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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI

prepared by Rabbi Eliezer Chrysler
Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Jerusalem

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Sotah 34

SOTAH 31-35 - These Dafim have been dedicated by Mrs. Estanne Abraham-Fauer in honor of the first Yahrzeit (18 Teves 5761) of her father, Reb Mordechai ben Eliezer Zvi (Weiner). May the merit of supporting and advancing the study of the Talmud be l'Iluy Nishmaso.

1)

(a) What happened to the flowing water of the Yarden the moment the Kohanim 'dipped their feet' in the river?

(b) According to Rebbi Yehudah, the water piled up to a height of twelve Mil.
What objection did Rebbi Elazar b'Rebbi Shimon raise to this?

(c) How high did it pile up according to him? How far away was it visible?

(d) To which miracle was Rachav referring when she said "Va'nishma Va'yimas Levaveinu ... "?

2)
(a) What did Yehoshua say to Yisrael before they had finished crossing the Yarden?

(b) What did he mean when he said "ve'Im La'av, Ba'in Mayim ve'Shotfin *Oseichem*" (as quoted in the Beraisa)?

(c) What else did Yehoshua do before they had finished crossing the Yarden?

(d) What do we learn from the Pasuk in Yehoshua " ... Hachein Sh'teim-Esrei Avanim ... Ve'hinachtem Osam ba'Malon *Asher Talinu Bah ha'Laylah*"?

3)
(a) Rebbi Yossi quoting a number of Tana'im, gives the weight of each of the twelve stones.
How much did it weigh?

(b) Bearing in mind that they lifted the stones from the Yarden on to their shoulders single-handedly, and based on a tradition that a person is able to carry a weight three times as heavy as one that he can pick up by himself, when others help him pick it up, what is the minimum weight that the cluster of grapes that the eight spies brought back with them would have been?

(c) Considering that every 'Mot' is carried by two people, what does "Va'yis'a'uhu ba'Mot *bi'Shenayim*"?

4)
(a) What did Rav Yitzchak mean when he said 'Turteni, ve'Turteni de'Turteni'?

(b) From where does Rav Yitzchak learn this?

(c) We have accounted for ten of the spies. The other two were Kalev and Yehoshua.
Why did they not participate in carrying the fruit?

Answers to questions

34b---------------------------------------34b

5) We cited earlier Rebbi Elazar b'Rebbi Shimon's Kashya, that if as Rebbi Yehudah maintains, the water ran itself into a wall twelve Mil tall, then, seeing as the camp of Yisrael was twelve Mil by twelve Mil, they would have drowned as the water crashed down on them before they had finished crossing. Rebbi Yehudah might disagree with Rebbi Elazar b'Rebbi Shimon's theory that water always travels more swiftly than people.
With which statement of Rebbi Yehudah might Rebbi Elazar b'Rebbi Shimon disagree?

6)

(a) How does Resh Lakish interpret the Pasuk ...
  1. ... "*Sh'lach-Lecha* Anashim"?
  2. ... "Va'yitav be'Einai ha'Davar"?
(b) And what does Rebbi Chiya bar Aba extrapolate from the 'Gezeirah-Shavah' "*Ve'yachperu* Lanu es ha'Aretz" and "*Ve'chafrah* ha'Levanah U'voshah ha'Chamah" (Yeshayah)?

(c) What does Rebbi Yitzchak say about the names of the spies?

(d) In that light, he explains the name 'Sesur ben Micha'el' to mean that he demolished the words of Hashem, making himself poorer in the process.
How does Rebbi Yochanan explain the name 'Nachbi ben Vafsi' in similar vein?

7)
(a) Why does the Torah write "Va'ya'alu ba'Negev *Va'yavo* ad Chevron" (in the singular)?

(b) Why did Yehoshua not join him?

(c) What did the change of name to Yehoshua imply?

(d) What reward did Kalev receive for his trip to Chevron?

8)
(a) The spies related in awe how they had seen the three sons of the giant Anak, Achiman, Sheishai and Talmai. Sheishai and Talmai were so-called because the one made holes in the ground as he walked (from the word 'Shachas' - a pit) and the other, created furrows ('Telamim').
Why was the first brother called "Achiman"?

(b) Why were they called "B'nei Anak"?

(c) What other distinction did they share?

9)
(a) Seeing as Cana'an, the son of Cham, was younger than Mitzrayim, it was considered unethical to build him a town before building one for his older brother.
In that case, what does the Torah mean when it writes "ve'Chevron Sheva Shanim Nivnesah Lifnei Tzo'an Mitzrayim"?

(b) What makes this particularly remarkable?

(c) How do we know that ...

  1. ... on the one hand, Chevron was the rockiest (and the least productive) part of Eretz Yisrael?
  2. ... on the other, Tzo'an was the most productive part of Egypt?
10)
(a) If the best rams came from Mo'av, where did the best lambs come from?

(b) How do we reconcile this with what we just said (that Chevron is particularly rocky)?

Answers to questions

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