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1) [line 3] "BENEI YEFES GOMER U'MAGOG U'MADAI V'YAVAN V'SUVAL, U'MESHECH V'SIRAS" (Bereishis 10:2)

2) [line 4] GOMER ZEH GERMAMYA - (a) "Gomer" refers to the country of "Germamya"; (b) alternatively "Germania" (VILNA GAON; see also YA'AVETZ to Megilah 6b)

(a) "Germamya" is identified with Cimeria. The Cimerians, who originally lived to the north of the Black Sea, extended their territorial rule to the south of the Black Sea (ousting the native Phrygians). The Cimerians are considered to have originally been a Nordic people, coming from the Germanic peoples of northern Europe. (Some sources identify them as the Cimbri of Jutland -- a peninsula comprising the mainland of Denmark and Schleswig- Holstein, Germany.) The peninsula extending into the northern part of the Black Sea known today as "Crimea" was the original land of the Cimerians. "Germamya" is indeed used by the Targum for Yechezkel 38:6, as a translation for "Beis *Togarma*" (Togarma was one of the sons of Gomer, Bereishis 10:3).

(b) "Germania" was the name used for the area occupied by today's Germany (MUSAF HE'ARUCH; RAV YAKOV EMDEN, Megilah 6b). "Ashkenaz," the common name for today's Germany, was in fact another son of Gomer (a brother of Togarma).

(c) The Targum Yonasan and Yerushalmi (Bereishis 10:2) and Bereishis Raba (37:1), though, differ with our Sugya and translate Gomer as "Africa," and *Magog* as "Germania." In keeping with this translation, the Targum Yerushalmi translates Togarma as Barbary (the northern coast of Africa).

(a) Kandiya is the old name for present-day Heraklion, a Greek port founded in the 9th century (!) and the capital of Crete until 1841.
(b) Kunta, Gumta or Ginta refers to Scythia, in what is now southern Russia and the Ukraine, immediately north of the Black Sea (and the Crimean Peninsula).
(c) Gothia or Githia refers to the Goths, a Teutonic (ancient German tribal) people who migrated to Scythia in the third century C.E., settling near the Cimerians. The Goths had a large hand in the fall of the Roman Empire (MOSAF HE'ARUCH).
(d) As stated above, the Targumim and Bereishis Raba have Magog as Germania, or Germany (and Gomer as Africa).

5) [line 5] YAVAN K'MASHMA'O - the Girsa of the Ein Yakov, the Yerushalmi (Megilah 1:9) and the Targumim and Bereishis Raba (ibid.), "YAVAN ZU MAKADONIYA", i.e. Macedonia.
Macedonia, or Macedon, was an ancient kingdom centered directly north of Greece, across the Adriatic Sea from the "boot" of Italy. It was the birthplace of Alexander the Great (or "Alexandrus Mokdon," as the Gemara refers to him). Present day Macedonia, which is in the same general region, was formerly part of Yugoslavia and was formally recognized in 1993 after achieving a compromise with Greece concerning a dispute over the name "Macedonia."

6) [line 6] TUVAL ZEH BEIS ONAIKI - Tuval refers to Beth-Onaiki;
alternatively Yethynia (Targumim on Bereishis 10:2; Bereishis Raba 37) i.e. Bitonaiaci or Bithynia, an ancient district in northwest Asia Minor, southwest shore of the Black Sea, to the east of the Bosporus Strait (a strait 17 miles across, joining the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara -- which leads to the Aegean and eventually the Mediterranean Sea -- and separating Europe from Asia Minor). Bithynia is part of modern-day Turkey.

7) [line 6] MESHECH ZU MUSI'A - Meshech refers to Mysia, the land immediately to the west of Bithynia, along the Dardenelles Strait (Helespont) which connects the Aegean and Marmara Seas.

8) [line 8] [TIRAS] ZU BEIS TARYAKI - Tiras refers to Beis Taryakei, or Tarki (OXFORD MANUSCRIPT, AGADOS HA'TALMUD and ARUCH). This refers to Thrace, a people who lived in the Balkans, west of the Black Sea, in what is now the European part of Turkey and Bulgaria. Turkey derives its name from Thrace.

