Introduction to Pesachim

1)

(a) Why did Chazal institute the Mitzvah of *Bedikas* Chametz over and above that of *Bitul* Chametz?

(b) What sort of location does not require Bedikah?

(c) According to Beis Shamai, one needs to search two entire rows in a wine-cellar.
What do Beis Hillel say to that?

(d) Is a wine-cellar a place where one takes Chametz?

(a) Initially, we think that Rav Huna explains 'Or le'Arba'ah-Asar' to mean 'the light of the fourteenth'.
How does Rav Yehudah explain it?

(b) How does Rav Yehudah translate the Pasuk in Vayigash "ha'Boker Or"?

(c) According to Rav Yehudah, the Pasuk is teaching us not to travel at night.
Why not?

(d) How does Rav Yehudah explain ...

1. ... the Pasuk in Shmuel "u'che'Or Boker Yizrach Shemesh"?
2. ... the Pesukim in Bereishis "Vayikra Elokim la'Or Yom"?
3. ... and "ve'la'Choshech Kara Laylah"?

(a) On what grounds does the Gemara reject the original explanation that the word "la'Or" (in the Pasuk "Vayikra Elokim la'Or Yom") means 'the gradually increasing light'?

(b) Why does the Pasuk write "Haleluhu Kol Kochvei Or"? Does this mean that stars that do not shine are not required to praise Hashem?

(c) Why do we need to know this?

4)

(a) How do we initially explain the Pasuk in Iyov "la'Or Yakum Rotzei'ach Yiktal Ani ve'Evyon, uva'Laylah Yehi ka'Ganav"?

(b) How does Rav Yehudah explain it?

(c) Whom may one not kill even if he breaks in, in the middle of the night, and why is that?

(a) How does Rav Yehudah explain the Pasuk ...

1. ... in Iyov "Yechshechu Kochvei Nishpo, Yekav le'Or va'Ayin"?
2. ... in Tehilim "Va'Omar Ach Choshech Yeshufeni ve'Laylah Or Ba'adeni"?

(b) What does the Gemara prove from Rebbi Yehudah, who says in a Mishnah later "Bodkin Or Arba'ah-Asar, u've'Arba'ah-Asar Shachris u've'Sha'as ha'Bi'ur"?

(a) In a Beraisa, Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov forbids one to do work on the fourteenth of Nisan 'mi'Sha'as ha'Or'.
What does Rebbi Yehudah say?

(b) If 'mi'Sha'as ha'Or' of Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov means from sunrise, then why did he query Rebbi Yehudah regarding a precedent on permitting part of a day (between dawn-break and sunrise) and forbidding the rest, when he might just as well query himself in exactly the same way (since he permits working during the night, but forbids the day)?

(c) Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov's precedent is his own opinion with regard to fasting on one of the minor fasts.
What does Rebbi Shimon say in that case?

(a) Rebbi Yehudah answers that according to his opinion too, a precedent exists by the Isur of eating Chametz.
What is the Din there, and how is that a precedent?

(b) Why does Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov not consider that a precedent?

(c) Rebbi Yehudah then gives as a precedent, the two hours which the Rabbanan added to the Torah's Shiur.
On what grounds does Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov reject that proof, too?

(a) For which months would they light the torches, to announce to the people far from Yerushalayim when Rosh Chodesh had been proclaimed?

(b) When did they used to light them?

(c) What does the Gemara prove from 'le'Or Iburo'?

(d) Why is there no disproof for Rav Yehudah from the Beraisa 'Hayah Omed Kol ha'Laylah u'Makriv Al ha'Mizbei'ach *le'Orah* Ta'un Kidush' - from which we can see that Orah means light?