Commentaire sur Menachot 6:10

אלו מנחות נקמצות – the meal-offering of fine flour, its dough is grabbed, and the meal-offering prepared/fried in a flat pan and the meal-offering prepared/fried in a deep pan, and the loaves and wafers, that is basked, they crumble them after their being baked. But the meal-offering of fine flour is written explicitly, קמיצה/a handful (Leviticus 2:2: “[and present it to Aaron’s sons, the priests.] The priest shall scoop out of it a handful/וקמץ משם מלא קמצו of its choice flour and oil, as well all of its frankincense,” and the others are written as אזכרה /a token portion (Leviticus 2:2: “and this token portion [he shall turn into smoke on the altar, as a gift of pleasing odor to the LORD],” and this אזכרה/token portion is the handful [of meal-offering].

Introduction This chapter continues to teach general rules with regard to menahot. Today’s mishnah and tomorrow’s teaches which minhah has a handful removed and the rest eaten by the priests.

מנחת גוים או נשים – who made a free-will offering of one of these.

From the following menahot the handful must be taken and the remainder is for the priests: The minhah of fine flour, that prepared on a griddle, that prepared in a pan, the loaves and the wafers, the minhah of a Gentile, the minhah of women, the minhah of the omer, the sinners’ minhah, and the minhah of jealousy. All of these menahot have been explained already in mishnah three and five of the previous chapter. For all of them, a handful is removed and burned on the altar. The remainder is eaten by the priests.

מנחת העומר – אזכרה/this token portion is written regarding it (Leviticus 2:16: “And the priest shall turn a token portion of it into smoke: some of the grits and oil, with all of the frankincense, as a gift to the LORD.”).

Rabbi Shimon says: a sinners’ minhah brought by priests the handful is taken, and the handful is offered by itself and so also the remainder is offered by itself. Generally a minhah brought by priests is not also eaten by the priests. Rather it is all burned, as is stated explicitly in Leviticus 6:16. Therefore, it would seem that there is no reason to remove a handful, as is normally done with a sinners’ minhah. Nevertheless, Rabbi Shimon holds that first a handful is removed and burned by itself, and then the remainder is also burned by itself. In this way, the normal procedure is preserved.

מנחת חוטא וקנאות – it is written regarding them קמיצה/grabbing a handful (see Leviticus 5:12: “He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall scoop out of it a handful as a token portion of it, and turn it into smoke on the altar.”).

מנחת חוטא של כהנים נקמצת – even though the meal-offering of the Kohen is burned entirely, as it is written (Leviticus 6:16): “So, too, every grain offering of a priest shall be a whole offering: it shall not be eaten,” nonetheless, it requires taking a handful.

והקומץ קרב לעצמו והשיריים קרבן לעצמן – but according to the first Tanna/teacher, the meal-offering of the Kohen is not taken in a handful, but rather is offered in smoke as it is, for he holds that all meal-offerings where the residue/remnants are consumed is taken in a handful but its residue/remnants which are consumed are not taken in a handful. But the Halakha is according to the first Tanna/teacher.

בזה יפה כח המזבח – it was not necessary to teach this, for we see that in this, the power of the altar is greater, and it is a simple matter. But rather to include the individual who gives a freewill offering of wine to altar without a sacrifice, so that you should not say that he drips it over the burnt-offerings on the fire, and it is completely burned and the power of the altar is not greater in this, it comes to teach us that this is not the case, but rather, he offers the libation like other libations and goes down to the pit by the side of the altar into which the remainder of the libations were poured, that is like two perforations/incisions that were in the altar and they would go down below until the foundation, in order that the power of the altar would be greater.

Introduction This mishnah lists menahot that are either completely burned, or completely eaten.

ובזה יפה כח הכהנים – to include the two [loaves of] bread of Atzeret/Shavuot, if he brought them by themselves with out the lambs, that you should not say that they stand for burning but not for consumption since the lambs were not offered up as sacrifices that permit them, it comes to teach us that in this way, the power of he Kohanim was greater forever, for they stood for consumption and not for burning (see Tractate Menahot 74b).

The minhah of the priests, The minhah of the anointed high priest, And the minhah that is offered with the libations are [wholly] for the altar and the priests have no share in them; with these the altar is more privileged than the priests. These three menahot are burned and no part of them is eaten. This is always the case with menahot that are brought by priests. In addition, it is also true of the minhah brought with the libations (Numbers 15:4ff).

The two loaves and the showbread are eaten by the priests and the altar has no share in them; with these the priests are more privileged than the altar. The two loaves brought on Shavuot (Leviticus 23:20) and the showbread (Leviticus 24:9) are completely eaten by priests and no part is burned on the altar.

