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1)

(a) The Tana of our Mishnah, which rules that one is Chayav for extinguishing a lamp in order to save the lamp, the oil or the wick, must be Rebbi Yehudah, who holds that one is Chayav for performing a 'Melachah she'Einah Tzerichah le'Gufah' (a Melachah which one performs for a negative motive - e.g. in order that the lamp or the oil etc. should stop burning - but not in order to achieve anything positive - the essence of all Melachos, according to Rebbi Shimon (See Tosfos, on Daf 94a d.h. 'Rebbi Shimon', who gives a different definition of a Melachah she'Einah Tzerichah le'Gufah').

(b) He is Patur in the Reisha, when he extinguishes the lamp for a sick person who is dangerously ill.

(c) Strictly speaking, the Mishnah should have written 'Mutar', but because it needed to write 'Chayav' in the Seifa, it wrote 'Patur' in the Reisha (to strike the correct balance, since the opposite of Chayav is 'Patur', and not 'Mutar').

(d) The Beraisa, which writes 'Patur Aval Asur' with regard to someone who extinguishes a lamp for a sick person, is referring to a person who is *not* dangerously sick.

(a) When David ha'Melech wrote "Lo ha'Mesim Yehalelu Kah" he meant that someone who dies can no longer praise Hashem. And that is also the meaning of the Pasuk "ba'Mesim Chofshi" - the moment a person dies, he becomes freed from the Mitzvos (which is why we refer to a dead person as 'a Niftar').

(b) When Shlomoh ha'Melech wrote "ve'Shavach Ani es ha'Mesim etc.", he meant to say that Tzadikim are even greater after their death than they were in their lifetime. And we have two practical examples of this: one, from Moshe who Davened many times for K'lal Yisrael, to no effect - until he mentioned the merits of the Avos (who were no longer alive); only *then* was he answered.
Two, (which also proves that the Tzadikim of old were even greater after death than the leaders who lived in the time of Shlomoh): when a King issues a decree, one does not know whether the people will obey him or not; and even if they do, that is only during his lifetime; after his death, one can be quite certain, that people will no longer adhere to the dead king's decree. Yet see how Moshe Rabeinu issued many decrees (such as the obligation to discuss the Dinim of Yom-Tov on Yom-Tov), and to this day, millennia later, his decrees are still being kept.

(c) Another example of the greatness of Tzadikim *after their death*, is that of David, who pleaded with Hashem to forgive him for the sin of Bas Sheva, and then to make a sign by which everyone would know that he was forgiven - to which Hashem replied that he would make such a sign, but only after his death.
What was that sign?
When Shlomoh wanted to bring the Aron ha'Kodesh into the Kodesh ha'Kodoshim, the gates refused to open, and even the twenty-four songs of praise that he sang, did nothing to change the situation, until he mentioned his father David; then and only then, did the gates condescend to open. Then everybody (even David's enemies) knew, without the slightest shadow of doubt, that David's sin had been forgiven.

(a) The gates wanted to destroy Shlomoh ha'Melech when he asked them to open and let 'the King of Glory' enter (which they took to mean himself).

(b) It was only when he explained to them that it was "Hashem, the G-d of Hosts, who is the King of Glory' and that it was He to whom he was referring, that they relented.

(c)

1. "va'Yelchu le'Oholeihem" - to find their wives Tahor;
2. "Semeichim" - because they drew inspiration from the Shechinah;
3. "ve'Tovei Lev" - that each and every man's wife became pregnant and gave birth to a son;
4. "Al Kol ha'Tovah Asher Asah Hashem le'David Avdo" - that Hashem had forgiven him for the sin of Bas Sheva;
5. "u'le'Yisrael Amo" - that He had forgiven them for the sin of eating on Yom Kipur (due to the celebrations following the completion of the Beis Hamikdash).

(a) Hashem told David that nobody knows when he will die.

(b) When David was informed that he would die on Shabbos, he asked Hashem whether, in order to avoid the responsibility (even after death) of Chillul Shabbos, he would not be allowed to die on Sunday instead. Hashem replied that this was impossible, since Shlomoh was already destined to rule on Sunday, and David would be encroaching, if he were to rule until Sunday and to die then.

(c) "Ki Tov Yom ba'Chatzerecha me'Alef" - Hashem told him that just one day of David's Torah-study was worth more to Him than a thousand offerings that Shlomoh would later sacrifice in one day.

(d) From that day on, David would spend the entire Shabbos studying Torah, from morning till night, in order to deny the Angel of Death access to him.

(e) The Angel of Death shook the trees in David's orchard, making a terrible racket, and attracting his attention, at which, still deep in learning, he went out to investigate. As he was climbing the tree, the Angel of Death broke the ladder from under David, and it was then that David stopped learning and the Angel of Death took his life.

5)

(a) 'My dead father is lying in the sun, and the dogs of his household are hungry (what shall I do)', Shlomoh asked the Chachamim?

(b) They told him to cut up a carcass and feed it to the hungry dogs; and to place a loaf of bread or a baby on his father's body, and then to move him him from the sun to the shade.

