Menachot 83 - Learning Possible from the Impossible

Previously we compared all sacrifices to the Passover offering, which had to be brought from regular funds, and not from tithe, and then all sacrifices got the same law. But how do we know this about Passover in the first place?

Rabbi Eliezer says, “We had a Passover offering in Egypt, and we also had it throughout the generations. Just as the one in Egypt had to be brought from private funds – because the tithe could only be taken from produce grown in Israel, which was not yet available – so too for all generations, the Passover offering has to be brought from private funds.” Rabbi Akiba answered, “How can we learn possible from the impossible? In Egypt it was impossible to use tithe, and afterwards it was possible!” What does Rabbi Eliezer have to say? - “Even though it is an impossibility, we can learn a great lesson from it, because the first Passover Seder was a model for all later ones to come.”

Art: Dieric the Elder Bouts - The Feast Of The-Passover 1464-67

Menachot 82 – One Can't Use Tithe In Place of Regular Produce

As we learned before, if one says, “I promise to bring a thanksgiving offering,” he may bring it only from regular unconsecrated funds, and not from tithe. Why is this? – The Torah said, “You shall slaughter the passover offering to God, your Lord, flocks and cattle.” However, this cannot be understood literally, because the passover offering can come only from lambs and goats, and not from cattle. Then what does the word “cattle” teach us? To compare every other offering to the passover one, and say that just as a passover offering is an obligatory sacrifice that can be brought only from your own regular funds, so too every obligatory offering may be brought only from regular funds, and not from tithe.

When one promises to bring a thanksgiving or a peace offering, he creates an obligation, and every obligatory offering must be brought from his own funds. Even when in his obligation he specifies to bring the animal from tithe, still the libations must come from regular funds – because all tithe must be eaten, and libations are not eaten but are rather completely offered on the Altar.

Art: Jehan Georges Vibert - An Afternoon Libation

Menachot 81 – Thanksgiving Offering from Tithe

If one said, “Let this animal be an exchange for my thanksgiving,” both animals are now sanctified. If one of them dies, the other one cannot be brought: if the live one is the thanksgiving, it needs breads, and if it is the exchange, it does not need bread. The students throughout time made eight attempts to resolve this problem and find the way to bring the animal. At fourth attempt by Levy, Rabbi Yehudah the Prince remarked, “This one looks like he has no brains in his head,” which was perfectly in order, since the students deduced laws even from Rabbi Yehudah's tone of answers.

If one promises to bring a thanksgiving offering, he should use the animal and the breads from regular supplies. If he says, “I will bring it from the regular supplies and the breads from tithe,” his first words takes effect, and he has to bring both from regular supplies. If he promises to bring both from tithe, he may do so, only he should not bring the wheat kernels of tithe, but rather use the tithe money.

Art: Sir Edwin Henry Landseer - Study Of A Dead Stag

Menachot 80 – Accidental Thanksgiving

A thanksgiving offering can be either a male or a female animal. If the female thanksgiving animal gave birth, its offspring is automatically sanctified as another thanksgiving, like its mother. However, unlike its mother, it does not require the forty breads to come with it.

Similarly, if one says “let this animal be a substitute for this thanksgiving offering,” he has done something that is not right – for substitutes are prohibited – but his words take effect, and now both animals are thanksgiving offerings; however, the second one is brought without the breads. This rule is also true when his thanksgiving offering was lost, he designated another one instead, and then the first one was found.

Why this rule? – The Torah said, “Then he shall offer with the thanksgiving offering matzah loaves...” to teach us that only the thanksgiving offering requires loaves, but neither its offspring, its replacement, or its substitute require loaves.

John Frederick Herring Snr - A Cow And Calf In A Stall

Menachot 79 – Wrong Intent for Bread

If one slaughtered a thanksgiving offering with the wrong intent, planning to eat it beyond its time or outside its place, then the forty breads that go with it are nevertheless sanctified; however, right after becoming sanctified, they become disqualified with the same disqualification as the sacrifice itself, and thus have to be burned.