הנעשות בכלי – as for example, the meal-offering prepared in a deep pan [in a container full of oil] and a meal-offering prepared by frying on a flat pan which are made in a utensil.

Introduction This mishnah teaches how the oil was put into the minhah.

טעונות שלש מתנות שמן – to exclude that meal-offering which is baked in an oven that does not require pouring [of oil].

All menahot that are prepared in a vessel require three applications of oil: pouring, mixing and putting oil in the vessel, before they are completed. The menahot that are prepared in a vessel are those prepared in a pan or a griddle. These menahot had oil put in them on three occasions. First some oil was poured into the vessel, and then he would pour the flour into the vessel. Then he would pour more oil onto the flour and mix it all together. Then he would add in lukewarm water, knead the flour into dough and bake ten loaves. After they were baked he would break them into pieces and pour more oil onto the pieces. Note that the mishnah is in backwards order first they would put oil in the vessel, then they would mix it in with the flour, and the pouring only came at the very end.

ומתן שמן בכלי קודם לעשייתן – first he places the oil in a service/sacred vessel and places fine flour on top of it, as it is written regarding the meal-offering prepared in a deep pan (Leviticus 2:7): “[If your offering is a grain offering in a pan,] it shall be made of choice flour in oil,” that is to say, that it shall be placed, so we see that it requires the placing of oil prior to its being made, and regarding the meal-offering prepared by frying on a flat pan, it is written (Leviticus 2:5-6): “[If your offering is a grain offering on a griddle,] it shall be of choice flour with oil mixed in, unleavened. Break it into bits and pour oil on it;” mixing and pouring is written, but putting oil in a utensil first is not written regarding it, but with a meal-offering prepared in a deep pan [in a container full of oil], that oil is placed in it but pouring and mixing/stirring is not written, and we learn this from that, it is stated, קרבנך/your offering (Leviticus 2:7) with the meal-offering prepared in a deep pan [in a container full of oil] and it is stated קרבנך/your offering (Leviticus 2:5) with the meal-offering prepared by frying on a flat pan/griddle , and how does he make it? He places oil first in the sacred vessel and places upon it the choice flour, [and he returns] and puts upon it oil and mixes/stirs it, behold there is the placing of oil in a utensil and mixing/stirring, and he kneads it with water and bakes it in an oven and crumbles it and pours oil upon it after crumbling/breaking it into pieces, and this is the pouring of the oil, behold three of them, and he grabs a handful and offers up the handful in smoke and the rest is consumed by the Kohanim.

The [baked] cakes were mixed [with oil], the words of Rabbi [Judah Ha-Nasi]. But the sages say: the fine flour [was mixed with oil]. Rabbi Judah Hanasi disagrees with the rabbis as to when the mixing occurs. According to the Rabbi, the mixing occurs after the cakes have been baked. He then breaks them into pieces and mixes them up with oil. The other sages say that the mixing occurs when the minhah is still flour, before it has been kneaded and baked, as we explained above.

והחלות בוללן דברי רבי – now we are speaking of the meal-offerings baked in an oven which produces loaves or wafers, and it is written concerning it (Leviticus 2:4): “[When you present an offering of grain baked in the oven] it shall be of choice flour: unleavened cakes with oil mixed in,[or unleavened wafers spread with oil].” Rabbi [Judah the Prince] holds that loaves mixed with oil is written, and he mixes them when they are loaves. But the Rabbis hold that mixed/stirred choice flour is written, teaching us that it is mixed/stirred when it is choice flour. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.

The loaves were mixed and the wafers anointed. How did he anoint them? In the form of a “chi.” As explained above, the oil was mixed into the loaves, according to the sages when they were still flour, and according to Rabbi when they were already baked. If the minhah came in the form of wafers, the procedure was slightly different. Here they would anoint the wafers after they were baked by making an X over them. The letter “chi” in Greek is written as an X. [The Greeks would probably prefer that we say that the letter “ex” in English is written as a chi.]

חלות טעונות בלילה והרקיקים משוחים – as it is written (Leviticus 2:4): “unleavened cakes with oil mixed in,” but wafers do not have it (i.e., oil) mixed in. wafters are spread with oil, but unleavened cakes are not spread with oil.

And the rest of the oil was eaten by the priests. Whatever was left over from the oil could be eaten by the priests.

כיצד מושחן כמין כי – Greek (in the form of an X) – our letter ט' – like the separation of the thumb [of the left hand] from the fingers [like this C].

כל המנחות הנעשות בכלי – here it does not come to include the meal-offering that is baked in an oven, as it is written (Leviticus 2:6): “Break it into bits and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering,” but to include all the meal offerings for breaking into bits, but rather to exclude the two loaves and the shewbread which do not require breaking into bits/crumbling.

