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1)

(a) We learn from the Pasuk "ve'Safdah ha'Aretz Mishpechos Mishpechos" - that after the battle of Gog and Magog, at the Hesped that will subsequently take place, they will be divided into families, the family of Beis David on its own and the women on their own.

(b) We learn from there the 'Kal va'Chomer' of which we just spoke - if men and women need to be separated for a *Hesped*, and at a time where there is *no* Yetzer-ha'Ra, then how much more so for a *Simchah*, and when there *is*.

(c) Rebbi Dosa and the Rabbanan argue over the identity of the 'person' who will be eulogized - according to the one, it will be Mashi'ach ben Yosef; according to the other, it will be the Yetzer ha'Ra.

(d) The problem with the second opinion is that - surely the death of the Yetzer ha'Ra is more of a reason to rejoice than to hold a Hesped?

(a) Rebbi Yehudah explains that it is both the Tzadikim and the Resha'im who will weep.

1. The Tzadikim will weep - when they see the immense size of the Yetzer- ha'Ra. They will cry with incredulity, unable to conceive how they could overcome such a huge antagonist (who is really nothing less than a reflection of their own greatness).
2. The Resha'im will weep - when they see how small their Yetzer ha'Ra is. They will weep out of consternation, unable to believe that they were unable to overcome such a weak enemy (who is nothing more than a reflection of their own smallness).

(b) Hashem will react to their weeping - by expressing as much amazement as they "Gam be'Einai Yipalei"!

(c) The Yetzer ha'Ra is at first as easy to break as cob-webs. Later, as one gives in to him, it become as difficult to break him as the ropes with which one ties the cow to the plow-share (in spite of the fact that he becomes smaller, as we just saw).

(d) Mashi'ach ben David will eventually ask Hashem to deliver the nations into his hands. Initially, when he sees Mashi'ach ben Yosef lying slain - he will ask for life. Hashem however, will respond that - his ancestor David has already prophesied in Tehilim that he will live.

(a) The Yetzer ha'Ra has seven names (each one describing either his character or his tactics): Hashem called him 'evil' - Moshe called him Areil (uncircumcised).

(b) David called him 'Tamei'. His son Shlomoh called him 'Sonei' (enemy).

(c) When Shlomoh advised that one feeds him bread and water when he is hungry - he meant that one should study Torah, which is called both 'bread' and 'water'.

(d) If one follows Shlomoh's advice - it is like pouring hot coals on the Yetzer ha'Ra's head, and will cause Hashem to force the Yetzer ha'Ra to make peace with him.

(a) Yeshayah referred to the Yetzer ha'Ra as a stumbling-block - Yechezkel, as a stone.

(b) The Navi Yo'el called him 'Tzif'oni' - meaning hidden, because he is hidden inside a person's heart (because one is not aware that he is there).

(c) The Tzif'oni (which also can mean a snake) sets his sights on 'the former Sea' - the first Beis Hamikdash, and on 'the latter Sea' - the second Beis Hamikdash.

(d) The Beis Hamikdash is referred to as 'a Sea' - because everyone goes there, just like all the rivers flow into the sea.

(a) The Yetzer ha'Ra is more concerned with Jews than with Nochrim - he also prefers the Talmidei-Chachamim to the Amei ha'Aretz.

(b) When Abaye overheard that man suggest to a female co-traveler that they travel together - convinced that they would sin, he decided to follow them and to stop them from sinning when the need arose.

(c) When their ways parted, one pointed out to the other that, unfortunately, their destinations were far apart, and how nice it would have been to have finished their journey together.

(d) When Abaye, thinking that he must be on a lower level than those two travelers, became depressed - that old man consoled him by informing him that the greater a person, the more powerful his Yetzer ha'Ra.

6)

(a) Based on the Pasuk "Rak Ra Kol ha'Yom", Rav Yitzchak learns that the Yetzer ha'Ra works full-time to get a Jew to sin. Resh Lakish adds that he also wants to kill him, because the Pasuk in Tehilim writes "Tzofeh Rasha la'Tzadik, u'Mevakesh Lahamiso ... ".

(b) A person on his own, stands no chance against an angel - that is why David Hamelech adds "Hashem Lo Ya'azvenu be'Yado", to teach us that with Hashem's assistance (through Tefilah), and with Hashem's assistance alone, one can overcome him.

(c) If one takes the Yetzer ha'Ra to the Beis Hamedrash, if he is ...

1. ... a stone - he will melt.
2. ... iron - he will break into a thousand pieces (See Tosfos DH 'Im Barzel Hu', who suggests that the correct text might be the reverse). According to Rashi, the Pasuk ("u'che'Patish Yefotzetz Sela") refers to the myriad of sparks that fly from the rock when it is struck with a hammer.