If the animal, after slaughter, was found to be sick and non-viable, then, since it had this defect from before, the breads did not become sanctified. If the animal was found to have a minor blemish in the eye, then Rabbi Eliezer says that the breads did become sanctified, because once this animal is on the Altar, it need not be brought down, but the Sages disagree.

Some sacrifices require libations, which may include wine and flour. These, unlike the breads of the thanksgiving, get sanctified on their own, once they touch the Temple vessel. If such libations became sanctified and then their sacrifices was found to be invalid, then if there is another sacrifice in need of libations, they can be brought with it, but if not, they become disqualified at night and are subsequently destroyed. Others opine that libations get sanctified with the slaughter.

Art: Paul Charles Chocarne-Moreau - A Spiritual Libation

Menachot 78 – Offerings Coming with Bread

In addition to the offering of thanksgiving, which required forty loaves of bread, two more offerings also came required bread: the one-time inauguration offering of Aaron and his sons, and the offering of a nazir. The inauguration offering required only the non-leaved parts of the thanksgiving offering, that is, oven-baked loaves, wafers, and loaves first scalded in water. The offering of a nazir required only the first two types, that is, oven-baked loaves and wafers.

Usually, an animal becomes an offering when the owner designates it as such, and then it cannot be used for any other purpose. The breads that accompany a thanksgiving offering becomes sanctified not by owner's declaration, but by the slaughter of the animal. Thus, if he slaughtered the animal while the breads were outside the Courtyard, the bread did not become sanctified. Likewise, if the breads were still baking when he slaughtered the offering and their surface did not crust, or even of all the loaves crusted except one, the bread did not become sanctified.

Art: Aleksander Gierymski - Bread Seller

Menachot 77 – How Much Flour for the Thanksgiving Offering

A thanksgiving animal offering was accompanied by a total of forty loaves of bread. The bread came in four varieties, ten loaves of each type. Ten loaves were leavened, and thirty loaves were unleavened, or matzah, but in flour requirement the leavened and the unleavened breads were equal.

The thanksgiving offering was made of two measures called “ephah,” which equaled twenty “tenths” or “issaron,” or approximately 100 pounds of flour. In the desert, they used a measure called “se'ah,” and this amounted to six se'ah. When they came to Jerusalem, they increased all measures by 20%, so in new measures this was not six but five se'ah.

The leavened loaves were three time larger than the unleavened ones. The latter were of three types: oven-baked loaves, wafers, and loaves first scalded in water, then baked, and finally fried in oil.

From each of the four types of bread, the kohen would take one whole bread as his portion, and the remainder was eaten by the owner. To eat it before the next morning, the owner had to invite many guests, and he would explain to all what his thanksgiving was for.

Art: Jacobus Vrel - Street Scene With Bakery

Menachot 76 – Folding the Matzah

Unlike the matzah of today, which is crisp and brittle, the flour offering in the Temple, although it was unleavened, was soft and pliable. The regular flour offering was folded in half, then again in half, to fulfill the commanded of “break it into pieces,” but that of a kohen was folded only once.

All flour offerings require three hundred rubbings and five hundred poundings applied to its wheat. Rabbi Yose says that they were applied to the dough. All flour offerings were brought in groups of ten loaves, except for the Breads of Vision, which were brought in groups of twelve, – these are the words of Rabbi Yehudah, who takes the ten loaves from the thanksgiving offering. Rabbi Meir says that they were all made of twelve loaves, except for the thanksgiving offering.

The Omer offering consisted of one-tenth of a se'ah measure (about 5 pounds), the two loaves of Shavuot of two one-tenths, and the Bread of Vision of twenty-four tenths. The Omer with sifted through thirteen sieves, two loaves – with twelve sieves, and the Bread of Vision with eleven sieves. Rabbi Shimon says that there was no set number of sieves.