9) [line 9] [TIRAS] ZU PARAS - Tiras refers to Persia. Persia is the ancient -- and modern official -- name of Iran.

10) [line 10] "[U'VENEI CHUSH SEVA VA'CHAVILAH] V'SAVTAH V'RA'MAH V'SAVTECHA, [U'VENEI RA'AMAH SHEVA U'DEDAN]" (Bereishis 10:7)

11) [line 10] RA'AMAH - Targum Yonasan ben Uzi'el translates Ra'amah as Libya and Maruitania, in north and west Africa, respectively. The people of Ra'amah traded in spices, precious stones and gold (Yechezkel 27:22)

12a) [line 10] [SAVTAH:] SAKISTAN GAVYASA - (a) inner Sakastan, a district in Drangonia (Drangiana) in the Persian Empire, occupied by Scythians. This district is on the border between the modern day Afghanistan and Iran, in the area of the Sea of Seistan. (b) Alternatively, Sakvastan (ARUCH), i.e. Socaston, the Greek and Roman name for Tatary, or Mongolia, the area in which the barbarian Tatars (Tartars) originated.

b) [line 11] [SAVTECHA:] SAKISTAN BERYASA - outer Sakastan, which surrounded inner Sakastan

13) [line 12] "VA'TEHI REISHIS MAMLACHTO BAVEL V'ERECH V'AKAD V'CHALNEH, [B'ERETZ SHIN'AR]" (Bereishis 10:10)

14) [line 13] BAVEL - Babylon, the ancient capital of Babylonia, now ruins, on the Euphrates River, 55 miles south of Baghdad.

15) [line 14] ERECH ZEH URICHUS - Uruk was an ancient name for Erech, a city in Chaldea (= Kasdim; a region on the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf which was originally the southern part of Babylonia) near Ur, on the lower Euphrates River. Ur, the birthplace of Avraham, was located near the Persian Gulf before it receded. Ur had developed a flourishing civilization by about 3500 B.C.E. and had extended its power over neighboring areas and northern Mesopotamia by the second millennium B.C.E. It was destroyed in circa 2009 BCE by the Elamites and Amorites, although its ziggurat (a pyramidal tower of worship -- according to many, the remains of Migdal Bavel, see Sanhedrin 109a) remained.

16) [line 14] AKAD ZEH BASHKAR - Akad refers to Bashkar, or Kashkar (manuscripts cited by Dikdukei Sofrim), i.e. Cashkar or Cascara in Babylonia. This was the royal city of Akkad, the capital of northern Babylonia. The exact site of the city is unknown, although it was near Sippar and about thirty miles north of Babylon.

17) [line 15, 16] "MIN HA'ARETZ HA'HI YATZA ASHUR, VA'YIVEN ES NINEVEH V'ES RECHOVOS IR V'ES KALACH" (Bereishis 10:11)

18) [line 15] KALNEH ZEH NOFER (NINFI) - Kalneh refers to Nofer, or Nifer (ARUCH -- the word "Ninfi" does not appear in any of the manuscript sources), the modern city of Niffer, or Nippur, midway between Erech and Babylon on the Euphrates River.

19) [line 16] ASHUR ZEH SILAK - (a) Silak, or Selik (DIKDUKEI SOFRIM and ARUCH), (b) alternatively, "Ashur Zeh Noach" (ARUCH, RABEINU ELYAKIM and TOSFOS RID)

(a) Selik, i.e. Seleucia, was a city along the Tigris near Babylon and Ctesiphon, the ancient capital of the Seleucids, a member of the Alexandrian dynasty in Syria and western Asia, founded by Seleucius I, one of the generals of Alexander the Great.

(b) The TOSFOS RID explains that Ashur refers to Noach himself, who still lived until ten years after the contstruction of Migdal Bavel. During the last ten years of his life he founded the four cities mentioned in the verse.

21) [line 18] KALACH ZU PERAS D'BORSIF - Borsof on the Euphrates. Borsif, or Borsippa, lies some twenty miles south of Babylon on the Euphrates.

