Menachot 10b — the Talmud in English

And we object:

“But there is the casting, concerning which priesthood alone is written, and we learned: If he cast with the left hand, it is invalid!”

Yet Rabbi Shimon does not disagree, whereas we said that according to Rabbi Shimon it is necessary to write priesthood?

And we answer:

Abaye said,

Indeed, Rabbi Shimon does not disagree in the Mishna, but we find that he

disagrees in a beraita. For it was taught: If he cast with the left hand, it is invalid, but Rabbi Shimon deems it valid.

And we object:

But then, regarding that which Rava said

that we derive

“hand”—

“hand” for handful-taking

from the person afflicted with leprosy—

why do I need it,

since

it is derived from “priesthood”,

for concerning handful-taking it is written, “And the priest shall take a handful”? And we explain: Both verses are necessary:

one for the handful,

that is, for the handful-taking itself, that it shall be with the right hand,

and one for the sanctification of the handful

in a vessel, for it is necessary that he place it in the service vessel with his right hand. 37 .

And we object:

For Rabbi Shimon, who does not require

according to one of the amoraim

the sanctification of the handful

in a vessel,

and also according to the one who says that he does require the sanctification of the handful

in a vessel, he holds that

with the left hand he renders it valid,

as below; if so, the gzera shava

“hand”—

“hand” of Rava, why do I need it?

And

if

you will say that the gzera shava is necessary to derive the right hand

for the handful-taking itself, according to Rabbi Shimon,

who does not derive it from “priesthood,” for he holds that priesthood requires “finger,”

it is derived from Rabbi Yehuda, son of Rabbi Hiyya,

for Rabbi Yehuda, son of Rabbi Hiyya, said: What is the reason of Rabbi Shimon

who deems valid the burning of the handful even when it is not from a service vessel?

For the verse says

concerning the meal-offering:

“It is most holy, like the sin-offering and like the guilt-offering,”

and the comparison of the meal-offering to the sin-offering and the guilt-offering comes to teach you that if he

comes to perform it by hand,

without sanctification in a vessel,

he performs it with the right hand, like the sin-offering,

which he places from its blood with the right hand, for concerning it “finger” and priesthood are written;

if he comes to perform it in a vessel, he performs it with the left hand, like the guilt-offering

of the person afflicted with leprosy, concerning which left [hand] is written, and its blood is cast from a vessel. We learn that the meal-offering was compared to the sin-offering in order to learn the right hand; if so, why was “hand”—“hand” necessary?

And we answer:

“It is necessary”—

“hand”—“hand”

only for the handful of the sinner’s meal-offering. It might enter your mind to say: Since Rabbi Shimon said

that one does not place oil and frankincense upon the sinner’s meal-offering

so that his offering shall not be enhanced, when he takes a handful from it,

the handful-taking of the sinner’s meal-offering with the left hand should be valid;

it teaches us [that it is not so].