Art: Janos Nagy Balogh - Still Life With Sieve, Bun And Mug

Menachot 75 – How is Oil Added to Flour Offering

All flour offerings that are made in a sacred vessel require three applications of oil: pouring, mixing, and the initial placement. This teaching needs explanation. It lists the oil applications in the reverse order. First, some of the oil is put into a vessel and the flour is placed on it. The lukewarm water is added and the ingredients are kneaded. Second, more oil is introduced and mixed in. Third, one pours in the remaining oil to fulfill the mitzvah of pouring. Why does the teaching mention “sacred vessels?” - To exclude an oven, which this teacher does not consider a sacred vessel.

When exactly is the oil mixed in as the second step? Rabbi Yehudah the Prince says that this is done after the offering has been made into loaves, but the Sages say that one mixes the oil in while it is still flour.

There are two oven-baked offerings, challot and wafers. Challot require mixing with oil, whereas wafers are smeared with oil after baking. Smearing is done in the form of the Greek letter chi, and the remaining oil is consumed by the kohanim.

Art: Jacques Linard - Still Life Of A Plate Of Plums And A Loaf Of Bread

Menachot 74 – No Handful

A flour offering brought by a kohen for his own sin or as a freewill offering is special: the handful is not taken, and it is completely burned on the Altar. Rabbi Shimon says that the handful is taken, but both the handful and the remains are burned on the Altar. Rabbi Elazar (his son) says that the remains are spread over the site of ashes.

The following flour offerings are, by contrast, completely given to the kohanim: the two loaves of Shavuot and the Bread of Vision, and in this the right of the kohanim is stronger than the right of the Altar.

Art: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Agrippina with the Ashes of Germanicus

Menachot 73 – Kometz, a Handful

To take a kometz, or a handful, the kohen bends his three middle fingers against his palm, pushes his hand downward into the pieces of the flour offering, and then turns his hand upward. The portion scooped up in the Kohen's hand is a kometz, or handful, and what remains is remnants that are eaten by the kohanim.

The following flour offerings are subject to taking off a handful: a fine-flour offering (where the handful is taken when it is dough), the deep pan and flat pan offerings (where the handful is taken off from the baked pieces, or according to some, from the fine meal made out of them), the oven-baked offering, the offering of an idolater, Omer, the offering of a sinner, and the offering of jealousies.

Chizkiyah taught a rule: if a law has no application in its context, use it in another context. For example, the Torah said “Every flour offering... will be for the sons of Aharon.” Since we already know this from “this is the law of the flour offering,” this teaches instead other laws: that a kohen cannot exchange his portion of the flour offering for a meat or bird offering.

Art: Theodore Gericault - Study Of A Hand And Arm

Menachot 72 – Reaping the Barley On Shabbat

The word “takriv,” you will bring, is repeated in the Torah three times. This teaches that although the commandment is to cut barley specifically for that purpose, still, if they found none, but only barley that is already cut, they can use it. Furthermore, even though the commandment is to reap that barley on the night of the first day of Passover, if they forgot or if the barley harvested at night became invalidated, they can still cut it on the following day. Finally, the commandment is to reap and process the barley on that night, even if it happens to be Shabbat and even if they happen to be ritually impure.

However, Rabbi Akiba stated a general rule (talking about circumcision that can also be done on Shabbat) that if some labor can be done before Shabbat, then it should be done before Shabbat. How is that reconciled with above? The above follows Rabbi Shimon's principle that “beloved is the mitzvah done in its proper time.” For example, for the daily sacrifice brought on Shabbat they would continue the service and burn its limbs, even though they could have done that later.

Art: Henri-Horace Roland Delaporte - Still-Life with a Carafe of Barley Wine

Menachot 71 – Harvesting Before the Omer

Fields that require constant irrigation produce crops inferior to those watered by rainfalls. Since their harvest is not fit for the Omer offering, it is allowed to harvest them prior to it. However, one should not pile the grain, because he may come to eat it. The Jewish residents of Jericho harvested the irrigated fields before the Omer, which agreed with the wishes of the Sages, but they also piled the grain, which disagreed with the wishes of the Sages, who nevertheless did not reprove them in that case.

