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1) [line 1] BENEI BESEIRAH - Rebbi Yehoshua, Rebbi Shimon and Rebbi Yehudah, the children of Beseirah, one of whom was the Nasi, all of whom could not recall the Halachah of whether slaughtering the Korban Pesach is permitted on Shabbos. They implored that if anyone knows the Halachah, he should come forth at once, and they were directed to Hillel ha'Bavli, who revealed the forgotten Halachah. As a result, the Benei Beseirah stepped down from their post as Nesi'im and appointed Hillel (who was also from the family of David ha'Melech) in their place, as the Gemara recounts in Pesachim 66a. (see MAHARSHA ibid.)

2) [line 3] HOSHIVUHU BA'ROSH U'MINUHU L'NASI ALEIHEN - they appointed him as the Rosh Yeshivah and designated him to be the Nasi over them

3) [line 5] MISHNEH - viceroy; second-in-command
4) [line 6] CHAZA D'GARIR ALMA BASAR DAVID - he saw that the people were following David

5) [line 8] TELEISAR SHENEI - thirteen years [of afflictions]
6a) [line 8] TZEMIRTA - bladder stones
b) [line 9] TZAPARNA - thrush
7) [line 9] AHURYAREI D'VEI REBBI - the stable-keeper of Rebbi

8a) [line 9] HAVAH ATIR - was wealthier (from selling the dung of Rebbi's stables as fertilizer -- TOSFOS)
b) [line 10] MI'SHEVOR MALKA - than King Shapur II, the king of Persia (ruled 309-379 CE, during the Sassanid Dynasty)

9) [line 10] KAD HAVAH RAMI KISESA L'CHEIVASA - when he threw fodder to the animals

10) [line 12] NECHUSEI YAMA - (lit. those who go down to sea) people on boats in the Mediterranean Sea

11) [line 14] HA'HU EGLA D'HAVU KA MAMTU LEI LI'SHECHITAH - there was a certain calf who was being led to the slaughter

12) [line 15] AZAL, TALYA L'REISHEI B'CHANFEI D'REBBI - it went and stuck its head under Rebbi's coattails

13) [line 17] HAVAH KA KANSHA AMSEI D'REBBI BEISA - Rebbi's maidservant was sweeping the house

14) [line 17] HAVAH (SHADYA) [SHADYAN] BENEI KARKUSHTA - baby weasels were lying there [in a corner, and she was about to sweep them out]

15) [line 18] SHAVKINHU - leave them alone
16) [line 19] LO SHACHIV INISH B'LO ZIMNEI - no one died before his time

17a) [line 20] KASHEI YOMA D'MITRA - a rainy day is as difficult (since people are prevented from going out to buy provisions or engage in their livelihood -- RASHI to Ta'anis 8b)
b) [line 21] K'YOMA D'DINA - as the days on which the courts are convened (in which there is much loud noise and difficult situations -- RASHI ibid.)

18a) [line 22] KI HAVU AKREI PUGLA MI'MEISHRA - when people would pull out a radish from a row [in a vegetable patch]
b) [line 22] HAVAH KAIMA BEIRA MALYA MAYA - there would be a small well of water in the hole that was left in the ground

19) [line 23] IKLA REBBI L'ASREI D'REBBI ELAZAR B'REBBI SHIMON - Rebbi visited the city of Rebbi Elazar b'Rebbi Shimon

20) [line 24] ASYEI, ASMECHEI B'REBBI - he came and gave him Semichah as a Rabbi
21) [line 25] ASHLEMEI - he handed him over for tutorial and guidance
22) [line 26] L'KIRYASI ANA EIZIL - I want to return to my hometown
23) [line 26] CHAKIM AVDU YASACH - You will become a Sage
24) [line 26] GOLSA D'DAHAVA PARSU ALACH - and the people will adorn you with (lit. spread over you) a gold-trimmed cloak

25) [line 27] MOMEI, AZUVAH DA! - I swear that I am abandoning this [desire of mine to interrupt my studies]!

26) [line 34] TZA'AR ME'ARAH - anguish of living in a cave [for thirteen years] (Shabbos 33b)

27) [line 36] HAYAH MEKAPE'ACH ES BANAV - who would often curse himself saying, "May I bury my sons... !"

