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When learning Gemara I sometimes run into a phrase that says:

"On this answer they asked all the questions that were asked earlier on the page and they were answered the same way they were answered there"

(Beitzah 18a, 9 lines from the bottom)

Am I supposed to go back and and read/learn those questions & answers again at this point in order to actually learn the sugya properly?
If I don't review the questions/answers at this point in the Gemara, can I make a siyum on the Mesechta or is it considered as if I skipped something?

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    I think this is a good question on Talmudic methodology: where the gemara refers back to itself, should we reread the section to which it is referring in light of where the reference to it lies? In other words, is it akin to Rashi or Tosfos, etc, referring to something in another masekhta? If we want to properly learn that Rashi or that Tosfos, obviously we need to look up the reference. Or is it like places in which the gemara alludes to something that is coming up later in the same text? In those instances, surely we are not supposed to look ahead, but to read up until that point. – Shimon bM Feb 1 '17 at 1:52
  • @ShimonbM "Not supposed to look ahead" might be accurate for the way the Talmud is conventionally studied with Rashi, but what you are really "supposed" to do is to have been present while the discussions on the mishnayot were happening, so looking ahead shouldn't be out of the question either – b a Jun 16 at 9:42

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