One may harvest unripe grain in order to feed it to the animals. Rabbi Yehudah says that this is only allowed if he started harvesting before the grain reached a third of its growth. Rabbi Shimon disagrees and allows to harvest unripe grain for animal fodder even after it grew to a third. One may harvest the new grain to save the trees sapling in the field, or to clear room for mourners to sit down, or for a public Torah study.

The reaping and other works for the Omer has to be done on the night after the first day of Pesach, even if it is Shabbat.

Art: Vincent Van Gogh - Wheat Field In Rain

Menachot 70 – Five Species of Grain

Rav Zeira asked a question, "Wheat kernels that came down with the rain, can one make the two loaves on Shavuot with it?" Does “from your dwelling places” exclude places outside the Land of Israel, or does it exclude even the tornado?

Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi asked, “An ear of grain that reached the third of its size before the Omer, then one uprooted it and replanted after the Omer, is it permitted old crop, because the root is more important, or is forbidden new crop, because of the new growth?”

For many laws the following species are special: wheat, barley, spelt, oats and rye. One who makes dough from them is obligated to give challah – the first portion of the dough – to a kohen. They combine with each other to form the amount (about 5 pounds) necessary for challah. It is forbidden to eat them before the Omer is brought, and it is forbidden to harvest them before Passover. The Omer permits them as long as they have taken root before it. These species that can leaven and become prohibited on Passover, and these same species are what matzah is made of.

Art: Camille Pissarro - Field of Oats in Eragny

Menachot 69 – Barley Permits for People, Wheat – for the Temple

The barley offering (Omer) permitted new grain for consumption by people, but in the Temple the new grain was not used until they brought the two loaves of wheat on Shavuot. Nevertheless, since new grain was already permitted to people, if they brought it in the Temple before Shavuot, the offering was valid.

Rava bar Rav Chanan asked a question, what is the status of the grain that was planted? If one decides to take it out and eat, is it new crop and does it need the Omer offering first? Additionally, is it a movable property which is subject to the law of overcharge, or is it like land, not subject to the law of overcharge?

Rami bar Chama asked a question, if an elephant swallowed palm fiber which emerged intact from its digestive tract, and someone made them into a basket, is the fiber considered digested and therefore the basket is immune to ritual impurity? Consider the case of wolves who swallowed two infants in Transjordan, and then excreted them whole, and the Sages declared the meat digested and therefore pure! - No, it is not the same, the meat is softer than fiber. But the bones the Sages declared impure! - No proof, since the bones are harder. Thus, no answer.

Art: Winslow Homer - Woman and Elephant

Menachot 68 – Remembering the Temple

We learned that Rabbi Yehudah does not establish a preventive decree to stop people from eating new grain before its time, but the Sages do. However, we saw them having the opposite views! For example, if one missed searching for leaven before Passover, Rabbi Yehudah prohibits him to search, lest he comes to eat it. The answer is that Rabbi Yehudah is not worried about new grain, because people do not eat it all year, but they do eat leaven. And the Sages? They say, he is searching for leaven to burn it, will he eat it?

If there is no Temple and no Omer offering, the new grain becomes permitted with the sunrise on the second day of Passover. However, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai established that the new grain should not be eaten until the end of the day. Why? Any time the Temple may be rebuilt. Then the people may make a mistake and reason thus: last year we ate the new grain right after the first day of Passover, so let's do it this year! And they won't know that last year there was no Omer, but now that there is one, they have to wait.

Art: Charles Henry Passey - Sheaves Of Wheat After The Harvest

Menachot 67 – When the New Harvest is Permitted

Anybody could perform the last steps in the barley offering. He takes the one-tenth of an ephah (about 5 pounds) of flour prepared for this purpose, puts the oil in an empty vessel, together with the frankincense on the side, and adds the flour. He pours more oil into the flour and mixes them. He then waves the mixture in all for directions of the compass, as well as up and down. Then a kohen takes off a handful and burns it, together with frankincense, on the Altar. The remainder of the flour is eaten by the kohanim in the Temple Courtyard.

