Commentaire sur Menachot 3:4

כמדת ר' אליעזר כשרה – on the knowledge of Rabbi Eliezer who stated in the chapter [seven of Tractate Pesahim 77a] “How do they roast [the Passover offering],” the blood even though there is no flesh/meat, that is so [regarding] the handful of meal-offering , even though there is no residue/remnant, it is appropriate/kosher to offer up the handful of meal-offering as incense.

If the remainder of the minhah became unclean or was burnt or lost: According to the rule of Rabbi Eliezer it is valid [to burn the fistful], But according to the rule of Rabbi Joshua it is invalid. According to Rabbi Eliezer, if the remainder became unclean, was burnt or lost, the handful can still be burned on the altar. However, Rabbi Joshua holds that if the remainder is no longer there or is no longer pure, then the fistful cannot be burned.

כמדת ר' יהושע – who stated that if there is no flesh, there is no blood, that is so [regarding the meal-offering] that it is also invalidated to offer up the handful of the meal-offering. And this is where there did not remain anything from the residue/remnants that was not defiled. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehoshua.

If [he did] not [put the fistful] into a ministering vessel it is invalid; But Rabbi Shimon declares it valid. The fistful must be put into a ministering vessel before it is burned. If it is not, it is invalid. Rabbi Shimon disagrees.

שלא בכלי שרת – for the handful of meal-offering was not sanctified in a sacred vessel. But at the beginning of the meal-offering no one disagrees that it requires a utensil, as we stated in the chapter [eleven of Tractate Menahot, Mishnah 4] “The Two Loaves.”

If he burnt the handful twice, it is valid. If he divided the fistful into two and burned each half separately, it is still valid.

ורבי שמעון מכשיר – the reason of Rabbi Shimon is explained in the Gemara (Tractate Menahot 26a), because it states in Scripture (Leviticus 6:10): “it is most holy, like the purification offering and the reparation offering,” and since the All-Merciful made an analogy [between] the meal-offering to the sin-offering in his (i.e., the Kohen’s) service with a gift with his actual finger, we learn from it that the taking of a handful of the meal-offering also, if he wanted, he performs it with his hand without a utensil. And as long as he performs the service with his right hand, similar to the sin-offering where it is stated in regard to it, “finger,” as it is written concerning it (Leviticus 4:25): “The priest shall take with his finger some of the blood of the purification (i.e., sin) offering [and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering],” and every place where it states “finger” and “priesthood” is not other than with the right-hand. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

הקטיר קומצה פעמים – half of a handful of meal-offering at one time, and half of the handful of the meal-offering at another time. And specifically, that [the Mishnah] used the term “twice,” and not more/further, for no handful of meal-offering can be less than two olives’ bulk and when he disputes the two “occasions” , it is found that the offering up as incense is not less than an olive’s bulk, and therefore it is kosher/appropriate, but if he had divided it into three or four times that he would have made the burning on the altar with less than an olive’s bulk, it would be invalid.