Introduction Today’s mishnah teaches how menahot were broken into pieces once they were baked. This process is referred to in Leviticus 2:6, “Break it into bits and pour oil on it; it is a meal offereing.” Although this verse is stated specifically in reference to a minhah prepared on a griddle, the rabbis extend it to other menahot as well.

כופל אחת לשנים – as it is written (Leviticus 2:6): “Break it into bits,” breaking them (i.e., plural) which is two, for since it was broken, that is two pieces, “bits,” we extend the scope that each piece is broken into two, which is four. It is possible that he can make them crumbs, the inference teaches us, “into bits,” but not its bits into bits. And all of them are broken pieces like olives, that the concluding clause of the Mishnah is not Rabbi Shimon who states, but rather the words of all, for after he made the broken pieces like olives, he folds each olive into two and two into four.

All menahot prepared in a vessel must be broken into pieces. As stated in the introduction, the rabbis derive from Leviticus 2:6 that all menahot that are prepared in a vessel must be broken into pieces. The remainder of the mishnah describes how this is done.

מכפלה – he does not fold them up into four, but rather only into two, for it is not written concerning it other than the meal-offering of broken pieces but not [whole] pieces.

The minhah of an Israelite was folded into two and the two were folded into four, and it was severed [at each bend]. First he takes the flat loaf and folds it into two and then into four. He then severs the loaf at all of the folds. He would take a handful from these pieces (there would be forty of them, since there are ten loaves) and he would throw the handful onto the fires of the altar.

רבי שמעון אומר כו' – But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

The minhah of priests was folded into two and the two were folded into four, but it was not severed. According to the first opinion in the mishnah, a minhah brought by a priest was folded, but it was not severed into pieces. Since the entire minhah was burned, it wasn’t necessary to take out a handful and put it on the altar. It seems that the folding was sufficient to count as having broken it into pieces.

The minhah of the anointed high priest was not folded. The Torah does not say that the minhah brought by the high priest has to be broken into pieces, although it is called a “minhah of pieces” (Leviticus 6:14). According to the mishnah, this minhah is not even folded, for it too is totally burned.

Rabbi Shimon says: neither the minhah of the priests nor the minhah of the anointed high priest was broken in pieces, since the handful was not taken from them, and whenever the handful is not taken [from a minhah] it is not to be broken in pieces. Rabbi Shimon holds that there is no process of breaking into pieces for any minhah brought by a priest since these menahot are completely burned. There is no need to break them into pieces because the purpose of doing so was to throw some of them pieces onto the altar.

The pieces were the size of an olive. When they break the minhah into pieces, each piece should be no smaller than an olive’s worth. Commentators on the mishnah debate whether this is the opinion of Rabbi Shimon or whether everyone agrees.

שיפה – he rubs the wheat between his hand and the utensil in order that it be pleasant to remove its husk.

All menahot must be rubbed three hundred times and beaten five hundred times. The grains of wheat that will be used for the minhah offering must be rubbed three hundred times and then beaten five hundred times. This process is done in order to remove the husks before the grain is ground into flour.

בעיטה – that he strikes with the thickness of his fist or the thickness of the palm of his hand. And he would rub once and beat twice, [or] rub twice and strike three times, and he goes back and does it according to this order until he completes five hundred beatings to three hundred rubbings.

The rubbing and the beating apply is performed with the grains of wheat. Rabbi Yose says: also to the dough. The first opinion holds that the rubbing and beating is performed with the grain, as explained above. Rabbi Yose holds that the same is done with the dough. This is to further refine and perfect the quality of the minhah. According to a different version of the mishnah, Rabbi Yose says that it only applies to the dough and not to the grain.

ה"ג ר' יוסי אומר בבצק – that is to say, rubbing and eating he dough but not the wheat. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

All menahot consist of ten cakes each, except the showbread and the griddle-cakes of the high priest, which consist of twelve cakes each, the words of Rabbi Judah. Whether the menahot consist of loaves or wafers, they make ten cakes. According to Rabbi Judah all menahot are compared with the minhah that accompanies the todah - just as it has ten loaves, so too do all menahot. There are two exceptions, the showbread (see Leviticus 24:5) and the daily minhah of griddle-cakes offered by the high priest (Leviticus 6:13-15). With regard to the latter, the verse does not state that 12 cakes are offered. Rather, the rabbis derive this number midrashically by comparing it with the showbread.

עשר עשר חלות – and the meal-offering of choice flour also even though that prior to baking a handful is taken, nevertheless, ten loaves are brought.

But Rabbi Meir says: they all consist of twelve cakes each, except the loaves of the todah and of the nazirite-offering, which consist of ten cakes each. Rabbi Meir says that all menahot consist of twelve-cakes, for they derive the number of cakes from the showbread. The two exceptions are the todah (thanks-giving offering) and the minhah that accompanies the nazirite offering. We shall learn more about these two menahot in chapter seven.

