Menachot 61a — the Talmud in English

I include the other meal-offerings

that resemble these in the matter

that come on account of themselves, and I exclude the meal-offering of libations, which does not come on account of itself

but on account of the sacrifice with which it comes.

But surely the meal-offering of priests and the meal-offering of the anointed priest come on account of themselves,

and if so,

could they be subject to presentation?

The verse states: “And he shall present it.”

And we challenge this:

This is needed for its own matter, that it is subject to presentation?!

And we answer: The exclusion is

from “and he shall present,” [

that is, it could have written “and he shall present” without the letter heh, but it wrote

“and he shall present it.”]]

And what did you see to include the other meal-offerings and to exclude the meal-offering of priests and the meal-offering of the anointed priest?

I include the other meal-offerings, some of which are for the altar-fire, and which come on account of themselves, and some of which are for the priests.

And I exclude:

the two loaves and the showbread —

from which there is nothing for the altar-fire.

And the meal-offering of libations —

which does not come on account of itself.

And the meal-offering of priests and the meal-offering of the anointed priest —

from which there is nothing for the priests.

It is stated in that passage concerning the handful:

“And he shall raise

the priest from the meal-offering.”

Could

he raise it

with a vessel?

The verse states

elsewhere:

“And he shall raise from it with his handful”; just as the raising mentioned there is with his handful

and not with vessels,

so too the raising mentioned here is with his handful.

Mishna:

1.

These are subject to waving, but are not subject to presentation:

the log of oil of the leper.

And

the

sacrifice of his guilt-offering

of the leper.

And the first fruits —

according to the statement of Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov,

who says that the first fruits are subject to waving.

And the sacrificial portions of the peace-offerings of an individual, and their breast and thigh [

of the peace-offerings of an individual], which are waved together.

Both

the peace-offerings of

men and both

the peace-offerings of

women

are subject to waving, except that the waving itself is performed

by an Israelite,

for Israelites wave,

but not by others —

for women or non-Jews do not wave, even though the peace-offering that they bring is subject to waving [in the sacrificial portions and the breast and thigh].

The two loaves and the two lambs of Atzeret

that come with them.

How does he perform it?

He places the two loaves upon the two lambs, and places his two hands below

the two lambs and waves them together.

2. How is the waving performed?

He moves it back and forth, raises it and lowers it. As it is stated

concerning the breast of the waving and the thigh of the offering of the ram of the inauguration:

“which was waved and which was raised,”

and from here we derive by a binyan av for all those subject to waving that they move them back and forth, that they also raise and lower them [according to the Sifra, Parashat Tzav, section 148].

3.

Waving was

performed even

on the east

side of the altar, and all the more so on its west, which is the side nearer the Sanctuary 29 .

And

if

presentation

were performed

on the west

specifically, namely at its southwestern corner, which is near the Sanctuary.

4.

Wavings precede presentations,

for first they wave the meal-offering, and afterward they present it at the corner of the altar.

5.

The omer meal-offering and the meal-offering of jealousy —

are subject to presentation and waving.

The showbread and the meal-offering of libations —

are subject neither to presentation nor to waving.

6.

Rabbi Shimon says: Three types

of sacrifices [namely, the peace-offerings of an individual, the lambs of Atzeret, and the guilt-offering of a leper]

are subject

among all three to the performance of

three mitzvot,

such that

two

of the three mitzvot apply

in each and every one, and

whereas the

third mitzva does not apply to them [

that is, in each of the three sacrifices there is fulfillment of only two of the three mitzvot].

And these are

the three types of sacrifices:

the sacrifices of the peace-offerings of an individual, and the sacrifices of the peace-offerings of the community [

the two lambs of Atzeret],

and the guilt-offering of a leper.

And these are the three mitzvot: laying on of hands while alive, waving while alive, and waving after slaughter.

The sacrifices of the peace-offerings of an individual are subject to laying on of hands

when they are

alive, and to waving

when they are

slaughtered [

in the sacrificial portions and the breast and thigh].

But they do not have

the mitzva of

waving

when they are

alive.

The sacrifices of the peace-offerings of the community [

the lambs of Atzeret]

are subject to waving while alive, and

to waving when they are

slaughtered,

but

they do not have

the mitzva of

laying on of hands.

And the guilt-offering of a leper is subject to laying on of hands and waving,

when it is

alive, and it does not have

the mitzva of

waving

when it is

slaughtered.

Gemara:

The Sages taught:

It is stated concerning the guilt-offering of a leper and the log of oil of the leper:

“And he shall bring it as a guilt-offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a waving”; the verse teaches

that

they are subject—

the guilt-offering and the log of oil—

to one waving together.

And from where

that if he waved this

by

itself, and this

by itself, he has fulfilled his obligation?

The verse states: “And he shall bring it as a guilt-offering, [

and the

log of oil] —

and wave,”

for it implies that “to wave” applies to the log of oil [written at the end of the verse] by itself, and if so, the same law is that he may wave the guilt-offering by itself.

Could he wave

the two together

, and then wave

each one separately, in order to fulfill both “and he shall wave them” and “and the log of oil he shall wave”?

The verse states

an extra verse-word:

“a waving,”

for it could have written only “and he shall wave them,” to teach you: one

and not

several

wavings.

And that which we learned in the Mishna, that he may wave even on the eastern side of the altar, we derive from what is stated concerning the waving of the guilt-offering of the leper and the log of oil, “and he shall wave them as a waving

before the Lord,”

which implies that even

on the east

of the altar, which is distant from the Sanctuary, we call it “before the Lord.”

And we ask:

But he said

the master above, with regard to the presentation of the meal-offering, the opposite. For it was taught there:

“Before the Lord” \-

Could

he present the meal-offering to the altar

on the west,

which is “before the Lord”? The verse states: “to the face of the altar,” which is the southern side, for the ramp is situated in the south, and the face of the altar is toward the ramp! And it is proven that “before the Lord” means on the west; so how do we say here that it means on the east?

And we answer:

They say, this matter

that we say that one should expound “before the Lord” as meaning on the west applies because it concerns a

meal-offering, which is called “sin-offering” [“It is most holy, like the sin-offering”],

[“It is most holy, like a sin-offering”],

and a sin-offering is subject

to pouring the remaining blood onto the

base

of the altar, and consequently the presentation of the meal-offering must also be performed opposite the base, for it is learned from the sin-offering,

and the southeastern corner did not have a base,

therefore he must present it at the southwestern corner, which does have a base [for the meal-offering must be brought on the south, because it is also written concerning it “to the face of the altar,” which is on the south], and at this corner we call it both “before the Lord” and “to the face of the altar.”

But here,

with regard to the waving of the guilt-offering and the log of oil of the leper,

we call it “before the Lord,”

even on the eastern side of the altar.

We learned in the Mishna:

And the first fruits —

according to the statement of Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov.

And we explain:

What is [the teaching of] Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov —

for it was taught: “And the priest shall take

the basket from your hand and place it before the altar of the Lord your God,”

it teaches concerning the first fruits

that they are subject to waving; the words of Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov.

What is the reason of Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov? [

How did he learn this] —

He derives,

he learned by a gzera shava,

“hand, hand” from the peace-offerings,

which are subject to waving in the sacrificial portions and the breast and thigh.