Once the Omer was offered, all harvest of this year became permitted. People would go out into the marketplaces of Jerusalem and find them full with regular flour of the new crop, as well as oven-dried grain – but this was against the wishes of the Sages, says Rabbi Meir. Technically, it was allowed to pluck the new grain by hand and prepare it, but according to Rabbi Meir, the Sages forbade this practice, out of concern that people might eat new grain too early. Rabbi Yehudah says that this practice was approved by the Sages.

Art: Léon-Augustin L'hermitte - A Rest From The Harvest

Menachot 66 – Omer, The Barley Offering

Now they would reap the barley and put it into baskets. They would bring it into the Courtayrd of the Temple and roast it over fire, in order to fullfill the mitzvah of toasting  – these are the words of Rabbi Meir. But the Sages say that before roasting the barley they would beat it with soft reeds and stems, to remove the kernels from the stalks without crushing them, and then they would put it into a copper pipe to be roasted. The pipe was perforated to spread the fire over all of it.

After the barley was threshed and roasted, they spread it out in the Courtyard, to let the wind blow over it to dry it. They would then put it into a bean mill and grind it coarsely. Then they would sift it with thirteen sieves, extracting one-tenth of the total volume as fine flour. The remainder had to be redeemed with money and then could be eaten by anyone.

Art: Joseph Henderson - Through The Barley

Menachot 65 – How Was the Barley Offering on Passover Brought

The barley for the offering should come from a place closest to Jerusalem, so as not to pass over a mitzvah. However, once it happened that they brought it from a far away place called Gagot Tzerifin.

When the two rulers, descendants of the Maccabeans, fought, one of them besieged Jerusalem. Those inside kept bringing sacrifices which they bought from the assailants. One old man in Jerusalem transmitted to the assailants through signs that the sacrifices shielded Jerusalem, and the next time when they lowered the basket with money, back came a pig. It stuck its hooves into the wall of Jerusalem, and the whole Land of Israel shook. It was at this time that they could not find any barley, but one mute man came and put one hand on a roof (gag) and another on a hut (tzerif). Mordechai was there and said, “Is there a place called Gagot Tzerifin or Tzerifin Gagot?” They searched and found barley there.

Before Passover they prepared the barley by tying it into bundles. On the night after the first day of Passover, a crowd went to that field. Once it became dark, the reaper would ask them, “Has the sun set?” and they answered “Yes.” This dialog repeated three times. Then he asked “This sickle?”, “This basket?” and they would answer yes, and repeat. On Shabbat, he would ask “Is it Shabbat?” Then he would say, “Shall I reap?”, they would answer “Reap!” This repeated three times. Why was all this necessary? Because of those who said that the barley had to be brought on the first Saturday night after the Festival.

Art: George Morland - A Boy Looking into a Pig Sty

Menachot 64 – Barley Offering on Passover

The barley (omer) offering was brought from new barley on the second day of Passover, which in Israel is the first intermediate day of the holiday, when work is allowed. The offering consisted of an one-tenth of an ephah measure (about 50 pounds), and thus amounted to 5 pounds. Actually, a complete ephah was harvested, ground, and sieved thirteen times, to produce the required one-tenth.

The special question would come up on Shabbat. The barley could still be harvested, since the Torah required this offering, even on Shabbat, but the question was whether they should minimize the Shabbat violation. Rabbi Ishmael says that on Shabbat they would harvest enough barley only for an ephah, but on weekday – much more, to produce the best final quality of flour. However, the Sages say that they used the same amount on Shabbat and on weekdays.

In the same vein, Rabbi Chanina the Deputy Kohen allowed only one person to do the reaping on Shabbat, and three on a weekday, but the Sages required three people, each with their own sickle and basket, both on Shabbat and on a weekday.

