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