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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI

prepared by Rabbi Eliezer Chrysler
Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Jerusalem

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Bava Metzia 29

1)

(a) Rebbi Tarfon declares a finder who sells an animal which eats but does not work a Shomer Sachar on the money, only because he is permitted to use it.
What do we extrapolate from there with regard to a regular Shomer Aveidah?

(b) Why is this a Kashya on Rav Yosef? What does Rav Yosef say about a Shomer Aveidah?

(c) What does he gain fro the Shemirah that makes him a Shomer Sachar?

(d) And how does Rav Yosef answer the Kashya?

2)
(a) What problem does Rav Yosef's interpretation of our Mishnah pose on Rebbi Akiva, who says 'Lo Yishtamesh Bahen. Lefichach Im Avdu Ein Chayav be'Achrasuyan'? What ought he to have said, according to Rav Yosef?

(b) Why would this problem not have existed had we interpreted 'Avdu' literally?

(c) We answer that Rebbi Akiva says 'Lefichach', only to balance the 'Lefichach' of Rebbi Tarfon.
Why does Rebbi Tarfon say 'Lefichach'? What Chidush is he coming to teach us?

(d) To answer the Kashya how Rav Yosef can possibly establish the Machlokes by Onsin de'Sho'el, when the Tana specifically mentions 'Avdu', we cite Rabah.
How did Rabah elsewhere interpret ...

  1. ... 'Nignevu'?
  2. ... 'Avdu'?
Answers to questions

29b---------------------------------------29b

3)

(a) What did Rav Yosef reply when Rachbah asked him about using money belonging to Yesomim that he was looking after?

(b) On what grounds did Abaye object to Rav Yosef's ruling?

(c) But have we not learned that one may keep money that one finds?

(d) What were Rav Yosef's last words on the subject?

4)
(a) How does someone who finds Sefarim (in scroll form) look after them ...
  1. ... assuming he knows how to read?
  2. ... assuming he does not?
(b) What do Sefarim need looking after?

(c) Besides learning something that he has not learned before, what other prohibition does our Mishnah add?

5)
(a) Similarly, the Tana of our Mishnah obligates someone who finds an article of clothing, to shake it and spread it out once every thirty days. Under which condition should he not do so?

(b) What does the finder do if he finds vessels made of ...

  1. ... silver or copper?
  2. ... gold or glass? Why is that?
(c) We just learned that the finder only uses the silver or copper vessels for their good.
What does this mean?

(d) And what is he not then permitted to do?

6) What does the Tana say about a dignified person who finds a sack or a box?

7)

(a) Shmuel permits someone who finds Tefilin to assess their value and put the money aside and use them immediately.
What is the difference in this regard, between Tefilin and Sefarim, which he is not permitted to 'buy'?

(b) What does Resh Lakish extrapolate (regarding Rebbi's opinion with regard to borrowing or renting) from the Mishnah in Gitin, which forbids a Sheli'ach of a Get from handing the object that the woman gives him for her ex-husband, to anyone else?

(c) Then why does the Tana of the Beraisa find it necessary to forbid a borrower to lend a Sefer-Torah to someone else?

(d) And why does he find it necessary to permit the borrower to open the Sefer and read from it? Isn't that what he borrowed it for?

8)
(a) The Din of a Sefer that one receives for safe-keeping is similar to that of someone who finds one. The Tana of the Beraisa requires the guardian to open it once every twelve months.
Under which condition does he prohibit him from reading it?

(b) How does Sumchus qualify the basic Halachah? When does the obligation increase to once every thirty days?

(c) Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov says once every twelve months.
But is that not the same as the Tana Kama?

(d) Who is then the author of our Mishnah?

9)
(a) What does the Beraisa say about someone who finds a Sefer repeating or translating the Parshah that he reads for its good?

(b) What is the maximum number of columns that the finder may open at one time?

(c) The Tana also forbids three people to read in one volume simultaneously.
How do we reconcile this with our Mishnah, which forbids even one person to read together with the finder when he opens and reads from it?

10)
(a) What does Rebbi Yochanan say about someone who has a professional weaver in his household shaking out his clothes?

(b) We reconcile this with our Mishnah, which obligates someone who finds an article of clothing to shake it and spread it out once every thirty days, implying that shaking is good for the garment, in a number of ways. The first answer, which makes a distinction between doing it once every thirty days and once a day, is inherent in the wordings of the two respective statements.
How might it also depend upon how many people do the shaking?

(c) Thirdly, it might depend upon whether one uses one's hand or beats it with a stick.
What final alternative do we give, depending upon the type of garment?

11)
(a) Rebbi Yochanan advises a person to drink a bewitched cup of water rather than a cup of warm water.
To which sort of cup does this apply, and to which will it not?

(b) Even in a metal cup it doesn't matter if the water boiled first and then cooled down.
When will it not matter even in a metal cup, and even if the water did not boil first?

12)
(a) What advice does Rebbi Yochanan give to someone who inherited a lot of money and doesn't know what to do with it, with regard to ...
  1. ... clothes?
  2. ... vessels?
  3. ... workers?
(b) By linen clothes, Rebbi Yochanan means Roman flax, and by glass vessels, white glass.
Why is that?

(c) And how will unsupervised workers working with oxen result in a huge loss?

Answers to questions

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