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1)

(a) Rebbi Elazar learns from the Pasuk ...

1. ... "Zachar u'Nekeivah Bera'am, Vayikra es Sh'mam Adam" - that a man who does not have a wife is not called 'Adam'.
2. ... "ha'Shamayim Shamayim la'Hashem, ve'ha'Aretz Nasan li'Vnei Adam" - that someone who does not own land is not called 'Adam' either.
3. ... "E'eseh Lo Eizer ke'Negdo" - that, if a man is worthy, his wife assists him, and if not, she becomes his opponent.

(b) Alternatively, "ke'Negdo" can imply that - if he is worthy, she stands at his side (to assist him); and if not, she becomes a strap that lashes him.

(c) Eliyahu pointed out to Rebbi Yossi - that a man produces the wheat and the flax, but that it is his wife who bakes the bread and who weaves his clothes.

(a) Rebbi Elazar learns from the Pasuk ...

1. ... "*Zos ha'Pa'am*, Etzem me'Atzamai u'Vasar mi'B'sari" - that Adam actually tried mating with all the animals, and that it was only after he mated with Chavah that he found satisfaction. (Note: In this way, he could never turn round and accuse Hashem of not providing with the best possible mate).
2. ... *"ve'Nivrechu ve'Cha* Kol Mishpechos ha'Adamah" (that Hashem said to Avraham) - that He was going to extract from him two grafts (or broods) [righteous converts] from him: Rus ha'Mo'avi'ah and Na'amah ha'Amonis (the wife of Shlomoh, and mother of Rechavam, but more importantly, of many righteous kings who would subsequently rule over Yehudah).
3. ... "ve'Nivrechu ve'Cha *Kol Mishpechos ha'Adamah*" - that even the nations that live off the land (see b.2) will be blessed on account of Yisrael.
4. ... "ve'Nivrechu ve'Cha Kol Goyei ha'Aretz" (that Hashem said to Avraham) - that even the ships that travel from France to Spain will be blessed because of Yisrael.

(b) Rebbi Elazar says that ...

1. ... the sailors will ultimately leave their ships and become farmers.
2. ... the Torah's use of the word "ve'Yardu" in this connection - implies that farming is a lowly profession (see Tosfos DH 'she'Ein' and Agados Maharsha).

(c) Rebbi Elazar and other Amora'im stated that commerce is more lucrative than farming.

(d) Rava explains that whereas the proceeds of a hundred Zuzim invested in farming is salt and fodder - the same hundred Zuzim invested in business allows a person to eat meat and to drink wine every day.

(a) When Rav Papa says that one should rather sow than buy - he means that it is better to sustain one's family with the produce that one grows oneself, than to buy it in the market, because there is a B'rachah in one's own produce (see also Rashi, Devarim 28:66).

(b) And when he said that it is better to sell before one becomes poor, he referred to household goods such as mats, but not to fine clothes - which may prove to be irreplaceable, when one needs them.

(c) Don't wait for a hole in the wall to widen until you are forced to replace the bricks, he said; on the other hand, replace the bricks rather than rebuild the entire wall - because whoever enters the building trade becomes impoverished.

(d) One should ...

1. ... jump at the opportunity to buy land - but choose a wife with great care (to make careful enquiries that she is not quarrelsome).
2. ... descend a level in searching for a wife (so that she will look up to him and not down) - but rise a level or two when choosing a friend (so that he should be able to look up to him and follow his example).

(a) Hashem brings punishment on the world - so that K'lal Yisrael should learn to fear Him and do Teshuvah.

(b) When Rebbi Chiya conferred upon Rav the blessing that Hashem should save him from something that is worse than death - he was referring to a bad wife.

(c) Rav's wife subsequently used to switch whatever Rav requested from her. If he asked her to prepare lentils, she would deliberately prepare another kind of legume and vice-versa. Whenever Rav requested from Chiya his son to ask his mother on his behalf, he hit on the brain-wave to make the switch himself (an idea that did not enter Rav's mind).

(d) Rav forbade him to continue with that practice however - on the basis of the Pasuk in Yirmiyah "Limdu Leshonam Daber Sheker".

6)

(a) When Rav Yitzchak asked his father, Rav Yehudah, to give him an example of the Pasuk "u'Motzi Ani Mar mi'Maves es ha'Ishah" - he pointed to his own wife (Rav Yitzchak's mother).

(b) Rav Yehudah nevertheless cited his wife as the epitome of the first wife, from whom a man derives satisfaction - because whereas, on the one hand, she was very argumentative, on the other, she possessed the ability to make up very quickly.

(c) Abaye describes a bad wife as one who showers him with curses and insults, even as she lays him a nice table (so that, by the time meal-time arrives, he no longer has an appetite). Rava described her as - one who would lay the table nicely, and then not join him for the meal.

(d) Rebbi Chama bar Chanina explains the Pasuk in Mishlei "Matza Ishah Matza Tov, *ve'Yafek* Ratzon me'Hashem" - to mean that when a person marries, all his sins are blocked ('*Mispakekin*').

(a) When, at weddings, the B'nei Eretz Yisrael would declare "Matza O Motzei" - they meant to ask 'Which of the two will it be "Matza Ishah, Matza Tov" or "u"Motzi Ani es ha'Ishah Mar mi'Maves" '?

(b) According to Rava, the antidote to ...

1. ... a bad wife is - a Get (which he considers a Mitzvah).
2. ... a bad wife who has a large Kesubah is - to marry another wife in addition to her (which is a more efficient antidote than a thorn).

(c) Rava compares living with a bad wife - to a stormy day.

(d) Rava extrapolates the ...

