Commentary for Berakhot 35:14

TWO ALTAR-HEARTHS OF MOAB. The temple is referred to as שני אריאל מואב, For the names of David and Solomon, who built the temple and descended from Ruth the Moabite.
On a simple level the Gemara us asking: Are all others the children of dead men? Certainly the use of the expression “son of a living man” must have some special connotation. In the precise books the text is as follows: In the prophets it is written חי, living, and we read חיל, mighty. And the Gemara deduces from the written text חי, because חיל is not written as it is read, rather חי. If the word חיל was written as it is read, the Gemara would have no question at all. It is only because the written word is חי that causes us to ask, in what way was this man different than others and why is he called the son of a living man.
The Gemara says That B’noyohu studied the entire Sifra d’bai Rav on a short winter day. Sifra d’bai Rav expounds all the verses in Vayikra and is the most difficult of the books that explain the verses of the Torah. How does the Gemara know that it was this specific book that B’noyohu learned? The Gemara knows that he studied Sifra d’bai Rav from the use of the word ארי to describe the book, because that is the most difficult of all the books that expound the verses of the Torah.
This term is also used to teach us that the book he studied is the Sifra d’dai Rav. The term הבור בתוך implies that the subject is in the center. Since Sifra d’bai Rav expounds Vayikra it can be described as in the center, because Vayikra is in the middle of the s’forim of the Torah.
The Gemara presents the story of Shmuel’s conversation with his father as proof that the dead are aware of what happens among the living. Rashi says that this can be seen from Shmuel’s father knowledge that Shmuel was considered an important person among the living. Tosfos understands that the proof that the dead are aware of what transpires among the living is that he told Shmuel that he would soon be leaving this world. Tosfos has a problem with his explanation. The Gemara just said that there is an angel Dumoh who announces who is about to arrive from this world to the next. If so Shmuel’s father’s knowledge of Shmuel’s imminent arrival does not prove that the dead are generally aware of what transpires on this world. Perhaps Rashi anticipated Tosfos question and wrote that the proof is that his father knew that he was an important person. This of course is not information that he would have received from Dumoh. Tosfos on the other hand may not accept Rashi’s explanation because Shmuel’s father was telling him that he is an important person in the next world not in this world as Rashi explained.
The proof that the dead are aware of what happens on this world is because Shmuel’s father said that you will soon be coming to the next world. And the Gemara could not have answered as it did earlier that Dumoh preceded Shmuel and told them that Shmuel will soon die. For Dumoh’s announcement is only when death is imminent, but so far ahead of Shmuel’s death, Dumoh does not advance the information of who will soon die, for he himself does not know, so far in advance.¹It seems that Tosfos knows that Shmuel did not die immediately and that Dumoh does not have very advanced information. He only knows who is about to die imminently. Perhaps Tosfos knew that Shmuel did not die immediately because it must have taken some time for Shmuel to contact the people who had deposited the orphan’s assets with his father. In the previous story the dead girl said that her friend was coming tomorrow and the Gemara suggested that perhaps she heard from Dumoh. We see that Dumoh has knowledge of what is about to happen imminently. There is no proof that Dumoh knows well in advance who is going to die.

So literally; R.V, : a valiant man.