1)

(a)If one kneaded mustard-seeds on Erev Shabbos, Rav rules that, when softening them with water or wine on Shabbos - one must use a K'li, which is considered a Shinuy, since it does not mix as well when using a K'li as when using one's hands.

(b)Shmuel argues that - this is the way that one prepares mustard-seeds for donkeys, and that doing it by hand is considered a Shinuy.

(c)Rebbi Elazar forbids either way - Rebbi Yochanan permits either way.

(d)Abaye and Rava ...

1. ... initially ruled not like Rebbi Yochanan.

2. ... ruled like Rebbi Yochanan - after they switched their opinions.

2)

(a)Abaye declined to eat the mustard which his nanny had prepared for him in the above way, as did Rav Chiya bar Ashi (a Talmid of Ze'iri) the mustard that Ze'iri's wife prepared for him, upon which she commented - that when she prepared the same thing for his Rebbe, he ate it.

(b)Rava bar Shva once saw Ravina softening the mustard-seeds on Shabbos - with the middle of a stick of garlic.

(c)Mar Zutra rejected all the previous rulings on the basis of a Kabalah that he had - permitting mixing mustard-seeds ...

1. ... that were kneaded on Erev Shabbos and that one then wanted to eat on Shabbos - using either the one's hands or a K'li. But ...

2. ... if one wanted to add honey, one would need to mix it by shaking the dish or using one's finger, but not a spoon (in the way that one usually beats an egg).

(d)The Kabalah also ruled that ...

1. ... cress that one ground in water on Erev Shabbos, and after adding oil or vinegar on Shabbos, one adds mint - one needs to beat it by shaking the dish, as we just explained, and it issues the same ruling with regard to ...

2. ... garlic that one ground before Shabbos, and then after adding beans or a bean-stew on Shabbos, one wants to add mint. There too - one would need to shake the dish whilst doing so, or stir it with one's finger.

(e)Abaye commented on the fact that they added mint to the cress (even though they added it to the garlic as well) - that mint enhances cress.

3)

(a)Our Mishnah permits the preparation of Anumlin - wine, honey and peppers on Shabbos, but not of Aluntis (vintage wine, clear water and Afarsemon).

(b)They permit Anumlin but forbid Aluntis - because whereas the former is a beverage, the latter is generally drunk to cool a person down after taking a bath (which is similar to a cure).

(c)When Mar Ukva gave Rav Yosef, who had followed him to the bathhouse, a cup of Aluntis to drink - he felt a surge of cold from the hair of his head to the soles of his feet.

(d)Had Mar Ukva offered him a second, he said - he was afraid that, had he survived, he would have had to forfeit some of his reward in the World to Come.

(e)Mar Ukva did not suffer from it - because he was used to it.

4)

(a)Chiltis is a sharp spice - which is used as a cure for Yukra de'Liba (a heavy feeling in the heart).

(b)One may ...

1. ... not soak it in warm water on Shabbos, but one may ...

2. ... place it in vinegar.

(c)The Tana ...

1. ... forbids soaking vetch (horse-beans) in water, rubbing them (to separate the refuse), or sifting the chaff from the straw on Shabbos, but he ...

2. ... permits placing them in a sieve or a basket, and even carrying the sieve to the feeding trough, and if the refuse or the chaff falls out, he is not liable for sifting (like Rebbi Shimon, who holds 'Davar she'Ein Miskaven, Mutar').

5)

(a)They asked what someone who soaks Chiltis in warm water on Shabbos is Chayav. Rav Ada Narsha'ah replied in front of Rav Yosef - that they are Chayav a Chatas.

(b)Abaye queried that however - based on the fact that someone who soaks a raw piece of meat in water is definitely not Chayav Chatas , so why should someone who soaks Chiltis be Chayav Chatas?

(c)Abaye therefore concludes - that one has transgressed an Isur de'Rabbanan (because of Uvdin de'Chol).

6)

(a)When Rebbi Yochanan asked Rebbi Yanai whether soaking Chiltis is permitted in cold water - he replied in the negative.

(b)The problem Rebbi Yochanan had with that was - that our Mishnah forbids soaking it in warm water, implying that in cold water it is permitted.

(c)Rebbi Yanai countered - that our Mishnah is the individual opinion of Rebbi Yossi (in a Beraisa), whereas the Rabbanan there do not differentiate between warm and cold water.

7)

(a)Mar Ukva advise Rav Acha bar Yosef to take the weight of three gold coins of Chiltis - because he suffered from Yukra de'Liba.