Art: Vincent Van Gogh - Harvest La Crau with Montmajour

Menachot 63 –Fried and Baked Flour Offerings

Fried flour offerings were prepared either in a deep pan or in a flat pan. The latter was a griddle with only a slight lip around it. Rabbi Yose HaGlili says that the difference between the deep and flat offering is that the first one has a cover, but Rabbi Chanina ben Gamliel says that the cover has nothing to do with it, but that the offering prepared in a deep pan is soft and it quivers, whereas the one prepared in a shallow pan is thin and hard.

Beit Shammai are not certain if “deep” refers to the pan or to the offering, so according to them one who promises a deep-pan offering (not an offering in a deep pan) has to wait until Elijah the Prophet comes and explains how to do it.

The oven-baked flour offering can be either loaves baked with oil or wafers baked without oil and smeared with oil after baking. It was baked in a stove called “tanur,” which had a trapezoidal shape with an opening at the top. Bread was baked by affixing it to the walls of the oven.

Art: Camille Pissarro - Eugene Murer At His Pastry Oven

Menachot 62 – How Waving Is Performed

Both the owner of the sacrifice and the priest are mentioned as doing the waving. How is this accomplished? The priest places his hands below the hands of the owner and waves the portions. If there is bread to go with the sacrifice, it is placed on top of the other portions, just as they did at the Inauguration service in the desert.

Earlier we said that with the two breads and two lambs on Shavuot the breads are put on the lambs. Actually, there are four opinions about this. The Torah said that “the kohen shall wave the lambs upon the first-offerings breads” and “upon the two lambs.” The first opinion follows the Inauguration service. Rabbi Yose ben Hamshullam says that the lambs were on top, and “on the lambs” means with the two lambs, and not with the seven lambs brought at another time. Rabbi Chanina says that the breads were between the thighs of the lambs, thus fulfilling both verses. Rabbi Yehudah the Prince says that it would be unseemly even before a earthly king, but rather that they were placed side by side, and “on” means “together with.”

Art: Rosa Bonheur - Sheep Grazing in a Meadow

Menachot 61 – Waving but not Bringing Near

Some offerings, and not only flour offerings, require waving, for example, the oil (about half-liter) of a metzora (a spiritual leper), and his lamb brought as a guilt-offering. Before a metzora was purified, he had to bring these, and they were “waved as a wave service to God.” According to Rabbi Eliezer ban Yakov, the first fruit were also waved before they were given to a kohen to eat.

Also waved were the parts of an individual's peace offering that were offered on the Altar, and the breast and thigh portions of it – which were given to the priests.

How were the loaves and lambs of Shavuot waved? Before the lambs were slaughtered, the kohen would put the two breads on top of the two lambs, place his hands beneath them, then extend them outward and bring them inward, raise them and lower them.

While bringing near was at the southwest corner of the Altar, waving had to be done to the east of the Altar, and if both were required, waving preceded bringing near.

Art: Gerard Terborch - Woman Washing Hands

Menachot 60 – Bringing Near and Waving

“Bringing near” is a step unique to flour offerings. It involves taking the vessel with the offering and touching it to the southwestern corner of the Altar. This is done prior to taking off a handful. “Waving” is required for many offerings, including some flour offerings.

There are offerings that require bringing near, but do not require waving: fine-flour offerings brought as free-will offerings, those cooked on a griddle, in a pan, loaves, wafers, the daily offering of a High Priest, the offering of a non-Jew, and the offering of a sinner.

Rabbi Shimon disagrees and says that the flour offering of a kohen and that of a High Priest do not require bringing near, since they do not require taking off a handful but are instead burned completely on the Altar – and the rule is that any offering that does not require taking off a handful also does not require bringing it near the Altar.