22) [line 20] RESEN ZEH AKTISFON - Ctesiphon, a city on the Tigris, now ruins. It was the capital of Parthia (an ancient country of Northeast Iran) and the Parthian Empire, and afterwards of the Sassanid Empire. (According to the TARGUM YERUSHALMI and the MIDRASH, Kalneh, which is mentioned two verses earlier, is Akistefon.)

23) [line 26] MEYUMAN SHEB'ACHIM - the strongest of the brothers
24) [line 26] K'SHECHISOS - like pits (because of his heavy footsteps)
25) [line 27] TELAMIM TELAMIM - like rows of furrows of the plough
26) [line 27] ANAS - possibly Beis Anas in the portion of Naftali, mentioned in Yehoshua 19:38

27) [line 28] ALUSH - possibly one of the stations of Benei Yisrael in the desert (Bamidbar 33:13, according to the PEIRUSH YONASAN to TARGUM YONASAN BEN UZIEL)

28) [line 28] TALBOSH - possibly Ptlolemais, an ancient name for Ako (Acre)
29) [line 28] SHE'MA'ANIKIN HA'CHAMAH B'KOMASAN - who make the "window of the sun" (the place in the sky at the eastern and western horizons where the sun appears to exit and enter the sky) seem to be their necklace because of their great height

30) [line 29] "LACHEN SHIM'U ... IM LO YASHIM ALEIHEM NEVEHEM." -
"Therefore, hear the counsel of HaSh-m that He has devised against Edom, and His thoughts that he has conceived against those who live in Teiman: the youngest of the flock will indeed drag them off; he will indeed devastate their pasture." (Yirmeyahu 49:20)

31) [line 32] "VEHA'TZAFIR ..." - "The he-goat, the kingdom of Yavan (Greece) ..." (Daniel 8:21)

32) [line 34] ZUTRA D'ACHOHI - the youngest of the brothers
33) [line 37] BENOY B'YAD SETUREI? - the builders should fall into the hands of the destroyers?

34) [line 41] "LACHEN YITNEM ..." - "Therefore, He will deliver them [to their enemies] until the time that a woman in childbirth gives birth; then the rest of his brothers will return with Benei Yisrael." (Michah 5:2) - According to the simple meaning, this verse is referring to Benei Yisrael. The Gemara takes it out of context to refer to the reign of Edom as a world power.

35) [line 45] "V'HIKESI ..." - "'I will strike the winter house along with the summer house; [the houses of ivory will be lost, and many houses will be destroyed,' says HaSh-m.]" (Amos 3:15)

36) [line 46] ERUV
(a) THE TORAH LAW - According to Torah law, in a courtyard (Chatzer) which has in it houses (and/or Sukos, according to Rebbi Yehudah) owned by different people, all of the neighbors may transfer objects from their houses to the courtyard and into other houses on Shabbos. Even though each house is a separately owned Reshus ha'Yachid and the Chatzer is a joinly owned Reshus ha'Yachid, it is permissible to move objects from one Reshus ha'Yachid to another.

(b) ERUV CHATZEIROS - King Shlomo decreed that transferring objects from one Reshus ha'Yachid to another is forbidden unless an *Eruv Chatzeiros* (lit. a mixing of the courtyard, Rambam Hil. Eruvin 1:6; or fraternization of the courtyard, Eruvin 49a) is created on Friday, before Shabbos begins (Shabbos 14b, Eruvin 21b). This is accomplished by all of the neighbors collectively setting aside a loaf of bread, in one common container, in one of the houses of the courtyard. This shows that all neighbors have an equal share in all of the Reshuyos ha'Yachid, just as they all have a share in that bread. Through this act, they can be considered one Reshus again. (RAMBAM ibid. 1:4-9)

37) [last line] MA'ASER
By Torah Law, a person is required to tithe his grain only if he harvests it in a normal manner. This includes removing the chaff in the field, piling up the grain there and bringing it through the front door of his house (Berachos 35b). He is then required to tithe his grain; it becomes "Hukba l'Ma'aser" (designated for tithing).

38) [line 17] CHAVUSH - imprisoned

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