.ו Enlighten Us

אמר רב עמרם הא מילתא אמר לן רב ששת ואנהר לן עיינין ממתניתין

It would seem that רב עמרם chose these specific words, "he enlightened our eyes," very deliberately. רב ששת was blind. This is not ח"ו to insult רב ששת but rather as a form of extended praise, as if to say "we can physically see and he cannot. Nevertheless, it is he who enlightens our eyes with his exposition of the משנה. In fact, שוב מצאתי, in the Artscroll that they make the very same observation and also point out that this terminology is actually used quite often, specifically with regards to רב ששת.

:ד How did he know?

והאיכא בן עזאי דלא נסיב איבעית אימא נסיב ופירש הוה ואיבעית אימא מרביה שמיע ליה ואיבעית אימא סוד ה' ליראיו

תוספות ד. ד"ה בן עזאי אומר. האי דמקדים בן עזאי לרבי עקיבא אע"ג דרבי עקיבא היה רבו כדאמר בפרק הרואה

The first difficulty here is that, as תוספות clearly states, בן עזאי's rebbe was in fact רבי עקיבא. But רבי עקיבא was one of the other תנאים who weighed in on this matter. So how could their opinions differ? One must be forced to say that בן עזאי had yet another רב from whom he received this tradition.

The last answer is also puzzling. It must be that the סוד ה' ליראיו in this case is what the שיעור would have been had בן עזאי married. It could not be a transmission that this is the true measure for if so, what does that mean for all the other opinions?

שוב מצאתי that the Artscroll makes both these points.

:ס Man of Compromise

א"ר פפא הלכך נמרינהו לתרוייהו

This phrase should be somewhat familiar. We had it back on .נ"ט and yet again on :נ"ט. What is most intriguing, however, is that each time the suggestion to resolve a dispute on the wording of a ברכה by including both opinions, it is made by רב פפא. This seems to be a unique trait of רב פפא. See the מסורת הש"ס on .נ"ט for more references including the text of הרב את רבינו which we will be saying very soon (:מגילה כ"א).

.כ R' Yochanan's Beauty

ר' יוחנן הוה רגיל דהוה קא אזיל ויתיב אשערי דטבילה אמר כי סלקן בנות ישראל ואתיין מטבילה מסתכלן בי ונהוי להו זרעא דשפירי כוותי

As is documented in a number of places, ר' יוחנן was quite a noticeably attractive individual. However, earlier on, at the beginning of the second י"ג:) פרק) we find that he was also quite a large man - not just overweight or even clinically obese - so large that it was too difficult for him to sit up to recite קריאת שמע when he was on his bed. Clearly, in the times of the גמרא these two attributes were not mutually exclusive.