Art: Jozef Israels- Waving goodbye to father

Menachot 59 – No Oil and No Frankincense

Some flour offerings require both oil and frankincense, some – only one of these, and some – neither oil nor frankincense. Normally, one mixes in oil and puts frankincense on top of the offering. This includes all fine-flour offerings brought as free-will offerings, those cooked on a griddle, in a pan, loaves, wafers, the daily offering of a High Priest, and the offering of a non-Jew.

The flour offering of libations, brought together with an animal sacrifice, requires only oil. The Bread of vision requires only frankincense but no oil. The two loaves of Shavuot require neither oil nor frankincense, and the same is true of the sinner's offering and the offering of jealousies. If one did put oil on the offering of jealousies, he has invalidated it, but if he placed frankincense, it should be removed, and the offering is valid.

Rabbah bar Rav Huna asked Rabbi Yochanan, what is the law if one put finely ground frankincense on the sinner's offering? The rule above said that frankincense should be removed, but this one is finely ground and cannot be removed. To this the answer was found: such offering becomes invalid.

Art: Haynes King - Jealousy And Flirtation

Menachot 58 – No Leaven and No Honey

The Torah emphasized that “Any leaven or any honey (meaning fruit or fruit juice) will be brought on the Altar” to teach that not only a volume of an olive, but also half-an-olive or less is also forbidden. It had to repeat the word “any.” Ordinarily, we can learn such lessons from one instance of the word “any” and apply it to other similar situations. Here, however, leaven and honey each have additional stringencies not found in the laws of the other, so the word “any” had to be repeated.

What happens if one does offer an offering from leaven and from honey on the Altar? Rava says that he incurs four sets of lashes, one for leaven, one for honey, one for mixtures of leaven, and one for mixtures of honey. However, Abaye says that he incurs no lashes at all, since one never incurs lashes for violating a generalized prohibition. In this case, generalized prohibition means that the Torah stated two preconditions, “any leaven and any honey,” and concluded with one prohibition, "do not offer." Some say, however, that at least one set of lashes he does incur.

Art: Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky - Charka of Honey

Menachot 57 – Why Flour Offering Should Not Leaven

Had the Torah stated only “that you offer to God shall not be prepared leaven,” I would say that this applies only to the handful burned on the Altar. But since the Torah added “flour offering,” this tells me that the whole offering should not be allowed to rise. And, since it also added “any flour offering,” I know to apply this law to all the various flour offerings. Furthermore, since the Torah continued “That you offer to God,” it tells me that one violates a prohibition only with a valid offering, but not if it became invalidated.

Rav Pappa inquired, “If a flour offering leavened, was taken outside the Courtyard, then returned, then the priest baked it and thus leavened it some more, is he liable for the second leavening?” Do we say that that he is not liable, because it has been invalidated by being taken out, or do we say that it had been invalidated by the first leavening, and then taking it out has no effect, and he is liable for the second leavening? To this there was no answer.

Art: Woman Baking Bread - Jean Francois Millet - Woman Baking Bread

Menachot 56 – Adding Blemish to a Blemish

A firstborn animal must be given to a kohen. If it develops a permanent blemish, it belongs to the owner for consumption, but it is forbidden to make a blemish on purpose. If an animal is sick and the only remedy is to let blood, then there are four opinions on the permissibility of it. Rabbi Meir allows blood-letting, provided that this is done in a place where it does not cause a permanent blemish. The Sages allow to make a blemish, but not to slaughter based on it. Rabbi Shimon allows even to slaughter it, and Rabbi Yehudah absolutely forbids to led blood, even if the animal will die if left untreated.

The question here is adding a blemish to an already blemished – by being sick - animal. There are two similar situations where everyone agrees that it is forbidden. If one bakes a leavened flour offering, he is adding to leavening, and is thus liable. If one further castrates a male animal, adding to an existing castration, he is liable. In the case of a firstborn, the strict rulings are based on the Torah verse “there shall be no blemish,” and the lenient ones – on “it shall be unblemished to find favor,” meaning that if it is already blemished - then it does not find favor.

