Menachot 20 – Covenant of Salt

Rav stated a rule that any law about flour offering that is repeated in the Torah is essential and cannot be omitted. But consider the salt: any flour offering must be salted before the handful is brought, and the salt requirement is not repeated in the Torah. In mathematical logic we could answer that repetition means that it is essential, but that it can be essential even without repetition. However, in teaching the Torah this answer does not work, because such teaching would be confusing to the students. Even though Rav stated only one side of the requirement, he really meant “if and only if.”

One answer is that according to Rav salting is indeed not essential and can be omitted. Or, if you wish, we can answer that since the word “covenant” is written with regard to salt, it is as if the requirement has in fact been repeated.

Art: Ferdinand Loyen Du Puigaudeau - Landscape with Mill near the Salt Ponds