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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI

prepared by Rabbi Eliezer Chrysler
Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Jerusalem

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Bava Basra 147

1)

(a) The Beraisa discusses Reuven, a very sick man, who declares that he thought that he had a son or that his wife was pregnant, but now that this is not the case, he gives all his property to Shimon.
What did he mean by his declaration? What was the basis of his mistake?

(b) What does the Tana rule in the event that we subsequently discover that his son is still alive or that his wife is indeed pregnant?

(c) On what grounds do we refute the suggestion that the author of the Beraisa is Rebbi Shimon ben Menasya (of the previous Beraisa)?

(d) But is this not obvious? What made us even try to establish the Beraisa like Rebbi Shimon ben Menasya?

2)
(a) What does Rebbi Zeira Amar Rav learn from "*ve'Ha'avartem* es Nachalaso le'Vito" (which is superfluous)?

(b) In which two ways can this be explained?

(c) Why can the Limud not be from ...

  1. ... the word "es"?
  2. ... the fact that the Torah writes "ve'Ha'avartem" and not 'u'Nesatem', like it does regarding the other heirs?
(d) Rav Nachman Amar Rabah bar Avuhah learns it from "u'Nesatem es Nachalaso le'Echav". Rebbi Zeira does not agree with this, because he considers this to be a regular Lashon. Rav Nachman on the other hand, disagrees with Rebbi Zeira because he learns "ve'Ha'avartem es Nachalaso" like Rebbi. What does Rebbi learn from there?
3)
(a) What does Rav Menashya bar Yirmiyah learn from the Pasuk in Melachim 2 (when Yeshayah said to Chizkiyah) "Koh Amar Hashem *Tzav le'Veischa Ki Meis Atah"*?

(b) Rami bar Yechezkel learns the same thing from a similar Lashon in a Pasuk in Shmuel 1.
Who saddled his donkey there, and after 'commanding his house', strangled himself and died?

(c) The Beraisa describes how before he died, Achitofel advised his children that if Shevu'os was clear, they should sow wheat.
Which two other pieces of advice did he leave them in his will, which he would have done well to adhere to, himself?

(d) Mar Zutra replaces 'Yom-Tov shel Atzeres Barur' with 'Balul', meaning cloudy. What do the Neherda'i say about that?

4)
(a) Rebbi Aba told Rav Ashi that they preferred the signs of a good year presented by Rav Yitzchak bar Avdimi.
On what day of the year would the people watch the smoke of the Ma'arachah on the Mizbe'ach?

(b) If the smoke drifted towards ...

  1. ... the north, why were the poor happy?
  2. ... the south, why were the rich happy?
  3. ... towards the east, why was everybody happy?
  4. ... towards the west, why was everybody sad?
(c) The Beraisa however, states that the east-wind is always good, whereas the west-wind is always bad. The north-wind, the Tana says further, is good for wheat that has grown a third, but bad for olives that have blossomed. What does the Tana say about the south-wind?

(d) What does Rav Yosef (or Mar Zutra or Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak) mean when he gives as a Si'man the fact that the table in the north and the Menorah in the south?

5)
(a) How do we reconcile the statement of Rav Yitzchak bar Avdimi (according to whom the west-wind is good for the crops and the east-wind is bad) with the Beraisa, which says the opposite?

(b) What does Aba Shaul in a Beraisa say about a year where Shavu'os is clear?

(c) And what does Rav Z'vid say about a year where Rosh Hashanah is either hot or cold?

(d) What difference does it make anyway, whether we know that the year will be a hot year or a cold one?

Answers to questions

147b---------------------------------------147b

6)

(a) According to Rava Amar Rav Nachman, a Matnas Shechiv-Mera is not min ha'Torah at all. What exactly did the Rabbanan institute?

(b) Why can the Rabbanan's reason for instituting it not have been due to the fear that, by the time they fetch witnesses for the Kinyan, the Shechiv Mera will die?

(c) Then why *did* the Rabbanan institute it?

(d) How will Rava Amar Rav Nachman explain the various Pesukim in Nevi'im, which imply that there is such a thing as a will by means of the dying man's word alone? Why is it not d'Oraysa?

7)
(a) On what grounds ...
  1. ... can a person sell a Sh'tar Chov (which is after all, no more than a piece of paper)?
  2. ... does Shmuel rule that if one did, he can still be Mochel the debtor, and absolve him from having to repay his loan?
(b) Is he obligated to compensate the purchaser?

(c) And why does he even permit the creditor's heirs to be Mochel?

8)
(a) What did Rav Nachman say (with regard to Shmuel's ruling) about a Matnas Shechiv-Mera which the Shechiv-Mera then wants to be Mochel?

(b) What is the problem with explaining that Rav Nachman is speaking even in a case where he is Metzaveh Machmas Miysah (where he only gave away part of his property [see Gilyon ha'Shas])?

(c) If, as Rav Nachman himself just said, a Matnas Shechiv-Mera is only effective mi'de'Rabbanan, why should the creditor not be able to be Mochel?

9)
(a) What does Rava Amar Rav Nachman say about a Shechiv-Mera who declares that so-and-so should live in one of his rooms, or that he should eat the fruit of one of his trees?

(b) On what principle is this ruling based?

(c) Why in the case of a Bari, is Shimon not Koneh, if Reuven declared that he should ...

  1. ... live in one of his rooms?
  2. ... eat the fruit of one of his trees?
Answers to questions

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