Day Yoimie Snippets ... Menachois Pages 59, 60, 61,62, 63, & 64

 Page 58 of Tractate Menachos was already discussed yesterday. 
I will attempt, depending on my time constraints to cover 7 pages (dafim) every week.

You can copy and print this without my consent, since Torah belongs to all of us..... 

דף נ''ט .. שמן על המנחה 

Page 59 Mesectas Menachois  

"Oil with the Korban Mincha"

The Talmud talks about the Mincha sacrifice that was brought to the Temple by someone who sinned or violated a Biblical ordinance by mistake. 

*Note:  Sacrifices were brought only by those who mistakingly sinned ... there are no sacrifices for those who sinned or violated a Biblical ordinance on purpose.

The Talmud explains that there cannot be any oil accompanying  a Mincha, that someone brought because he sinned. It therefore follows, that the Kohein cannot add oil to the Mincha , even if he wishes to do so.

Why?

Because  Minchas in general, are supposed to be elegant and the Torah didn't want that the Mincha of a sinner (even if the sin was done inadvertently) to be elegant.

What would be the halacha if the Kohein poured a drop of oil on this particular Mincha sacrifice?

According what we learn on this daf, the entire Mincha sacrifice would be rendered invalid.

Therefore even one drop of oil would invalidate the entire Mincha, because the Torah stated emphatically on a sinner's Mincha ...... ''לא ישים עליה שמן'' .... "Do not place [on the mincha] oil"

But there can be a situation where oil placed on a sinner's mincha would still be valid .... 

and that is, if the oil was placed on a piece of the Mincha that didn't have the required size ... the required size for the Mincha to still be valid  would be the size of an olive.

Press "read more" below, to continue to the rest of the dafim!

דף ס ... מנחה של נוכרי 

Page 60 Mesectas Menachois 

"A Mincha Contributed by A Gentile"

According to one opinion of the rabbis in the Mishna on this daf is a novel law that states that if a gentile brought a Mincha sacrifice to the Temple, the Kohanim are required to accept it and offer it on the alter.

But there is a significant difference between a Mincha brought by a gentile and a Mincha brought by a Jew.

And that is that the Mincha brought by the Jew, is dealt differently.... the Kohein takes *"kemitzah" from the Mincha and burns that on the alter and the rest is then eaten by the Kohanim .... whilst the gentile Mincha is offered in totality on the alter and Kohanim don't get any part of it. 

*Note: Kemitzah is done exclusively by Kohanim, and it requires the attending Kohein to take part of the Mincha and to offer it on the alter .... This is not the place to explain the ritual. 

This particular halacha would also apply if a gentile brought an animal sacrifice called a *"Shelamim" ..... to the Temple .... the entire animal would be burnt on the alter without any part of it consumed by Kohanim, and is sacrificed as an Oleh offering  as opposed to the Shelamim sacrifices brought by a Jew, where the halacha dictates that the parts not sacrificed are distributed to Kohanim to eat and the owners eat from it as well.

*Note: The word "Shelamim" comes from the word peace.... because with this korban we are all at peace ... since all of us can partake in it ... Hashem, Kohanim and the owners of the animal.

דף ס''א .... תנופה 

Page 61 Mesectas Menachois

"Waiving"

One of the requirements of a sacrifice was that the Kohein had to do what we call "waiving." 

The mishna on this daf itemizes those sacrifices that required "waiving"before they were offered on the alter. 

Amongst those itemized was the "Shtei Ha'lechem" (breads) and the "two lambs of Shavuois."

The mishna explains how the Kohein waved the "Shtei Ha'lechem" (breads) together with the "two lambs."

The Kohein would put the "Shtei Ha'lechem" (breads) on the lambs when they were still alive, he then placed his hands under the lambs and lifted them in the air.... forward....backwards... up and the down!

דף ס''ב ...... רבי חנינא בן חכינאי

Page 62 Mesectas Menachois

" Rebbi Chaninah ben Chachinai"

After the destruction of the second temple, the city of Yavneh became a spiritual city. 

