were set at rest.

9)

(a)Rebbi Pinchas ben Yair (Rebbi Shimon's son-in-law) cried in anguish - when he saw the cracks in his father-in-law's skin .

(b)Rebbi Shimon replied that, on the contrary, it was wonderful that Rebbi Pinchas saw him like that, because that is how he grew to attain a unique level in Torah-knowledge.

(c)Before Rebbi Shimon fled to the cave, Rebbi Pinchas ben Ya'ir would provide him with twenty-four answers to every Kashya that he asked. But now, their roles became reversed - it was Rebbi Shimon who gave Rebbi Pinchas twenty-four answers to every question that Rebbi Pinchas asked him.

10)

(a)Rebbi Shimon maintained - that since he had experienced a miracle, he would emulate Ya'akov, who made a Tikun after he escaped unscathed from his encounter with Eisav.

(b)According to Rav, Ya'akov introduced coins to Shechem; according to Shmuel, he initiated market-places. Rebbi Yochanan- says it was bath-houses.

(c)Chazal extrapolate that Ya'akov initiated something - either from the word "va'Yichan es Penei ha'Ir", which they Darshen from a Lashon 'Chen' (meaning that he graced the town) or from "va'Yiken es Chelkas ha'Sadeh", from a Lashon of 'Tikun' (rectification).

(d)Ya'akov arrived in Shechem 'Shalem be'Gufo, Shalem be'Mamono, Shalem be'Toraso' (the acronym of Shalem - She'ero (his body) Limudo and Mamono) See Agados Maharsha.

11)

(a)Rebbi Shimon settled the problem of a field in which there was a Safek grave, and which was causing the Kohanim, whose only alternative route to the main shopping area was a long way round, a big problem.

(b)So he set about clarifying which part of the field was Tamei and which part Tahor. Through the testimony of an old man (who declared that Rebbi Yochanan ben Zakai had sown Turmus- beans that were Terumah in a certain section of that field and had cut them), he also scattered Turmus-bean seeds (it is not clear whether or not, they were also Terumah) at that spot and declared it Tahor. Then he scattered Turmus beans throughout the remainder of the field. A miracle occured, and wherever there was a grave, the earth became soft, and wherever there was not, it remained hard. He then marked all the soft spots as graves, thereby enabling the Kohanim to cross the field without becoming Tamei.

(c)He told the old man who was protesting that he had declared a graveyard Tahor, since he had been part of the group that set out to clarify the Safek - from the start, it was wrong of him to raise objections now, after they had achieved their goal. And he told him that even prositutes tended to make up each others' hair ('honor among thieves'), how much more so, Talmidei-Chachamim.

(d)He then looked at him intently, and he turned into a pile of bones. When he saw Yehudah ben Gerim (who could not keep his mouth shut, and who was therefore responsible for the Romans' discovery of what was said at the orginal meeting and their subsequent decrees), he gave him the same treatment.