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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI

prepared by Rabbi Eliezer Chrysler
Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Jerusalem

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Avodah Zarah 11

AVODAH ZARAH 11 - dedicated by Reb Gedalya Weinberger of Brooklyn, N.Y. in memory of his father, Reb Chaim Tzvi ben Reb Shlomo Weinberger. Reb Chaim Tzvi, who miraculously survived the holocaust, raised his children with an intense dedication to the Torah and Gedolei Torah.

1)

(a) Why did the Emperor (Hadrian) send a group of soldiers after Unkelus bar K'lonimus?

(b) What happened to them?

(c) How did the Emperor attempt to prevent this from happening with the second group?

(d) As they were leading him back to Rome, Unkelus asked them that if lower ranking officers would carry a torch for a higher ranking officers, and the Hegmon for the Kuma, would the Kuma carry a torch for the Hegmon?
What did he mean to ask them?

2)
(a) What did the soldiers reply to Unkelus' question?

(b) What does all this have to do with the Pasuk in Beshalach "va'Hashem Holech Lifneihem Yomam ... "?

(c) What happened next?

(d) The third group of soldiers was given strict instructions not to speak to Unkelus at all.
How did he get them to question him?

(e) What did he reply? Which Pasuk from Tehilim did he quote that had the desired effect?

3)
(a) What did Hadrian do next?

(b) How does Rav Yehudah Amar Rav interpret the Pasuk in Toldos "Sh'nei Goyim be'Vitnech" Who were the two persons concerned?

(c) What was never absent from their table, neither in summer nor in winter?

(d) If radishes cut the food, what do ...

  1. ... lettuces do to it?
  2. ... cucumbers do to the stomach?
4)
(a) Why are cucumbers called 'Kishu'in'?

(b) But did Rav Yehudah Amar Rav not just say that they are healthy?

5)
(a) According to the Chachamim, the day of the king's death is only considered a festival if they burned the king's vessels and utensils when he died.
What can we extrapolate from there with regard to Rebbi Meir?

(b) What do we initially think is the basis of their Machlokes?

(c) We refute this suggestion however, on the basis of a Beraisa.
What does the Beraisa say about burning a king's belongings when he dies? How does this clash with our previous suggestion?

(d) If neither opinion considers burning the king's belongings a 'Chok la'Avodah-Zarah', then what is the basis of their Machlokes? Why do the Chachamim differentiate between where they do burn the king's belongings and where they don't?

6)
(a) The Beraisa derives the concession to burn the king's belongings from a Pasuk in Yechezkel.
In connection with which King does the Navi write "be'Shalom Tamus u've'Misrefos Avosecha ha'Melachim ... "?

(b) Who else's property, besides a king, does one burn when he dies?

(c) What does the Beraisa include in the list of things that one burns?

7)
(a) Who burned seventy Manah Tzuri (560 Manah Medinah) when Raban Gamliel died?

(b) How do we reconcile this with the Beraisa that we just quoted, which restricts the burning to the Nasi's bed and his utensils?

(c) How does the Beraisa 'Okrin al ha'Melachim ve'Ein Bo Mishum Darkei ha'Emori' appear to clash with the previous Beraisa?

(d) To reconcile the two Beraisos, by which animal does Rav Papa establish this latter one?

8)
(a) What does another Beraisa say regarding the corollary between Ikur and Tereifus?

(b) How does one perform Ikur without rendering the animal a Tereifah?

(c) Why does the Beraisa prohibit Ikur that renders the animal T'reifah?

(d) Bearing in mind that Tereifus is confined to Kasher animals, what is the problem with this?

(e) To reconcile these two Beraisos, by which animal does Rav Papa establish this latter Beraisa?

Answers to questions

11b---------------------------------------11b

9)

(a) What are the two possible ways of explaining our Mishnah 'Yom Tiglachas Zekano *u'B'luriso'*?

(b) Based on a Beraisa, how do we resolve the She'eilah (in a rather surprising way)?

(c) Rav Yehudah Amar Shmuel cites another festival that took place every seventy years.
Whom did the lame man and the man who rode on his back (respectively) represent? What did they symbolize?

(d) What clothes would the latter be wearing and what would they place on his head?

10)
(a) They would place a chain weighing two hundred Zuz around his neck, stud his legs with precious stones, and make a public announcement.
What is the meaning of ...
  1. ... 'Sach Kiri P'laster'!?
  2. ... 'Achuhah de'Marana Zaifna!'?
(b) What did they mean when they continued ...
  1. ... 'de'Chami Chami, u'de'Lo Chami, Lo Chami'?
  2. ... 'Mai Ahanu le'Rama'ah be'Ram'useih, u'le'Zaifna be'Zaifnuseih'?
(c) What was their final declaration?

(d) What does Rav Ashi comment on 'Achuhah de'Marana Zaifna'! What should they rather have said?

(e) Why did the Tana of our Mishnah omit this festival from his list?

11)
(a) The festivals in our Mishnah are those of the Romans.
The festivals of which other two nations does our Sugya list?

(b) What does Rav Chanan bar Rav Chisda (or Rav Chanan bar Rava Amar Rav) say about 'Beis-Beil in Bavel, Beis-Nevo in Kursi, Tar'asa in Mefeg, Tz'rifa in Ashkelon and Nashra in Arabia'? What do they all have in common?

(c) When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael, he added Yerid in Ein-Bechi and Nidbechah (or Nisbera) in Acco.
What did Rav Dimi from Neherda'a say about these two?

(d) How did Rav Chisda explain the significance of the above fixed Batei-Akum to his son Rav Chanan?

12)
(a) What does Shmuel say about doing business with Nochrim on the Nochri festivals during the period of Galus?

(b) Why is that?

(c) What did Rav Yehudah rule with regard to Rav B'runa (or Rav Kahana or Rav Nachman) buying a donkey, and Rav Z'vid, wheat, on the actual day of the festival of the Ta'ya? What are the 'Ta'ya'?

(d) How do we reconcile this with Shmuel, who forbade doing business with Nochrim on the actual day of their festival?

13)
(a) What does our Mishnah say about doing business with the Nochrim who live outside the town, during the festival that townspeople celebrate, and vice-versa?

(b) Why is that?

(c) And what does the Tana say about traveling to a town at the time of the festival? Under which circumstances is it permitted?

(d) Resh Lakish in the name of Rebbi Chanina defined 'Chutzah Lah' in our Mishnah as the butchery of Azah.
What is the significance of that statement?

Answers to questions

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