(d) After enticing a person in this world - the Yetzer ha'Ra testifies against him in the World to Come (elsewhere, Chazal say that he is also the Satan, as well as being the Angel of Death). "Manon" means testimony, using the 'Alfa Beisa' of 'A-t.ba-ch', where 'Alef='Tav', 'Beis'='Ches', and so on (of the units - each pair of which add up to ten); 'Yud'='Tzadei', 'Chaf'='Pei', and so on (in the tens - that add up to a hundred), and 'Kuf'=final 'Tzadei' [whose true numerical value is nine hundred], 'Reish'='final 'Pei' (in the hundreds - that add up to a thousand). the 'Hey', 'Nun' and final 'Chaf' - which have no 'partner' - join together to make the final group. In this way "Manon"= "Sahadah" ('Mem'='Samech', 'Nun'='Hei', 'Vav'='Daled', 'Nun'='Hei'), which is the Aramaic for 'Eidus' - testimony.

(a) Initially, the Yetzer ha'Ra just leads a person astray, and it is only after he has sinned that he enters him to become an integral part of his being (like with Adam ha'Rishon). Nasan ha'Navi described to David Hamelech the Yetzer ha'Ra in his three progressive stages: first of all - 'a passer- by', then - 'a guest' and finally, once he has established himself as being in charge - the 'master of the house'.

(b) The little limb that is satisfied when one starves it, but starved when one satisfies it - is none other than the Eiver ha'Milah, which, the more one gives it, the more it wants (in the same vein as what Chazal say with regard to money 'Yesh Lo Manah, Rotzeh Masayim' - someone who has *one* Manah, wants *two*).

(c) Hashem was 'sorry' for having created the Kasdim and the Yishme'eilim - the Yetzer ha'Ra and Galus (the institution of exile).

(a) The common denominator in the following three Pesukim is that Hashem (Kevayachol) shoulders part of the blame for our sins, inasmuch as he blames Himself for creating the Yetzer ha'Ra in the first place, admits that *He* controls a person's heart, and testifies that the Yetzer ha'Ra turns a person's heart into stone: "I did evil" (in creating the Yetzer ha'Ra - past); "Behold he is like clay in the hands of a potter" - present; "And I shall remove the stone-heart from your flesh" - future.

(b) Hashem showed Yechezkel four artisans: Mashi'ach ben David, Mashi'ach ben Yosef - who will build the Beis-Hamikdash (perhaps the latter will help plan it before being slain), Eliyahu ha'Navi - who built the Mizbe'ach on Har ha'Carmel (with its intricate system of water-trenches), and Kohen Tzedek - alias Shem ben No'ach, who helped construct the giant boat that withstood the waters of the flood for a whole year.

(c) When Chisda asked Rav Chana bar Bizna (also known as 'Bagdesa'a' - from Baghdad) how these four can possibly fit the description "These are the horns that will scatter Yehudah", he replied that they are not supposed to fit, because that phrase belongs with the phrase that follows it, which speaks of the nations that set out to destroy Yehudah. The Navi is informing us that the four artisans will destroy those nations.

(d) When Rav Sheshes heard Rav Chana's reply - he exclaimed that he was no match for Rav Chana when it came to the world of Agadah.

(a) David will be in the middle, and Adam, Shes and Mesushelach flanked him on his right - the three world leaders who will flank him on his left will be Avraham, Ya'akov and Moshe.

(b) Yitzchak will not be among them - because he will have gone to plead with Hashem to save his people Yisrael from the Din of Gehinom (see Shabbos 89b).

(c) Yishai, Shaul, Shmuel, Amos, Tzefanyah and Tzidkiyah (or Chizkiyahu) are six of the world's greatest monarchs - the remaining two are Mashi'ach and Eliyahu.

(a) The height of the Menoros that they used for the Simchas Beis ha'Sho'eivah - was fifty Amos (approximately eighty feet).

(b) When the young Kohanim climbed the four ladders that led up to one of the bowls - *between them* they held jars that contained 120 Lugin (720 egg- volumes) of oil; each one held a bowl containing thirty Lugin.

(c) These Kohanim displayed more agility than the son of Marsa bas Baytus - who would walk up the ramp of the Mizbe'ach (using goose-steps), carrying the two thighs of a large ox, until the other Kohanim stopped him - on account of the Pasuk 'be'Rov Am Hadras Melech' (the more people who are recruited to serve Hashem, the greater the Kavod).

(d) The feat of the young Kohanim carrying the jars of oil was greater than that of Marsa bas Baytus' son - inasmuch as not only is a ramp (with its solid surface) generally easier to climb than a ladder, but, in addition, the ramp of the Mizbe'ach was nowhere near as steep as the ladders of the Simchas Beis Hasho'eivah were.

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