Siman - Eruvin Daf 65
- When is the ideal time for limud haTorah?
The Gemara presents different opinions regarding the ideal time for limud haTorah:
▪ Rav Yehudah said, לא איברי ליליא אלא לשינתא – Night was created specifically for sleeping, which Tosfos explains refers to short summer nights when there is little time to learn.
▪ Reish Lakish said, לא איברא סיהרא אלא לגירסא – The moon’s light was created specifically for limud haTorah.
▪ When people told Rebbe Zeira that his teachings were sharp, he responded, דיממי נינהו – they are from daytime study.
▪ When Rav Chisda’s daughter asked him if he does not need to sleep a little, he responded that soon in the grave there will be days that are long for the purpose of sleeping and short for the purpose of learning and doing mitzvos.
▪ Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said, אנן פועלי דיממי אנן – we who learn Torah are daytime workers.
▪ Rav Acha bar Yaakov, יזיף ופרע – would borrow and repay his learning time. Rashi explains that if he did not complete his learning quota during the day, he would finish it at night.
- Properties of wine
The Gemara lists many properties of wine:
▪ Rebbe Chiya said, כל המתיישב ביינו יש בו דעת שבעים זקנים – Anyone who is settled with a clear mind even after drinking wine, has the דעת of the seventy judges. The gematria of יין is 70 and the gematria of סוד (secret) is 70 to teach that, נכנס יין יצא סוד – when wine enters a person his secret exits, due to the loss of his inhibition. Rashi explains that therefore one whose secret does not come out, and has a clear mind even after drinking, is equal to the seventy judges.
▪ Rebbe Ilai said, בשלשה דברים אדם ניכר – In three ways can a person’s true character be perceived: בכוסו ובכיסו ובכעסו – with his cup of wine, with his wallet and with his anger. Some add, אף בשחקו – also with his laughter.
- Leasing rights in a chatzeir from the landlord
When Reish Lakish and the talmidim of Rebbe Chanina visited an inn of a nochri where they wanted to stay for Shabbos, they wanted to know if they could lease the rights of a house of a nochri who lived in the chatzeir with two Jews, from the landlord, since the tenant was not home. They knew that they could not if the landlord did not have rights to evict the tenant before the lease expires. Their question was specifically in a case where the landlord could. Do we say that since the landlord can evict the tenant, they can lease the rights from him, or do we say that since he has not yet evicted him, they cannot? Reish Lakish said they should, based on ספק דבריהם להקל, one can be lenient with a safek d’Rabbanon. When they returned and asked Rebbe Afeis if they had done the correct thing, he told them that they had.
