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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI

prepared by Rabbi Eliezer Chrysler
Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Jerusalem

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Menachos 85

MENACHOS 85 (5 Teves) - has been dedicated to the memory of Max (Meir Menachem ben Shlomo ha'Levi) Turkel, on his Yahrzeit, by his children Eddie and Lawrence, and his wife Jean Turkel/Rafalowicz. Max was a warm and loving husband and father, and he is sorely missed by his family.

1)

(a) Our Mishnah declares the produce of Beis ha'Zevalim, Beis ha'Shalachim and Beis ha'Ilan ineligible for the Omer and the Sh'tei ha'Lechem (see also Tosfos DH 'Ein Mevi'in').
What do these terms mean?

(b) The Tana forbids Beis ha'Zevalim either because we are afraid that the owner will not manure it properly, resulting in an inferior quality harvest, or because the manure spoils the taste of the crops; and Beis ha'Shalachim, because a field that needs a lot of water inevitably produces poor-quality crops.
Why did he forbid Beis ha'Ilan?

(c) What advice does the Tana give regarding harvest rotation?

(d) When does one then sow the field in the second year, to obtain the maximum quantity of flour from the harvest?

2)
(a) What does the Tana say there where the Gizbar, examining the flour for the Omer and the Sh'tei ha'Lechem, pushes his hand into the flour and extracts flour-dust?

(b) What must they then do to remedy the fault?

(c) What She'eilah do we ask with regard to the ruling in our Mishnah 'Neirah Shanah Rishonah u've'Shanah Sheniyah Zor'ah'? How can one even suggest that one needs to plow in the second year, when the Tana does not say so?

3)
(a) We try to resolve the She'eilah from a Beraisa.
What does Rebbi Yossi there say about the wheat of Karzayim and K'far Achim? Why did he disqualify it from being used for the Omer and the Sh'tei ha'Lechem?

(b) What does he say about 'ha'Meduramos ve'ha'Menunaros'? What do these terms mean?

(c) What is the advantage of crops that grow in the fields in those areas?

4)
(a) In describing the procedure, what does the Beraisa say one does, between plowing the field in the first year and planting it in the second?

(b) What sort of produce can one expect to grow if one follows the procedure described in the Mishnah and in the Beraisa?

(c) Between the time that the wheat is harvested and the flour is brought to the Gizbar to examine (as we learned in our Mishnah), it passes through six stages.
Which two stages ...

  1. ... precede winnowing and selecting the grains?
  2. ... follow them?
(d) What preferred method of examining the flour for dust does Rebbi Nasan prescribe (rather than merely placing his hand inside and subsequently needing to re-sift it for the Omer or the Sh'tei ha'Lechem)?
5)
(a) On what grounds do we refute the proof from the Beraisa that one plows again in the second year, since the Tana says 'u'Sheniyah Choresh'?

(b) How do we then reconcile our Mishnah (which does not insert 've'Shoneh'), with the Beraisa (which does)?

(c) What then is the She'eilah?

6)
(a) How does another Beraisa suggest that one alternates between the planting and the plowing?

(b) Why does one not plant the entire field?

(c) How does this Beraisa resolve our She'eilah?

Answers to questions

85b---------------------------------------85b

7)

(a) Aba Shaul in a Beraisa states that they used to bring the Omer from Bik'as Beis Makleh.
What do we prove by citing this Beraisa? What does the Tana go on to say?

(b) What was the size of the field?

(c) What happened when Rav Chilkiyah bar Tuvi plowed half his small plot of land and planted half?

(d) What did he do with the wheat that it produced?

8)
(a) What is the Shi'ur for worm-infested flour and wheat designated for the Omer and the Sh'tei ha'Lechem to become Pasul?

(b) Rebbi Yirmiyah asked whether 'Rov Chitin' means 'Rov Chitin' or 'Rov Sa'ah'.
What did he mean by that?

(c) What is the outcome of Rebbi Yirmiyah's She'eilah?

9)
(a) What does the Mishnah in Midos say about a piece of wood that contains a worm?

(b) Shmuel qualifies this, confining the Mishnah's ruling to a wet piece of wood.
If a dry piece of wood is Kasher, why should a wet one be Pasul?

(c) What is the Din regarding someone who declares Hekdesh an animal that has a blemish?

(d) What does Rava now ask regarding someone who declares Hekdesh either wormy flour for Menachos or wormy wood for the Mizbe'ach?

(e) What is the outcome of Rava's She'eilos?

10)
(a) Our Mishnah now discusses the oil for the Menachos.
What is the difference between Tako'a and Regev in Eiver ha'Yarden (which Aba Shaul adds)?

(b) Does this disqualify the oil from other areas?

(c) From which three kinds of fields should one not bring oil Lechatchilah?

(d) Neither should one bring 'Anpiknun' (which will be clearly defined in the Sugya).
What makes it Pasul Lechatchilah?

11)
(a) What does the Tana say about olives that have either fallen into water and remained there for a long time, or that have been pickled or cooked?

(b) How else might we explain 'min ha'Gargerin she'Nashru ba'Mayim ve'Lo min ha'Kevashim ve'Lo min ha'Shelukim'?

12)
(a) The Pasuk in Shmuel informs us that Yo'av sent to Teko'ah for a wise woman.
How does Rebbi Yochanan explain the significance of the town Teko'ah?

(b) What does the Beraisa comment on the Pasuk "Ve'tovel ba'Shemen Raglo"?

(c) When the Sha'i'ach of the town of Ludki was looking to purchase ten million Manah-worth of olive oil, where di he go?

(d) In Yerushalayim, they redirected him to Tzur. To which town did the men of Tzur redirect him? Where did they direct him from there?

13)
(a) What did the man (who was digging under a tree when the Sheli'ach found him) ...
  1. ... reply, when the latter first made his request?
  2. ... do to create the impression that he was poor, causing the Sheli'ach to think that the Jews were pulling his leg?
(b) When they arrived at the man's house, after bringing him a kettle of hot water to wash his hands and feet, what did his Shifchah do, in fulfillment of the Pasuk in ve'Zos ha'Berachah "Ve'tovel ba'Shemen Raglo"?

(c) What did the Sheli'ach reply when, after measuring the required amount of oil, the man offered him more?

(d) What did they agree upon? How much more did he sell him?

14)
(a) How did they transport all that oil?

(b) What did the Sheli'ach reply when the people of his town came out to praise him for having succeeded in his mission?

(c) What does this story have to do with the Pasuk in Mishlei "Yesh Mis'asher ve'Ein Kol, Misroshesh ve'Hon Rav"?

Answers to questions

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