28) [line 38] NASVAH - he married her
29) [line 40] "...IM TASHUV, VA'ASHIVECHA, LIFANAI TA'AMOD. V'IM TOTZI YAKAR MI'ZOLEL, K'FI SIHEYEH..." - "[Therefore thus says HaSh-m,] 'If you return, then I will bring you back, and you shall stand before me;" and if you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth; [let them return to you; but do not return to them.]" (Yirmeyahu 15:19)

30) [line 44] ANI AREV LECHA B'DAVAR ZEH - I am your guarantor in this matter
31) [line 45] TORAH MECHAZERES AL ACHSANYA SHELAH - Torah returns to its place of lodging (i.e. to the family that upholds Torah scholarship sand values)

32) [line 50] SHAGAR TANURA - he lit the oven
33) [line 50] SALIK V'YASIV B'GAVEI - he went into it (the oven) and sat there
34) [line 50] LO HAVAH SHALTA BEI NURA - the fire would not effect him
35) [line 51] ICHARCHU SHAKEI - his knees were burned
36) [last line] "MI HA'ISH HE'CHACHAM V'YAVEIN ES ZOS? VA'ASHER DIBER PI HASH-M ELAV V'YAGIDAH? AL MAH AVDAH HA'ARETZ, [NITZESAH CHA'MIDBAR MI'BELI OVER]?" - "Who is the wise man, that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of HaSh-m has spoken, that he may declare it? Why was the land destroyed [and burned up like a wilderness, that none passes through it?]" (Yirmeyahu 9:11)

37) [line 1] AMRU CHACHAMIM V'LO PIRSHUHA - The Chachamim were asked this question (Why was the land destroyed?) and they could not answer it

38) [line 3] "VA'YOMER HASH-M, 'AL AZVAM ES TORASI ASHER NASATI LIFNEIHEM... '" - "And HaSh-m said, 'Because they have forsaken My Torah which I set before them, [and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked in it;']" (Yirmeyahu 9:12)

39) [line 4] SHE'LO BERCHU BA'TORAH TECHILAH - they did not say the blessing before their Torah learning (the Gemara learns this from the word "Lifneihem" in the verse) (See Insights to the Daf here and to Nedarim 81a. See MAHARSHA to Nedarim ibid. for an alternate explanation)

40) [line 6] "B'LEV NAVON TANU'ACH CHOCHMAH; UV'KEREV KESILIM TIVADE'A." - "Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding; but that which is in the midst of fools is made known." (Mishlei 14:) - The Gemara interprets "that which is in the midst of fools" as a Talmid Chochom who is the son of an Am ha'Aretz, i.e. "the one who is in the midst of [a family of] fools."

41) [line 9] ISTIRA B'LAGINA KISH KISH KARYA - one Istira coin (also known as a Sela Medinah, equal to half of a Dinar) in a bottle makes a lot of noise (lit. calls out "Kish!" "Kish!")

42) [line 11] "KATON V'GADOL SHAM HU, V'EVED CHOFSHI ME'ADONAV" - "The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master." (Iyov 3:19) - In the context of the verse, Iyov is referring to death and the grave. Rebbi Zeira interprets the verse homilletically as referring to the World to Come. As such, he reads it as, "The one who makes himself small (humble) with regard to the words of the Torah will become great there (the World to Come), and the one who makes himself literally a slave with regard to the words of the Torah will be free from his master (the Yetzer ha'Ra, which can becomes a "master" over a person in This World, is also the Angle of Death -- Bava Basra 16a). (See the MAHARSHA, who interprets Rebbi Zeira's words such that the verse refers to David ha'Melech and Moshe Rabeinu, respectively.)

43) [line 15] HAVAH METZAYEIN ME'ARASA D'RABANAN - he was marking the ground under which there were burial caves of the Rabanan, so that no Kohanim would become Tamei by being Ma'ahil over those graves

44) [line 16] I'ALMA MINEI - it (its location) was hidden from him
45) [line 18] LO RIBATZTA - you did not disseminate
46) [line 18] MINTZU - quarreling
47) [line 19] MEHADRANA LAH MI'PILPULI - I would be able to recover it with my erudition

48) [line 20] D'AVDI LA'TORAH SHE'LO SISHTAKE'ACH MI'YISRAEL - I made sure that the Torah would not be forgotten

49) [line 21] MAI AVIDNA? - What did I do [and am continuing to do]?
50) [line 21] SHADINA KISNA - I plant (lit. throw [into the ground]) flax [seed]
51) [line 21] GADILNA NISHBEI - I twist [the flax into cords and make] nets [out of it]

52) [line 22] TZAYADNA TAVEI - and I catch deer
53) [line 22] ARICHNA MEGILASA - and I prepare parchment [for scrolls from the hides of the deer]

54) [line 23] SALIKNA L'MASA - and I go into a town
55) [line 23] MAKRINA CHAMISHAH YENUKEI B'CHAMISHAH CHUMSHEI - and I teach five young boys the five books [of the Torah, one book to each boy]

56) [line 24] AD D'HADRANA V'ASINA, AKRU A'HADADEI V'ASNU A'HADADEI V'AVDI LAH LA'TORAH D'LO SISHTAKE'ACH MI'YISRAEL - Until I come back, teach verses one to another and teach each Seder of Mishnayos one to another, and through this I have made it that the Torah will not be forgotten from the Jewish People

57) [line 28] ETZEL MI ATAH TAKU'A? - Next to whom do you abide [in the World to Come, for Eternity]?

