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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI

prepared by Rabbi Eliezer Chrysler
Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Jerusalem

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Sanhedrin 38

1)

(a) Why did Rebbi instruct his servants to give Yehudah and Chizkiyah some wine? Who were Yehudah and Chizkiyah?

(b) Having drunk, what statement did they make about the coming of ben David? Which two families would have to first be destroyed?

(c) How did Rebbi react to that?

(d) How did Rebbi Chiya defend his sons?

2)
(a) How does Rav Chisda Amar Mar Ukva (or Amar Rav Chisda Darash Mari Mari bar Mar) explain the Pasuk "va'Yishkod Hashem al ha'Ra'ah va'Yevi'ehah Aleinu Ki Tzadik Hashem Elokeinu"? What sort of righteousness was it to bring the evil upon Yisrael?

(b) The basis for this is the Pasuk in Melachim "ve'ha'Charash ve'ha'Misger Elef" (hinting at the thousand Talmidei-Chachamim who accompanied Yechonyah into Galus). Why were they called ...

  1. ... "Charash"?
  2. ... "Misger"?
(c) Ula connects Hashem's righteousness to the Pasuk in Devarim "ve'Noshantem ba'Aretz".
What is the significance of the numerical value of "ve'Noshantem"?

(d) How many years after ...

  1. ... arriving in Eretz Yisrael did they build the Beis-Hamikdash?
  2. ... the Beis-Hamikdash was built was it destroyed?
(e) What does Rav Acha bar Ya'akov learn from the D'rashah of "ve'Noshantem"?
3)
(a) What does the Beraisa mean when, in addition to the reasons given in our Mishnah for Hashem having created only one man, the Tana adds ...
  1. ... 'she'Lo Yih'yu ha'Tadikim Omrim Anu B'nei Tzadik"?
  2. ... 've'ha'Resha'im Omrim, Anu B'nei Rasha'?
(b) When he says 'she'Lo Yih'yu Mishpachos Misgaros Zu ba'Zu', the Tana seems to be repeating the argument of 'my father is greater than your father' mentioned in our Mishnah.
But what does he mean when he adds 'Mipnei ha'Gazlanim u'Mipnei ha'Chamsanim'?

(c) But are people not guilty of that anyway?

(d) Our Mishnah referred to Hashem's praiseworthiness in creating everyone with a different face. Why indeed, did He do that?

4)
(a) Rebbi Meir in a Beraisa, lists three things by which each person is unique. Two of them are voice and looks.
What is the third?

(b) Why did He create each person with a different ...

  1. ... voice and appearance?
  2. ... mind?
(c) Another Beraisa lists three reasons why Hashem created Adam on Erev Shabbos; one to counter the heretics, one to put the person in his place and one for his benefit.
What are the three reasons?

(d) In the context of the third reason, how does the Tana interpret the Pasuk in Mishlei ...

  1. ... "Chochmas Bansah Beisah"?
  2. ... "Chatzvah Amudehah Shiv'ah"?
  3. ... "Tavchah Tivchah, Maschah Yeinah af Archah Shulchanah"?
  4. ... "Shalchah Na'arosehah (al Gapei Meromei K'ras)"?
5)
(a) How does Rabah bar bar Chanah resolve the discrepancy between the Pasuk "al Gapei ... " (implying that Hashem placed Adam in a high location) and that of "al Kisei"?

(b) The Pasuk in Mishlei poses a question "Mi Pesi Yasur Heinah?".
What is the question?

(c) What does the Pasuk reply?

(d) What does this have to do with the Pasuk in Tehilim "No'ef Ishah Chasar Leiv"?

6)
(a) What does Rebbi Meir in a Beraisa learn from the Pasuk "Golmi Ra'u Einecha"?

(b) What is the basis for Rav Oshaya Amar Rav saying that ...

  1. ... Adam's body was made from the earth of Bavel?
  2. ... his head was made from the earth in Eretz Yisrael?
  3. ... his buttocks were made from Akra de'Agma? Where is Akra de'Agma?
(c) From which lands were his remaining limbs made?
Answers to questions

38b---------------------------------------38b

7)

(a) Rebbi Yochanan (or Rebbi Achai) bar Chanina describes what took place on each of the twelve hours of the sixth day of the Creation.
If the earth from which he was made was piled up in the first hour and he became a Golem in the second, what happened in the third hour?

(b) In the fourth hour Hashem breathed a Neshamah into him and in the fifth, he stood up. What did he do in the sixth?

(c) In the seventh hour he married Chavah, and in the ninth, he was commanded not to eat from the Eitz ha'Da'as.
What happened in the eighth hour?

(d) We know that Adam was expelled from Gan Eden in the twelfth hour, but what happened in the tenth and the eleventh hours respectively?

8)
(a) What do we learn from the Pasuk in Tehilim ...
  1. ... "Adam bi'Yekar ve'Lo Yalin"?
  2. ... "Nimshal ka'Beheimos Nidmu"?
(b) Rav Yehudah Amar Rav describes the dialogue between Hashem and certain groups of angels.
What had Hashem just told them that elicited the comment "Mah Enosh Ki Sizkerenu ... "?

(c) How did Hashem respond to that?

(d) After the same had happened to a second group of angels, what did the third group say (after alluding to what happened to the first two groups)?

