Comentario sobre Menajot 3:2

לא יצק – the order of the meal-offering; at the beginning he places the oil in a utensil and after that places the fine-flour, and after that he returns and pours the oil and stirs it and this is explained in the chapter [seven in Tractate Menahot], "אלו המנחות נקמצות" /These meal-offerings are grabbed” [75a

If he did not pour in [the oil], or if he did not mix it, or if he did not break up [the minhah] into pieces, or if he did not salt it, or wave it, or if he did not draw it near, or if he broke it up into large pieces, or if he did not anoint it [with oil], it is valid. This section deals with a case where the priest preparing the minhah did not prepare it in the precisely correct way. With regard to each case I will first explain the correct way to prepare the minhah and then note what he did wrong. He brings a tenth [of an ephah] of flour and a log (a measure) of oil. He puts a little bit of the oil into a vessel and then he puts the flour on top of it and then he pours the rest of the oil on top and mixes it together. If he didn’t pour the oil on afterwards, but rather poured it all into the vessel before he put the flour in, the minhah is still valid. Similarly, if he didn’t mix it up, it is still valid. After having been mixed up, certain minhahs are kneaded in water and then baked in either a shallow or a deep pan. He would then make ten loaves. After the loaves have been baked, he breaks the loaves up into pieces, each about the size of an olive. If he doesn’t break the loaves up or he breaks them up into large pieces, the minhah is still valid. Before a minhah is burned on the altar, the priest salts it. If he doesn’t salt the minhah and only salts the handful, it is still valid (this is how some commentators understand the mishnah, because if the handful is not salted, it is invalid). Some minhah offerings, such as the minhah of jealousy, are waved before they are burned. If they are not waved, they are still valid. The minhah is brought to the altar before it is eaten. If it is not brought there, it is still valid (we will learn more about this in 5:5-6). Certain minhahs, specifically those made into wafers, are not mixed with oil before they are cooked, but rather afterwards. If he doesn’t anoint these minhah “wafers” they are still valid.

לא יצק ולא בלל כשר – as for example, he put all of the oil that was in the Log in the first gift which is prior to performing it. But if he was missing its oil, we stated in the first chapter [Tractate Menahot 11a – see Mishnah 3 in Chapter 1] that it is invalid. And in the Gemara in our chapter [18b], it proves that pouring is indispensable (i.e., it invalidates the act by its omission), and it explains [the phrase] “that he didn’t pour,” that a Kohen didn’t pour, but rather a non-Kohen (i.e., literally, “a foreigner”), that from the grabbing of a handful of meal-offering is the command for the priesthood, but pouring and stirring/kneading are appropriate for a foreigner (i.e., non-Kohen), but it teaches, that he didn’t stir, by force it means that he didn’t mix/stir at all, for mixing/stirring definitely is not indispensable and our Mishnah should be read as follows: “if a Kohen did not pour but rather [it was done] by a foreigner, or he didn’t stir/mix at all, it is appropriate/kosher.

If the handful of one minhah was mixed with the handful of another, or with a priest’s minhah, or with the minhah of the anointed [high] priest, or with the minhah offered with the libations, it is valid. Rabbi Judah says: if [it was mixed] with the minhah of the anointed [high] priest or with the minhah offered with libations, it is invalid, for since the consistency of the one is thick and the consistency of the other is thin, each absorbs from the other. This section deals with various minhah offerings whose handfuls are mixed up with one another. According to the first opinion, it doesn’t matter which handful is mixed up with which handful, they all remain valid and they can all be put on the altar. Rabbi Judah says that if the handful from a regular Israelite minhah gets mixed up with the handful from either the minhah of the high priest or the minhah of libations then the mixture cannot be offered because the consistency of these minhahs is different. The minhah of the high priest and the minhah of libations have three logs of oil per tenth of an ephah of flour, whereas the regular Israelite minhah has only one log per tenth of flour. If they are mixed together the Israelite minhah will absorb from the other minhahs and its mixture will become thinner, and the mixture of the high priest’s minhah or minhah of libations will become thicker. In other words, they will become of uniform viscosity, and neither of them will stay as they are required to be.

לא פתת (didn’t break the meal-offering into small pieces) – as it is written (Leviticus 2:6): “Break it into bits [and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering].” Even though it is written regarding a meal offering fried on a flat pan alone, the same law applies for all the meal-offerings that are baked first, such as for example, meal-offerings prepared in a flat pan and meal-offerings prepared in a deep pan, fried in a container filled with oil and that which is baked, it is commandmen to crumble all of them and afterwards take a handful of the meal-offering. And in a case wherehe did not crumble other than in order to take a fistful

לא מלח –[he did not salt] the entire meal-offering, but rather [only] that he took a handful of for a meal offering. But whereas, the salting of the handful is indispensable (i.e., it invalidates an act by omission).

לא הניף – in the sinner’s meal-offering and the meal-offering of jealousy (i.e., for a husband suspecting his wife of infidelity) requires waving.

לא הגיש – as it is written (Leviticus 2:8): “[it shall be brought to the priest] who shall take it up to the altar.” For the Kohen brings it to the altar and brings it near/offers it in the southwestern corner [of the altar] opposite the point of the corner (see Tractate Menahot, Chapter 5, Mishnayot 5-6).

פתיתים מרובות – much larger than the expressed law for the meal-offering of an Israelite , doubling one into two [pieces] and two into four [pieces] and divides them (see Talmud Menahot 18b and Tractate Memahot, Chapter 6, Mishnah 4) . And it is necessary to inform/teach us about large broken pieces and even though they inforom us that if he did not break them into small pieces, it is kosher/fit. For o might think I would say that there, where is the the law of loaves upon them, but here where there isn’t the law of loaves , and there are no [small] broken pieces, I would say, no, there it comes to teach us that the opposite is true (i.e., that this is not the case).

ולא משחן (see Mishnah Menahot, Chapter 6, Mishnah 3) – the wafters require anointing [with oil], as it is written (Exodus 29:2): “and unleavened wafers spread with oil,” after their baking we anoint them with oil over and over until he depletes all the oil in the LOG (i.e., a LOG equals the amount displaced by six eggs).

במנחת כהנים כשרה – that all of them are burned entirely like it

כמנחת כהן המשיח ובמנחת נסכים פסולה (see Tractate Menahot, Chapter 6, Mishnah 2) – because the mixture of the handful of meal-offering of an Israelite is thick. One LOG of oil er an Issaron of fine flour, and the meal-offering accompanying libations [of wine] and that of the anointed priest, their mixture is soft, three LOGS for an Issaron (= 10 Ephah) , as it is written for the meal offering accompanying libations (Numbers 15:4): “[the person who presents a gift to the LORD shall bring as a grain offering:] a tenth of a measure of choice flour with a quarter of a HIN mixed in, and in the meal-offering of the anointed priest, it states (Leviticus 6:13): “a tenth of an ephah of choice flour as a regular grain offering, [half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening].” Behold it is for you like the meal-offering of the daily offering with is an Issaron of fine flour in a quarter-log of a Hin.

והן בולעות זו מזו (each absorbs from the other) – the handful of meal-offering absorbs from the meal-offering accompanying libations and from the meal-offering of the anointed priest, and the oil of these meal-offerings is greater than the handful of the meal-offering and nullifies it, and it is a meal-offering whose handful of meal-offering was not offered as incense and that which was gathered in the handful is disqualified. But the meal-offering accompanying libations is fit/kosher, for there wasn’t like its oil had been increased, since it wasn’t intentionally that the oil was mixed when it absorbs it is nullified regarding it, and it is as if it doesn’t exist. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.