1. ... virtuousness of a good wife, even if "Matza Ishah Matza Tov refers to Torah - by the mere fact that the Pasuk equates Torah with her.
2. ... curse of a bad wife, even if "u'Motzi Ani Mar mi'Maves es ha'Ishah" refers to Gehinom - by the fact that the Pasuk equates Gehinom with her.

(a) The evil from which one cannot extricate oneself, to which the Pesukim in Yirmiyah and in Eichah refer is - a bad wife whose Kesubah is excessive.

(b) When the B'nei Eretz Yisrael explained the Pasuk in Eichah to refer to someone whose sustenance depends on his money - they meant someone who needs to buy his bread from the market, and does not grow his own (because he is perpetually worried about prices rising or a general shortage [refer also above to 3a.]).

(c) Rav Chanan bar Rava Amar Rav interprets the Pasuk ...

1. ... "Banecha u'V'nosecha Nesunim el Am Acher" - to refer to a step-mother.
2. ... "be'Goy Naval Ach'iseim" - a bad wife whose Kesubah is excessive.

(d)) According to Rebbi Elazar, this latter Pasuk refers to Tzedokim (who foul their mouths with blasphemy - Agados Maharsha). The Tana ascribes it to the Barbarians and the people of Martinai - who used to walk naked in the streets (which Hashem Himself considers the most disgusting thing in the world).

(a) Rebbi Yochanan was most distraught when he heard that the Chavri, a cruel sect of Persians who did not acknowledge the Kavod of Yisrael (even though generally, Yisrael enjoyed a considerable degree of respectability during that period).

(b) When he heard that they accepted bribes - his mind was set at ease.

(c) They issued three decrees on the B'nei Bavel. To warrant the decree ...

1. ... forbidding them to eat Shechted meat - the B'nei Bavel failed to give Matnos Kehunah (the right-foreleg, the cheeks and the Keivah [one of the stomachs] that go to the Kohen from all Shechted animals).
2. ... forbidding them to use the bathhouses - they did not observe the Dinim of Tevilas Nidah carefully.
3. ... dragging their dead from their graves - they used to celebrate together with the Nochrim on their festivals.

(d) Seeing as the dead were not brought to burial, as Yirmiyah ha'Navi describes, when he continues "ve'Nivchar Maves me'Chayim" - he must mean that it would have been better for the Resha'im to have died in this world, rather than to sin and fall into Gehinom.

(a) Ben Sira extols the virtues of a good wife and advises a man with a bad wife to divorce her. He writes that ...

1. ... a man with a beautiful wife - is fortunate, and that he lives a double life (because of the intense pleasure that he derives from living with her).
2. ... one should keep one's eyes off the "Eishes Chein" of another man.
3. ... one should avoid visiting the husband of an "Eishes Chein" for a drink for reasons that are self-understood.

(b) He says that ...

1. ... beautiful women in general - have caused the death of many a man.
2. ... peddlers (of women's perfumes) - often tend to get beaten up, when they are caught in the act by husbands returning home.
3. ... worrying about tomorrow - just isn't worth it, because one may not be alive tomorrow, in which case one's worries are in vain.

(c) Ben Sira also has some good advice to give about human relationships. He says that ...

1. ... having a home that is open to everyone - is asking for trouble (because one is inevitably inviting thieves).
2. ... one should have many friends who are concerned about one's well-being.
3. ... one should relate one's secrets to one in a thousand (and not more).

(a) Rebbi Asi learns from the Pasuk "Ki Ru'ach mi'Lefanai Ya'atof u'Neshamos Ani Asisi" - that Mashi'ach (ben David) will not come until all the Neshamos have left the 'Guf' (a division between the Shechinah and the angels, which contains all the Neshamos that Hashem intends to pair with the bodies that He has yet to create).

(b)

1. Rebbi Eliezer learns from the juxtaposition of the Pasuk "Shofech Dam ha'Adam ba'Adam Damo Yishafech" to "ve'Atem P'ru u'Revu" - that someone who does not practice "P'ru u'Revu" is considered as if he had murdered (the person that he was meant to bring into the world but failed to).
2. Rebbi Ya'akov (or Rebbi Akiva) learns from the juxtaposition of the Pasuk "Ki be'Tzelem Elokim Asah es ha'Adam" to "ve'Atem P'ru u'Revu" - that it is considered as if he had diminished the image of Hashem (see Agados Maharsha).

(c) According to ben Azai - it is considered as if he had both murdered and diminished the image of Hashem.

(d) When they queried ben Azai as to why he did not practice what he preached (i.e. why he did not get married and have children), he replied - that he could not help himself (he was an A'nus), because he loved Torah so much that he was unable to stop studying it.

(a) The Tana Kama of the Beraisa learns from the Pasuk "u've'Nuchoh Yomar, Shuvah Hashem Riv'vos Alfei Yisrael" that the Shechinah does not rest with Yisrael if they number less than 22,000. Consequently, he explains, should Yisrael number 21,999 - then someone who fails to fulfill the Mitzvah of "P'ru u'Revu" causes the Shechinah to depart from Yisrael.

(b) Aba Chanan in the name of Rebbi Eliezer extrapolates from the Pasuk (written in connection with Nadav and Avihu's death) "u'Vanim Lo Hayu Lahem" - that, had Nadav and Avihu married and had children, they would not have died.

(c) Acheirim extrapolates from the Pasuk "Liheyos Lecha l'Elokim u'le'Zar'acha Acharecha" - that it is only when one has children to continue the chain, that the Shechinah rests with Yisrael. Otherwise, on whom should it rest, on wood and stones?