R' Yochenan ben Zakai was then the leader of the city and the Sanhedrin or Bais Din Hagodol was situated there. 

R' Yochenan established a large Yeshivah there for scholars and the students who studied there grew in Torah Scholarship and became the future Gedoilim of the next generation.

Amongst those young students in Yavneh was Rebbi Chaninah ben Chachinai whose statements are quoted on this daf.

He and R' Shimon bar Yochai were among the top students of Rebbi Akivah. R' Chaninah subsequently learned Torah 13 years straight in Bnei Brak with his teacher Rebbe Akiva.

Many of his statements in Halacha and Aggadah are quoted throughout the Talmud and  Midrash. The Midrash talks about the greatness of Rabbe Chachhinai and related that he fasted most of his life and started fasting at the young age of 12 and continued till his death at the age of 95.

דף ס''ג ..... קצירה בליל שבת קודש 

Page 63 Mesectas Menachois

"Cutting on Shabbos Koidesh"

The very first mishna of this perek deals with "cutting" on Shabbos. "Cutting" on Shabbos is prohibited.

The mishna states that once every few years, there was a positive commandment to actually "cut" on shabbos. 

How so?

When the mitzvah of Minchas Omer  came close to 16th of Nissan which was the second day of Pesach.

The procedure then was to bring the Omer from barley grain. 
There is an additional  mitzvah associated with this offering and that is that you must  cut the barley on the night before it was offered up on the alter. 

Therefore, if the second day of Pesach was on Shabbos, they had to cut the barley Friday night which is of course on Shabbos.

But to make sure that those who saw the cutting know that this is a special case , the "cutter" would ask the bystanders .." Is it the shkiyeh (sundown) yet?'

And the bystanders would answer "yes"  three times. 

He then asked  additional questions until the bystanders gave him the "ok" to cut! 

"דף ס''ד ....... ''פתחיה 

Page 64 Mesectas Menachois

"Pesachyeh"

During the times of the Temple, if one pledged to offer a pair of bird offerings, he did not have to bring the actual birds to the Temple, but instead could deposit an adequate sum of money into a collection chest marked "kinin" (nests). The administrator of the "kinin" would then give him a receipt that he deposited money for birds, he would hand this receipt to a bird dealer and would get his birds. This made it easier so that the one who pledged birds for an offering wouldn't have too travel so far with birds which is inconvenient.

The administrator of this chest, would make certain that by day's end, all the money in the chest had been used to purchase birds and that the birds were offered.

The administrator of this chest was called "Pesachyeh."

Who was "Pesachyeh? " 

The Talmud says that he was none other than Mordechai. 

Yup the same Mordechai from the Purim story.

After the Purim miracle, Mordechai made Aliyah with the "Aliyah movement of Ezra" and he was active in the building of the second Temple.

Why was he named "Pesachyeh?"

The Talmud says that he was named Pesachyeh, because he was fluent in 70 languages, and was capable of combining languages and explaining them .. 

Pesachyeh comes from the word "poseyach" to open ...Mordechai opened up mysterious matters and explained them.

As an example to show how Mordechai was able to decipher words and terms in various languages, the Talmud brings the following story:

During the destruction of the Temple, the besieging legions had devastated all the land surrounding Yerushalyim and the Marshaha suggests that this was done deliberately in order to prevent the offering of the Omer. So when the time arrived to bring the Omer, the people had no idea from where they could get barley to fulfill the mitzva of Omer.

They made a public announcement that whoever knows where barley is growing should come forward with this information.

Along came a mute man (according to the version of the Rashi) and put one hand on a roof ... "gag" and his other hand he placed on on a hut ..."tzerif" using sign language to indicate where the barley was growing (see illustration below). 

The people were dumbfounded because they had no idea to what he was referring to.

When they told Mordechai what the mute man did ... 

Mordechai asked his colleagues:

"Is there a place whose name is Gaggos Tzerifin or Tzerifin Gaggos?"

They searched and found the place that was named Gaggos Tzerifin.