(b)On the third day (Shabbos), after taking it on Thursday and Friday, the latter went on Shabbos to the Beis-Hamedrash, to ask what he should do.

(c)The Talmidei-Chachamim there thought that he was asking about taking it on Shabbos. So they told him in the name of Tana de'Bei Rav Ada (or Tana de'Bei Mar bar Rav Ada) - that he was permitted to drink even as much as one or two Kabin with impunity.

(d)It transpired that Rav Chiya bar Avin had suffered from the same ailment, and that he too, took it first on Thursday and Friday. So he went to ask Rav Ada bar Ahavah about soaking the Chiltis on Shabbos. Rav ...

1. ... Ada bar Ahavah - did not know the solution, so he went to ask Rav ...

2. ... Huna who citing Rav, replied - that it was permitted.

(e)Rav Huna subsequently pointed out that this concession applied even according to the Rabbanan (who forbid soaking Chiltis in warm water) - because he had already taken it on Thursday and Friday, and it could be dangerous not to take it on Shabbos.

8)

(a)Rav Acha bar Yosef asked his nephew Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak, on whose shoulders he was leaning - due to his advanced age, to lead him in to Rav Safra.

(b)He asked him whether one is permitted to rub freshly laundered linen clothes on Shabbos or not.

(c)He thought that it might be forbidden - because maybe one's intention is to make them more white, in which case it would be Asur mi'de'Rabbanan because of Molid (creating something new).

(d)Rav Safra nevertheless ruled that it is permitted - because he held that one's main objective is to soften the clothes, which is permitted.

9)

(a)Rav Acha bar Yosef ...

1. ... declined to ask Rav Safra the same question regarding a freshly laundered Sudar (head-cloth) - because he had already asked Rav Huna about that, and he had duly forbidden it.

2. ... did not apply the answer he received from Rav Huna to his She'eilah regarding freshly laundered clothes - since the owner of a Sudar, who tends to be more particular, definitely intends to make it white, whereas the owner of other clothes might not, as we explained.

(b)They used to hang freshly-laundered clothes on a wooden rod to dry. Rav Chisda permits removing them from the rod, but not the rod (whose main function is to serve as firewood, and therefore Muktzeh) from them.

(c)Rava permits even removing the rod from the clothes - if the rod is a weaving rod (which is a Kli).

10)

(a)Rav Chisda considers a bunch of vegetables Muktzeh - if it is not fit for an animal to eat, but One may move it if it is.

(b)Rav Chiya bar Ashi Amar Rav consider fish hanging on a rope to dry, Muktzeh, but not meat - because whereas the latter is edible raw, the former is not.

(c)We reject Rav Ketina's statement that someone who stands on a bed on which a man and his wife usually sleep it is as if he was standing on the woman's stomach. Rav Ketina thought that it is - because it arouses thoughts in a person's mind.

(d)Rav Chisda advised a Talmid-Chacham who wants to buy bunches of vegetables or canes - to ignore the thickness of the bunches (which was more or less standard), and to go for the length, since the longer the bunch, the more one will obtain one's money's worth.

11)

(a)Rav Chisda advised a poor Talmid-Chacham to avoid eating raw vegetables - because they give one an appetite to eat more bread, which a poor Talmid-Chacham cannot afford.

(b)He himself did not eat raw vegetables even after he became wealthy - because, he figured, he would be better off eating fish or meat instead (since they are healthier.

(c)He also advised a poor Talmid-Chacham who only has a few scraps of bread to eat - to save them until he has sufficient for a proper meal. Otherwise, he will never be satisfied.

(d)Before Rav Chisda became wealthy, prior to reciting the Berachah of ha'Motzi - he would check that he had plenty of bread in the basket, and if he had, he would make the Motzi over bread on behalf of all the participants; if not, he would give the honor to someone else (because the Pasuk in Mishlei says "Tov Ayin Hu Yevorach" (meaning that the generous person should recite 'ha'Motzi' [see Agados Maharsha DH 'bar Bei Rav']).

12)

(a)Rav Chisda also said that someone who eats wheat bread, when he can have eaten barley bread, and Rav Papa someone who drinks wine, when he could have drunk beer - has transgressed the La'av (de'Rabbanan) of 'Bal Tashchis' ...

(b)... because then the barley bread and the beer (which are not as popular as wheat bread and wine) will go to waste.

