Menachot 49b (מט:) — the Talmud in English

Rather, obviously,

the Mishna is speaking

of a case where he does not have

enough to offer both the daily offerings and the additional offerings, and he may offer whichever he wishes.

And

there is still room to consider:

if

he does not have enough for the daily offering and the additional offering

of that day,

and today is Shabbat or a Festival,

why

may he offer whichever he wishes? After all, the daily offering that he has possesses the virtue of

being more frequent, and

it is also

sacred,

whereas the additional offering is only sacred. And surely that which is

more frequent

and sacred

is preferable

to that which is merely sacred?!

Rather, no,

here we are speaking of a case where they have sufficient offerings for today, and the deficiency concerns only the daily offering

of tomorrow,

such that if they offer the additional offering today in addition to the daily offering, they will lack a daily offering for tomorrow.

And it teaches

concerning this in the Mishna:

“They do not prevent one another”—

apparently,

the daily offering, which is more frequent, and the additional offering, which is sacred,

are equivalent,

and he may offer whichever of them he wishes. If so, the doubt is resolved: when one offering is more frequent and the other is sacred, neither has precedence over the other.

Abaye said to him: In fact,

the Mishna is speaking of a case

where they have

enough for both of them.

And as for offering one before the other,

this is the Mishna’s novelty: They do not prevent one another, so that if he offered the additional offering first, this does not prevent the offering from being valid.

And what you find difficult—

how can it be that this does not prevent the offering, when we learned

“that no offering shall be offered before

the daily offering”?

We can resolve this for you: the rule requiring precedence

is merely a mitzva,

and the tanna is speaking with regard to the case after the fact, where it does not prevent the offering from being valid. 6 .

Come and hear

to resolve the doubt concerning which comes first—the daily offering of tomorrow or today’s additional offering—from the Mishna in tractate Arakhin:

“One may not have fewer than six inspected lambs

that have no blemish, inspected four days before slaughter, so that they will be

in the Chamber of the Lambs.”

The number six is exact, as it is

the amount

of lambs needed

for Shabbat and the two days of Rosh HaShana

that occur consecutively immediately before or after Shabbat, since on each day two sheep are offered for the daily offering.

And we analyzed it:

What are the circumstances?

In what situation are six lambs needed for Shabbat and Rosh HaShana when they are adjacent to one another?

If you say that he has

enough sheep

for the daily and additional offerings

of Shabbat and Rosh HaShana, then six are not enough, since

there are many.

For on Rosh HaShana, seven sheep are offered for Rosh HaShana, another seven sheep for the New Moon offering, and another two sheep for the Shabbat additional offering—there are sixteen. Together with the six daily offerings for the three days, there are twenty-two!?

Rather, no,

it must be speaking

of a case where he does not have

enough for the daily and additional offerings, and they have only six sheep. The tanna assigns them to Shabbat and the two days of Rosh HaShana. It follows that we do not say that on Shabbat that falls before Rosh HaShana, two sheep should be offered for the daily offering and two sheep for the Shabbat additional offering, with the remainder left for the following day, the first Festival day of Rosh HaShana. Rather, only the daily offerings are offered each day, and the additional offering is nullified because of the daily offering of tomorrow.

And learn from this that the daily offerings have precedence

over the additional offerings, even though the Shabbat additional offerings are more sacred, since Shabbat is more sacred than a Festival.

And we reject this:

No,

do not infer that.

In fact,

it is speaking

of a case where he has

enough for the daily and additional offerings. And do not raise the difficulty that, if so, six are insufficient, since there are also additional offerings. The principal ruling of the Mishna is that he must have six inspected lambs for offering the daily offering; the requirement of inspection four days before slaughter was stated only with regard to the daily offering.

And this is what it is saying: “One may not have fewer than six inspected lambs in the Chamber of the Lambs,”

which is the measure of daily offerings for three days, because a daily offering requires inspection

four days before slaughter.

But the additional offerings and the other offerings do not require inspection four days in advance.

And whose opinion is it?—

It is that of Ben Bag Bag!

As it is taught in a beraita: Ben Bag Bag says: From where is it derived that the daily offering requires inspection four days before slaughter

[since this mitzva was stated only with regard to the Egyptian Passover]?

The verse states

in the passage concerning the daily offering:

“You shall keep watch over it, to offer it to Me at its appointed time.” And there it says,

with regard to the Egyptian Passover,

“And it shall be for you ‘for safekeeping’ until the fourteenth day.”

And we derive the verbal analogy of “watching” from “watching”:

Just as there,

with regard to the Passover offering,

it requires inspection four days before slaughter,

as it was purchased on the tenth of the month and slaughtered on the fourteenth,

so too here,

with regard to the daily offering,

it requires inspection four days before slaughter.

From now on, only with regard to the daily offering, for which there is a derivation from the verse, is inspection necessary. And in order to have time to prepare other inspected animals, there must be six inspected lambs: He takes the first ones and places others under inspection. 8 .

Ravina said to Rav Ashi:

These six lambs are not sufficient, since

there are seven! For

there is the morning of the first day of the week,

if Rosh HaShana falls on Thursday and Friday, followed by Shabbat. On these days, other animals are not placed under inspection. If so, what will he offer the next morning, on Sunday morning? He will not have enough time on Saturday night to seek out inspected animals. [But for the daily offerings of the afternoon of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, he will already have enough time on Sunday to seek out sheep that have been inspected four days earlier.]

And he answered by way of a question:

“In your view,

is that really a difficulty? Is this the only difficulty? For if we explain that they came here to enumerate what is needed for Shabbat and Rosh HaShana occurring consecutively, then when one stands in the middle of the day preceding the three consecutive days, there are still [Tosafot, s.v. “There is”]

eight, since there is

a daily offering

of the afternoon preceding Shabbat,

for even on the afternoon of the preceding Friday—the Shabbat after which Rosh HaShana falls on Sunday and Monday—a daily offering must be offered. At that point, another animal is no longer placed under inspection. It follows that, besides these three days, we have one additional daily offering preceding them and one on the following morning, and altogether eight are required!?

He said to him:

“That is not difficult, for

indeed, when it was said that there must be six inspected lambs in the chamber, this means

after he has offered

the afternoon offering on Friday, and these are the six

that he was referring to.”