L'Hamtik ha Daf - RPML


Brochas: 

Daf 50a

And from one's blessings it can be discerned whether or not he is a Torah scholar. How so? Rebbi says (if in the zimun blessing he says) "B'Tuvo" (Blessed is He of whose we have eaten and through whose goodness we live), he is a Talmid Chocham. (But if he says "u'MiTuvu" (and from whose goodness we live) he is an ignoramus.

The Ben haYehoyada writes that a Talmid Chocham is happy with his lot in life and has restrained material needs, focusing on his study of Torah. G-d provides what we need; therefore, by definition what we are given is what we require.  Thus for the Torah scholar "B'Tuvo" represents complete good. By contrast the ignoramus is focused on his material wants; when he is given a hundred, he desires two hundred. "MiTuvo" is as Rashi comments a restrictive description. "From" implies less than all. He is focused on what he does not have, rather than what he does have.

Daf 47a


(Rav Chisda) said to him (Rami bar Chama) ... whoever answers Amen longer than necessary is simply mistaken

The Rabbis taught ... And whoever prolongs his saying Amen, they lengthen his days and his years for him

Tosfos say that answering Amen longer than necessary is simply mistaken because is because it will lead to mispronunciation of the word and because it also delays the moment at which the person who made the Motzi blessing is allowed to eat.

The Maharsha takes a completely different approach. Saying Amen for longer than necessary is simply mistaken because it is predicated on an erroneous assumption that extended life (which prolonging the saying of Amen will cause) is always good. A long life is positive, a life which is longer than appropriate is not. Quality of life, not mere quantity is that to which we should aspire.

Daf 46b

The Rabbis taught in a Brysa: we do not accord honour (by giving on precedence), neither (when travelling) on roads, nor (when passing over) bridges, nor (with regard to washing) soiled hands.

The Ben haYehoyada draws a Mussar message, a moral lesson from this Brysa. The material world, Olam haZeh, is compared to a road and a bridge along which we travel and must pass; and that man is soiled/polluted by the Nachash, (Yeitzer Hora.) The world is thus a vehicle to rid ourselves of this contamination. This is achieved by distancing ourselves from Kovod, honour.