לחם הפנים – it is explicitly written regarding them twelve loaves (Leviticus 24:5: “You shall take choice flour and bake of it twelve loaves/שתים עשרה חלות, two-tenths of a measure for each loaf”).

וחביתי כהן גדול – it is stated regarding the shew bread, it is stated, “a due for all time/חק עולם” (Leviticus 24:9) and it is stated regarding the baked cakes of the High Priest (Leviticus 6:15): “חק עולם/a law for all time,” just as there (i.e., with the shew bread) there are twelve loaves, so here too there are twelve loaves, and we offer up six loaves in the morning and six loaves in the evening.

חוץ מחלות תודה שהן באות עשר (see Tractate Menahot, Chapter 7, Mishnah 1) – that we require to state the reason further on tin that chapter. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir.

העומר היה בא עשרון משלש סאין – the meal-offering of the Omer that we bring on the morrow of [the first day of] Passover, they would reap three Seah which is an Ephah of barley, and grind it and wave it in a sieve thirteen times until they produce its fine flour of an Issaron which is the tenth of an Ephah. And the reason that they require an Issaron of Omer of three Seah of barley, since that it comes from new grain and it is of barley, , they have in it much coarse bran and a small amount of choice flour, and one doesn’t bring his choice Issaron other than from three Seah.

Introduction This mishnah teaches how much flour was found in various types of menahot.

שתי הלחם שני עשרונים משלש סאים – for since they come from wheat, even though that it comes from new gain, for on Atzeret/Shavuot it is the new grain of wheat, nevertheless two choice tenths of an Ephah come from three Seah.

The omer consisted of one tenth [of an ephah of flour] taken from three se'ahs. The minhah of the omer, brought on the sixteenth of Nissan (at the end of the first day of Pesah), consisted of a tenth of an ephah of flour (we shall learn more about the omer in chapter ten). An ephah was equivalent to about 4 liters and in mishnaic measurement, an ephah was equivalent to three seahs. This one-tenth of an ephah was sifted out of three whole seahs of barley. This refined it until it was quite pure. It was necessary to refine the omer so thoroughly because barley grain has a high quantity of waste material.

לחם הפנים עשרים וארבעים עשרונים – and thus it is written (Leviticus 24:5): “[You shall take choice flour] and bake of it twelve loaves, two-tenths of a measure for each loaf.”

The two loaves consisted of two tenths taken from three se'ahs. The two loaves brought on Shavuot each consisted of two-tenths of an ephah, as is stated in Leviticus 23:17. These two-tenths were sifted out of three ephahs. The reason that less sifting was needed is that these loaves came from wheat and not barley.

מעשרים וארבע סאים – since they come from wheat and from old grain, we remove one choice Issaron from the Seah.

And the showbread consisted of twenty-four tenths taken from twenty-four se'ahs. Each of the twelve loaves of the showbread consisted of two-tenths of an ephah of flour, as is stated in Leviticus 24:5, for a total of twenty-four tenths. Each tenth would have been sifted from one seah. The reason that less sifting is needed is that unlike the omer and the two loaves which must come from newly harvested barley or wheat, the showbread can come from the older harvest, which has less waste material than the new harvest.

היה מנופה בשלש עשרה נפה – one above the other. And all of this is for the commandment, but it does not indispensable, for if he brought Omer Issaron from four Seah or he brought from two Seah, he did not invalidate it.

Introduction This mishnah deals with how well the flour must be sifted for certain minhah offerings.

רבי שמעון אומר לא היה לה קצבה – and even ab initio the Sages did not give a limit from how many Seah of wheat or barely they bring the Omer or the two loaves or the shew bread, but rather we see in the choice flour that it was sifted according to its needs and it was sufficient. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

The omer was sifted through thirteen sieves, the two loaves through twelve, and the showbread through eleven. The omer was sifted thirteen times, each time making the flour a bit finer. The two loaves for Shavuot were sifted a bit less and showbread was sifted only (!) eleven times. This accords with what we learned in yesterday’s mishnah the greatest amount of grain was needed for the omer, a little bit less for the two loaves and the least for the showbread.

Rabbi Shimon says: there was no prescribed number for them, rather they brought fine flour and sifted it as much as was necessary, as it is said, “You shall take fine flour and bake it” (Leviticus 24:5) [you should not bake it] until it is sifted as much as is necessary. Rabbi Shimon holds that there was no prescribed amount for how much the showbread had to be sifted or how much grain had to be used (yesterday’s mishnah). Rather, whatever was needed was used. He proves this from a verse which states that the flour must be fine, but does not give a prescribed amount.