58) [line 30] B'ASAR DI'ZEKUKIN D'NURA U'VE'RUIN D'ESHA - in a place where there are sparks of fire and flaming torches

59) [line 31] BAR NAFCHA - Rebbi Yochanan, who was called Bar Nafcha because (a) his father was a blacksmith, and Bar Nafcha literally means "son of the smith;" (RASHI to Sanhedrin 96a, in the name of his teacher) (b) he was called this because of his remarkable beauty (RASHI ibid., in the name of other scholars)

60) [line 33] DAMYAN KED'MIKLIN B'NURA - that seemed to have been burned by fire
61) [line 34] MESIVTA D'RAKI'A - the "Heavenly Yeshiva," the dwellings of the Sages in the World to Come

62) [line 35] GUHARKA - a golden chair (ARUCH)
63) [line 36] AZLEI MAL'ACHEI KI SALKEI V'NACHASEI - Heavenly Angels escort it when up and down [on its way to each Sage's dwelling]

64) [line 36] L'VAR - except
65) [line 36] MI'NAFSHEI SALIK V'NACHIS - he goes up and down [on his way to his dwelling] by himself

66) [line 37] LO MATZA'I L'UKMA A'NAFSHA'I - I could not hold myself back
67) [line 37] BUTITEI D'NURA - sparks of fire
68) [line 38] MACHYUHU L'HA'HU GAVRA - they hit that man (i.e. me)
69) [line 38] SAMINHU L'EINEI - and they blinded his (i.e. my) eyes
70) [line 38] ISHTATCHI A'ME'ARTEI - I prostrated myself on his burial cave
71) [line 39] AMINA, "MASNAISA D'MAR MASNINA" - "I am constantly learning the Master's Tosefta"

72) [line 39] ITSA'I - and I was healed
73) [line 40] REISH YARCHA HAVAH - it happened to be Rosh Chodesh
74) [line 40] NAGAH LEI V'LO ASA - (lit. it was late for him and he did not come) he was late in coming

75) [line 41] AD'UKIMNA L'AVRAHAM - [it took some time] until I woke up Avraham Avinu

76) [line 41] U'MASHINA YADEI - and I washed his hands
77) [line 41] U'MATZLI - and he prayed
78) [line 41] U'MAGNINA LEI - and I put him back to sleep
79) [line 42] SAVREI - [in Heaven] they reason
80) [line 42] TAKFEI B'RACHAMEI - they will ask for mercy in an extreme, forceful manner

81) [line 44] ACHTINHU L'MASHI'ACH B'LO ZIMNEI - and they will bring down Mashi'ach before his time [to come has arrived]

82) [line 44] NASHVAH ZIKA - a wind started to blow
83) [line 45] ASA MITRA - it started to rain
84) [line 45] RAGASH ALMA - the world shook
85) [line 46] MAN GALI RAZYA B'ALMA? - "Who has revealed the secret in the [physical] world?"

86) [line 46] MACHYUHU SHITIN PULSEI D'NURA - they hit him with sixty pulses of fire
87) [line 47] IDMI LEHU K'DUBA D'NURA - he appeared to them as a bear of fire
88) [line 47] SHMUEL YARCHINA'AH - Mar Shmuel bar Aba, the Amora, contemporary of Rav

89) [line 48] ASYEI D'REBBI HAVAH - he was Rebbi's doctor
90) [line 48] CHALASH - he became ill
91) [line 48] IMLI LACH SAMA - I will put [medicinal drops] into your eye
92) [line 49] ASHTAR LACH MISHTAR - I will spread [medicinal cream on your eye]

93) [line 49] HAVAH MOSIV LEI (B')GUVSA D'SAMANEI TUSEI BEI SADYEI - he [secretly] placed a hollow reed containing the medicine under his pillow

94) [line 50] HAVAH KA MITZTA'ER REBBI L'MISMECHEI - Rebbi distressed himself with his efforts to grant Shmuel Semichah (Rabbinical authority, ordination)

95) [line 50] LO HAVAH MISTAYA MILSA - they did not receive Seyata d'Shemaya (help from Heaven) with the matter. Each time he tried, an emergency came up, or the Rabanan who were necessary were not available.

96) [last line] SIFRA D'ADAM HA'RISHON - the "Book of Adam," in which HaSh-m recorded for Adam the leaders and Sages of all of the generations

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