Bava Basra - Daf 91

• Audio Timestamps

0:00 - The 3 Sugyos

1:50 - Review of 3 Sugyos

3:35- Siman

4:41 - 4 Blatt Back Chazarah

15:06 - Pop Quiz (Last 7 blatt)

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• One may not leave Eretz Yisroel, and the death of אלימלך and his sons

A Baraisa states: אין יוצאין מארץ לחו"ל – one may not leave Eretz Yisroel to live in חוץ לארץ, אלא אם כן עמדו סאתים בסלע – unless two סאה of wheat cost a sela. Rebbe Shimon says it is only permitted to leave if there is no wheat to purchase; if there is, he may not leave even if a single סאה costs a sela.

Similarly, Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai used to say that אלימלך, מחלון, and כליון, who were גדולי הדור ופרנסי הדור – the great men of the generation and the caretakers of the generation, were punished to die, מפני שיצאו מארץ לחוצה לארץ – because they left Eretz Yisroel to live in חוץ לארץ during a famine. On amud beis, Rebbe Yehoshua ben Korchah says: חס ושלום שאפי' מצאו סובין לא יצאו – Heaven forbid! Even if they had found bran in Eretz Yisroel, they would not have left, and they left because even that could not be found. He explains, then, why they were punished: שהיה להן לבקש רחמים על דורם ולא בקשו – because they should have beseeched Hashem for mercy for their generation and they did not.

• Avraham’s imprisonment, and the reaction of the nations’ great men on his פטירה

Rav Chanan bar Rava said in Rav’s name: עשר שנים נחבש אברהם אבינו – Avraham Avinu was imprisoned for ten years, שלש בכותא ושבע בקרדו – three in Cusa and seven in Kardu. Rav Dimi of Nehardea taught the reverse (seven years in Cusa and three in Kardu). The Rashbam explains he was imprisoned by Nimrod and quotes a source that his father Terach imprisoned him for destroying his idols. Rav Chisda identifies Ivra Zeira of Cusa as אור כשדים, where Avraham was miraculously saved from the fire. Rav Chanan bar Rav said in Rav’s name that the day that Avraham Avinu was niftar, all the great men of the world’s nations stood in a line and said: אוי לו לעולם שאבד מנהיגו – “Woe to the world that lost its leader, ואוי לה לספינה שאבד קברינטא – and woe to the ship that lost its helmsman!”

• Rebbe Yochanan’s recollections

The Gemara quotes five recollections of Rebbe Yochanan. (1) “I remember when four סאה of wheat once cost only a sela, yet there were many people in Teveria whose stomachs were swollen from hunger, because there was no money with which to buy it.” (2) “I remember when workers would not hire themselves out to work to the east of the city, because they would die from the smell of the bread which was blown from the city.” (3) “I remember when a child would break open a carob, and a stream of its honey would flow over his arms.” (4) נהירנא כד הוו מטיילין טליא וטלייתא בשוקא – “I remember when a boy and girl would play together in the marketplace, כבר שית עשרה וכבר שב עשרה – at the age of sixteen or seventeen, ולא הוו חטאן – and they would not sin.” (5) “I remember when they used to say in the Beis Medrash: דמודי להון נפיל בידיהון – He who accepts [idolators] falls into their hands; דמתרחיץ עליהון דיליה דילהון – he who trusts them, everything that is his will be theirs.”

Siman – Exit Sign

The great Rabbi standing at a large exit sign at the borders of Eretz Yisroel that said: Do Not Leave and depicted the graves of a Jewish leader and his two sons, saw off in the distance the prison where Avraham Avinu was kept for many years, and recalled how years earlier teenage boys and girls would play together under the exit sign in the marketplace and not sin.