(c) Shlomoh learnt from the Chachamim's answer that "a live dog is better than a dead lion", since on behalf of the dogs, he was permitted to move a carcass, which is normally Muktzah, whereas they permitted him to move his father (whom he compared to a lion - no doubt taking his cue from Ya'akov Avinu, who called Yehudah a "Gur Aryeh"), only together with a loaf of bread or a baby. Alternatively, they answered the question pertaining to the dogs before the one pertaining to his father (despite the fact that he posed them in the reverse order).

(a) Regarding the Sha'aleh concerning extinguishing a lamp for a dying person, Rebbi Tanchum ruled, that since the Soul of man is also called a lamp, it is better to extinguish the human lamp before the lamp of Hashem.

(b) The *real* reason for this ruling is the Pasuk in Vayikra "va'Chai Bahem" - ve'Lo she'Yamus Bahem'.

(c) Nevertheless, Rebbi Tanchum chose to give them the answer that he did, because there were women present and men who were less learned, and they needed a more attractive answer.

(a) They decided not to hide the Book of Koheles, because it begins and ends with words of Torah. So they figured that the middle must contain words of Torah, too.

(b) "Below the sun" (meaning after the sun was created), they inferred, there is nothing worthwhile, but before the sun, there *is* (this refers to Torah, which was created two thousand years before the world).

(c) The final Pasuk in Koheles reads "Sof Davar, ha'Kol Nishma, es ha'Elokim Yera ve'es Mitzvosav Shemor, Ki Zeh Kol ha'Adam".

(d) "Ki Zeh Kol ha'Adam" refers to the man who fears G-d, to tell us that he is the most important person in the world, because the purpose of the entire creation is the fear of Hashem.

(a)

1. "Tov Ka'as mi'Sechok' means that the anger that Hashem displays towards the righteous in this world, is preferable to the laughter that He laughs with the wicked in this world - because the former brings the Tzadik to the World to Come, whilst the latter brings the Rasha to Gehinom. "ve'li'Sechok Amarti Mehulal" refers to the laughter that Hashem will laugh with the righteous in the World to Come.
2. "ve'Shibachti Ani es ha'Simchah" refers to 'Simchah shel Mitzvah'; "u'le'Simchah Mah Zoh Osah" to Simchah which is not based on a Mitzvah.

(b) Hashra'as ha'Shechinah, a Devar Halachah and a good dream all need Simchah shel Mitzvah in order to succeed.

(c) Since Elisha wanted the minstrel to play for him in order to prophecy - that is a Mitzvah, so the Simchah of hearing the music is, in effect, 'a Simchah shel Mitzvah.

(a) By explaining "*Mor* Over", as *Mar* Over, and *Shosha*nim as *she'Sho*nim (from the Lashon 'Mishnah'), the Pasuk will mean that Torah learning must be accompanied by a bitterness - meaning a Fear of Hashem - and not by jokes.

(b) When we learnt earlier that a Devar Halachah requires a Simchah shel Mitzvah, it was referring to the Rav - the Talmid must be imbued with Yir'as Shamayim. Alternatively, both statements apply to the Rav, and even he should only begin the Shiur with a joke (like Rabbah used to do), but, after that, he too must continue to learn and teach, whilst displaying the Fear of Hashem.

(c) Even when they discovered apparent discrepancies between the book of Mishlei and the Torah, they nevertheless extended their original decision not to hide Koheles to Mishlei, because, they reckoned, having resolved the discrepancies in Koheles, they would probably be able to resolve those in Mishlei. too.

(a)&(b) "Al Ta'an Kesil ke'Avlaso" refers to secular matters, "Anei Kesil ke'Avlaso", to Divrei Torah where it is permitted, even laudable, to answer him, in order to vindicate the words of Torah.

(c) It was Rebbi's prayer that he recited daily that prevented people who did not like him from calling his children 'Mamzeirim'. The Tefilah is the one that we say every day after Birchos ha'Shachar: 'Yehi Ratzon etc., she'Tatzileini ha'Yom u've'Chol Yom me'Azei Panim u'me'Azus Panim' etc.

(a) Rabban Gamliel learnt from "Harah ve'Yoledes Yachdav" that in time to Come, women will give birth every day.

(b) That Talmid thought it very funny, because 'there is nothing new under the sun', and who'se ever heard of a woman having children every day?!

(c) So Rabban Gamliel (true to the Pasuk "Anei Kesil ke'Avlaso") showed him a chicken, which lays eggs every day.

(a) When that Talmid mocked Rabban Gamliel, who taught that, in the days of Mashi'ach, the trees will bear fruit every day, he showed him the caper-bush, which produces three different kinds of fruit at different periods.

(b) And when that Talmid laughed at him, for saying that bread and silk garments will grow on trees, he pointed out that mushrooms also emerge from the ground overnight - ready to eat, and as for the silk garments, he showed him the fiber-like strands which grow on a date-palm, together with the new branches that grow each year.