9)
(a) And what was Hashem's response to the angels, when they pointed to the generation of the flood and of the tower, and asked Him whether the first groups of angels were not right?

(b) What does Rav Yehudah Amar Rav learn from the Pasuk ...

  1. ... in Devarim "le'Min ha'Yom Asher Bara Elokim es ha'Adam al ha'Aretz u'le'Miktzei ha'Shamayim"?
  2. ... in Tehilim "Achor va'Kedem Tzartani *va'Tashes Alai Kapecha*"?
(c) And what does Rebbi Elazar learn from the same Pasuk in Devarim "le'Min ha'Yom Asher Bara Elokim es ha'Adam al ha'Aretz u'le'mi'Ketzei ha'Shamayim"?

(d) How do we reconcile the two seemingly contradictory Pesukim?

10)
(a) What does Rav Yehudah Amar Rav extrapolate from the Lashon of "Yakru" in the Pasuk in Tehilim (in connection with the creation of Adam discussed earlier) "ve'Li Mah Yakru Re'echa Keil"? What does the Pasuk mean?

(b) What caused Adam to make this declaration?

(c) How does Rav Yehudah Amar Rav explain the Pasuk in Bereishis "Vayikra Hashem Elokim el ha'Adam Vayomer Lo *Ayeka*"?

(d) The Pasuk writes in Hoshe'a "ve'Heimah ke'Adam Avru *B'ris*".
How does ...

  1. ... Rebbi Yitzchak explain this Pasuk, based on the Pasuk in Lech-Lecha "es *B'risi* Heifar"?
  2. ... Rav Nachman explain it, based on the Pasuk in Yirmiyah "Vayomru, al Asher Azvu es B'ris Hashem Elokei Avosam"?
11)
(a) Rebbi Eliezer says in Pirkei Avos that one should study Torah diligently and know what to reply to an Apikores (which normally pertains to someone who questions the value of Talmidei-Chachamim).
How does Rebbi Yochanan qualify Rebbi Eliezer's statement? To whom will it not apply?

(b) What does Rebbi Yochanan say about many Pesukim in the Torah which insinuate that Hashem spoke to His colleagues (Kevayachol)?

(c) As if to prove Rebbi Eliezer's statement, what does Rebbi Yochanan quote for example, to counter the Pasuk ...

  1. ... in Bereishis "Na'aseh Adam"?
  2. ... in No'ach "Havah Nerdah *ve'Navlah* Sham Sefasam"?
  3. ... in Shmuel "u'Mi ke'Amcha Yisrael Goy Echad ba'Aretz, Asher Halchu Elokim ... "?
  4. ... in Daniel "Ad di Karsin Ramayu", implying a number of thrones for a number of gods?
(d) What do we learn from the Pasuk in Daniel "bi'Gezeiras Irin Pisgama u've'Ma'amar Kadishin She'iltin" that will explain why the Torah use the plural form in the first place?
12)
(a) How will we explain the last of the 'problematic' Pesukim ("Ad di Karsin Ramayu"), which does not fit the previous explanation? What then, is the significance of the "thrones", according to ...
  1. ... Rebbi Akiva?
  2. ... Rebbi Yossi Hagelili? What is his objection to Rebbi Akiva's explanation?
(b) How do we know that Rebbi Akiva accepted Rebbi Yossi Hagelili's explanation?

(c) Rebbi Elazar ben Azarya disagrees however.
How does *he* explain the two thrones? What did he advise Rebbi Akiva to do?

13)
(a) What did Rav Nachman say about Rav Idis?

(b) How did Rav Idis answer a heretic who asked him why Hashem said to Moshe (in Parshas Mishpatim) "Alei el Hashem", instead of "Alei Eilai"?

(c) And what did Rav Idis reply when the heretic asked ...

  1. ... why we do not then worship him?
  2. ... that if, as the Torah specifically writes, Matatron was not even able to forgive our sins, then of what use was he?
14)
(a) What did that laudryman answer the heretic who asked Rebbi Yishmael b'Rebbi Yossi why the Torah writes "va'Hashem Himtir al S'dom ... me'es Hashem" (and not "me'Iti")?

(b) As a source, he cited a Pasuk in Bereishis. What did Lemech say there to his wives that served as a precedent for doing so?

(c) The laudryman claimed that he had heard the above answer from a D'rashah by Rebbi Meir.
According to Rebbi Yochanan, how would Rebbi Meir divide his D'rashos into three?

15)
(a) How many parables about foxes did Rebbi Meir have up his sleeve? How many of them remain with us?

(b) What does Yechezkel mean when he says "Avos Yochlu Boser, ve'Shinei Banim Tichhenah"?

(c) The second parable is the Pasuk in Acharei-Mos "Moznei Tzedek Avnei Tzedek". The third, a Pasuk in Mishlei, begins "Tzadik mi'Tzarah Nechlatz". How does it end?

(d) After advising the wolf to help the Jews to prepare for Shabbos and then join them at the Shabbos-table, why did the fox quote him the Pasuk ...

  1. ... "Avos Yochlu Boser ... "?
  2. ... "Tzadik mi'Tzarah Nechlatz ... ", after inducing him to lower himself down the well for a delicious meal of meat and 'cheese' via the second bucket (see Agados Maharsha)?
Answers to questions

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