Art: Winslow Homer The Sick Chicken

Menachot 55 – Exception Proves the Rule

All flour offerings are kneaded with lukewarm water. Had they used scalding hot water, the offerings would become invalid, and had they used cold water, the dough would be clumpy. Now, however, since they used lukewarm water for best quality, they had to take special care that the dough does not become leavened, and the Kohen would have to continually work the dough to forestall its leavening, for the rule is that all the time that one keeps kneading the dough, it does not leaven.

Even if the remnants of the offering - which are not burned on the Altar but are eaten by the Kohanim - become leavened, one transgresses a negative commandment. Furthermore, one is liable to lashes for working with the leavened offering, whether he it is kneading, shaping, or baking.

The Torah gave a general rule, “Any flour offering shall not be prepared leavened.” Therefore, I would think that there is only one set of punishment for any specific work. Then the Torah stated an exception, “shall not be baked (leavened).” Baking was already included in the rule, so why is it excepted? To make one liable for each individual act. Thus the exception proves, or rather explains, the rule.

Art: E. K. Lautter - Kitchen Still Life Of Vegetables And Preparations For Baking A Cake

Menachot 54 – As Things Are Now, Or As They Were Then?

The rule is that the ritual impurity of food items depends on their volume, and the volumes are assessed as they are. Any amount of food can become ritually impure, but to transmit the impurity further it must have at least an egg's volume. However, what does “as they are” mean?

For example, what would be the law for the calf's meat that swelled to an egg's volume, or for the meat of an old animal that shrank? Rav, Rabbi Chiya, and Rabbi Yochanan say that “as they are” means “as they are now,” but Shmuel, Rabbi Shimon son of Rabbi Yehudah the Prince, and Resh Lakish say that it means “as they were initially.”

Actually, if the food volume was initially less than an egg, then by the Torah law it cannot convey impurity. However, it could be that to avoid confusion the Sages declared it impure once it swelled. The argument is about the existence of this additional precautionary decree of the Sages.

Art: Claude Monet - Still Life with Eggs

Menachot 53- Rabbi Preida Consoles Rabbi Ezra

The students said to Rabbi Preida, “Rabbi Ezra, who is a tenth generation from Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, who was in turn a tenth-generation descendant of Ezra the Scribe, is standing at the door.” Rabbi Preida said, “Why do I need his genealogy? If he is a scholar who achieved his knowledge by himself – great! And if he was assisted by the merit of his fathers – also great! Let him come in.”

Rabbi Ezra came in depressed, probably because of the response of Rabbi Preida, who then began to console him with homilies and asked a question. What does it mean when David says to God, “You are my Master, my gratitude is not to You” ? - It is a condensed dialog. The Congregation of Israel said to God, “Master of the Universe! Show me the gratitude that I have made Your name known in the world.” God replied, “My gratitude is not to you. I show gratitude only to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were the first to make Me know, but you relied on promises and miracles. They are the mighty ones!”

When Rabbi Ezra heard the word “mighty,” he started his own homily and asked, what does it mean, “let the mighty come and exact retribution on behalf of the mighty from the mighty in the mighty?” - Let the Holy One, Blessed is He, exact retribution on behalf of the Children of Israel from Egyptians in the mighty waters.

When the Temple was destroyed, God found Abraham standing there and asked “What is my beloved doing in my Temple?” Abraham said, “I have come concerning my children.” God said, “You children sinned and were therefore exiled.” Abraham said “Perhaps they  sinned inadvertently?” God answered, “She carries out her deliberate schemes.” Abraham said, “Perhaps only a minority of them sinned.” God said, “The majority.” Abraham said “You should have remembered the covenant of circumcision.” God replied, “They violated it and rejoiced.” Abraham put his hands on his head and wept, “Maybe, Heaven forbid, there is no remedy for them?” The Heavenly voice responded to him, “Just as an olive tree, its destiny is fulfilled at its end, so the Children of Israel, their destiny is fulfilled at their end.”

Art: Odilon Redon - Melancholy