(c)We conclude that it is not however - because 'Bal Tashchis de'Gufa Adif' (meaning that the person's needs come first, so he may eat whatever he prefers).

(d)They used to wash their hands with oil before Mayim Acharonim. Rav Chisda considers a good substitute for oil - water that has been standing for a long time and that has grown a thick algae.

13)

(a)Rav Chisda advised Talmidei-Chachamim to buy the neck of an animal because it contains a variety of tastes ... fat meat, lean meat and the nerves of the neck.

(b)Rav Chisda guaranteed a Talmid-Chacham who purchases the excellent flax that grows in the area of the River Aba - that clothes that are made from it will last a full year.

(c)Flax that grew in the area of the River Aba was called 'Kitunisa' - because it is the acronym of 'Kita Na'ah'- a fine group (since the person who wore clothes made from this flax, was worthy to be seated together with the elite).

(d)Clothes made from that flax require washing - only once every thirty days.

14)

(a)One should avoid sitting on a new, reed mat - because the wetness of the reeds will quickly wear out one's clothes.

(b)One should not give one's clothes to his hostess to wash - because she might find Keri on them, and come to despise him.

(c)Shmuel warned his daughters not to eat vegetables (such as garlic) at night-time - because they leave a foul smell in the mouth; and beer and dates, because they cause one to emit smells.

(d)He advised them ...

1. ... not to relieve themselves in the same area as their husbands - so that their husbands should not see them doing so, or even the location where they did, as this would create in him a feeling of disgust.

2. ... that, when someone knocked at the door - they should not ask 'Mano?' ('Who's there'?) in the masculine form, but 'Mani'? in the feminine).

15)

(a)He also advised them how to respond to their husbands' advances during intimacy. He instructed them to avail their breasts immediately - referring to them as a jewel, and the Makom Ervah only long afterwards - which he referred to as the furnace or the pit ...

(b)... in order to increase their husbands' desire and love for them.

(c)We establish our Mishnah not like Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov in a Beraisa, who forbids using a sieve altogether - since the Tana of our Mishnah permits placing horse-beans in it.

16)

(a)Rebbi Dosa permits ...

1. ... clearing out the feeding-trough from before a Petem (an ox that one is fattening) on Shabbos.

2. ... sweeping the straw to the sides - Why is this necessary, so that the dust and dirt should not mix with the straw and render it inedible for the ox.

(b)The Chachamim - forbidden it.

(c)The Mishnah then permits taking food from in front of one animal on Shabbos to give to another.

17)

(a)We ask whether the Rabbanan disagree with Rebbi Dosa's first statement ('Gorfin') or his second one ('Mesalkin') - or even with both.

(b)They might dispute his ...

1. ... first statement - because sometimes the trough is dug in the ground and we are afraid that the owner may go on to fill in the holes in the ground.

2. ... second statement - because some of the straw is most likely to be Muktzeh, once it becomes disgusting after the animal treads on it.

(c)We resolve the She'eilah from a Beraisa - which specifically states that the Rabbanan forbid both.

18)

(a)Rav Chisda establishes the Machlokes between Rebbi Dosa and the Rabbanan by a feeding-trough that is dug in the ground - but by one which is made into a K'li, they will both agree that it is permitted to sweep the feeding-trough.

(b)We reject Rav Chisda's statement - on the grounds that Rebbi Dosa would be most unlikely to permit sweeping a feeding-trough in the ground, because of the possibility of filling in holes (a fear with which everybody agrees).

(c)So we amend it - by establishing the Machlokes by a feeding-trough that is made into a vessel, but by one that is dug in the ground, even Rebbi Dosa will concede that it is forbidden.

19)

(a)With regard to the Mishnah's concession to take food from in front of one animal and place it in front of another one, one Beraisa confines this to taking from in front of an animal with 'a good mouth and placing it in front of one with 'a bad mouth'. A second Beraisa - says the reverse.

(b)Abaye explains - that the two Beraisos do not in fact, argue, and that they both permit taking food from in front of a donkey and placing it in front of a cow ...

(c)... but not vice-versa.

(d)The first Beraisa refers to a donkey as an animal with ...

1. ... 'a good mouth' and a cow as one with 'a bad mouth' - since the latter drips saliva from its mouth (rendering the food that it leaves uneaten inedible for other animals to eat), whereas the former does not.

2. ... 'a bad mouth' and a cow as one with 'a good mouth' - because the former does not inspect what it eats (imbibing even the thorns in its food) whereas the latter does.