Menachot 65a (סה.) — the Talmud in English

And this is what we learned:

This is what we learned in tractate Shekalim [5a]:

These are the officials who served in the Temple:

Petahiah over

the bird-offerings

This refers to the collection box called “bird-offerings,” because when a man or woman with a discharge, or a woman who has given birth, wished to bring obligatory bird-offerings, they did not purchase the birds themselves. Rather, they gave their money to the “collection boxes” in the Temple, and the officials in charge of the collection boxes took the money and purchased bird-offerings with it.

Petahiah

was Mordecai,

and

why was he called Petahiah? Because he would open matters and expound them, and he knew seventy languages.”

But this Mishna in Shekalim would seemingly present a difficulty:

all the members of the Sanhedrin also knew seventy languages,

so what novelty was there in Mordecai, who was one of the members of the Sanhedrin, knowing seventy languages!?

For

it was

Rabbi Yohanan who said: They appoint to the Sanhedrin only men of wisdom, men of imposing appearance, men of stature

so that the litigants would be awed by them and would not lie,

men of advanced age, and men knowledgeable in sorcery

so that if the accused were a sorcerer and fire had no effect on him, they could perform sorcery themselves and put him to death by whatever form of execution they were able

And they knew seventy languages,

so that

the Sanhedrin would not

have to

hear

the litigants

through an interpreter,

lest the interpreter alter their claims and the court find them liable unlawfully.

Rather,

Mordecai

would combine languages and expound

he would blend and intermix the languages, as in “ein sukar” and “gagot tzerifin”—

and this is also why

he

was called

[in the Book of Nehemiah 7:7]: “Those who came [from the exile] with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah,

Mordecai Bilshan

[one who blends languages].”

Mishna:

How did they perform

the harvesting of the omer on the night following the first day of Passover?

The agents of the court would go out on the eve of

the first day of Passover,

and they would make them

the grain designated for harvesting

into bundles while still attached to the ground

they would gather and tie the heads of the stalks to the thickness of a full fist

so that it would be easy to harvest

quickly by means of the bundling.

All the towns near there,

the place of the harvesting,

would gather there

on the Festival

so that it would be harvested

as soon as it became dark

with great ceremony

amid loud commotion and publicity.

Once it became dark on the night following the first Festival day

:

He would say to them

each of the three harvesters would ask

the people who had gathered there aloud

Has the sun set”

has the sun already set, so that I may harvest, since the mitzva of harvesting is at night, and I will not violate the Festival? And the people would answer and

say: “

Yes”

indeed, the sun has set; and again each of them would ask: “

Has the sun set,”

and they

would say: “

Yes”;

and likewise a third time, as explained later in the Mishna.

Each of the harvesters would also ask: “

This sickle”

shall I harvest with this sickle? And the people would answer and

say, “

Yes”;

again he would ask, “

This sickle,”

and they

would say, “

Yes,”

and likewise a third time.

He would also ask: “

This basket”

shall I place the grain in this basket? And they

would say, “

Yes”; “

This basket?”

and they

would say, “

Yes,”

and likewise a third time.

On Shabbat

they would add another question here:

He would say to them, “

This Shabbat”

shall I harvest on this Shabbat? And they

would say, “

Yes”; “

This Shabbat?”

and they

would say, “Yes.”

He would also ask on all the days: “

Shall I harvest?”

And they would say to him, “

Harvest” !; “

Shall I harvest?”

And they would say to him, “

Harvest.”

Three times

they would ask

about each and every matter, and they would say to him: Yes

to the first question,

yes

to the second, and

yes

to the third.

And

why

would they ask so many questions?

Why?

Because of the Boethusians

the disciples of Boethus, who denied the Oral Torah,

who would say: The harvesting of the omer is not on the night following the Festival

but on the day after the first Shabbat of Creation following the first day of Passover. They would raise their voices so that the Boethusians would hear, in order to disabuse them of this belief.

Gemara:

The Sages taught

in the Scroll of Fasts:

These are the days on which it is not

permitted to fast, and some of them

are more stringent

for

even

not eulogizing on them

These are the days that the Sages established as days on which one may not fast, and these are the days on which they additionally prohibited even eulogizing:

From the first of Nisan until the eighth of it, the daily offering was restored

from the New Moon of Nisan until the eighth day of the month, the law concerning the daily offering was established on its proper foundation; and the Gemara proceeds to explain this,

that one may not eulogize on these days.

And from the eighth of it until the end of the Festival

Passover,

the festival of Shavuot was restored

from the eighth of Nisan until the end of Passover, the law concerning the Festival of Shavuot was established on its proper foundation; and the Gemara proceeds to explain this, and these days were established

as days on which one may not fast

only, but eulogizing is permitted.

The Gemara explains:

From the first of Nisan until the eighth of it, the daily offering was restored, and one may not eulogize:

The Sadducees would say: An individual may volunteer and bring

the

daily offering

that is brought every day, and it does not come from the communal funds.

The Gemara explains:

What did

the Sadducees

derive from the verse in the passage concerning the daily offering [Numbers 28:4]: “

You shall offer the one lamb in the morning, and the second lamb

you shall offer between the evenings”?

It follows that the Torah used the expression “you shall offer” in the singular.

The Gemara further explains:

What did they answer them

the Sages respond and prove to them?

For it is written in the passage concerning the daily offering: “

My offering, My food for My offerings, My pleasing fragrance, you shall take care of.”

It follows that the Torah used “you shall take care of” in the plural, teaching:

All of them must come from the chamber donation

the Israelites would contribute their half-shekels to the chamber designated for this purpose, and from there funds were allocated to the collection boxes, from which the communal offerings were purchased.

We further explain:

From the eighth of it until the end of the Festival, the festival of Shavuot was restored, and one may not fast:

The Boethusians would say: Shavuot

the Festival of Shavuot

is always after the Shabbat

That is, when the Torah says concerning the omer and the beginning of the counting, “From the day after the Shabbat the priest shall wave it. And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the omer of the waving,” this means the day after the “Shabbat of Creation,” and the counting of the seven weeks concludes on Shabbat, with the Festival of Shavuot on the following day.

Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai confronted them and said to them: Fools, from where do you derive this

interpretation!?

And there was not a single person

among the Boethusians

who could answer him, except for one elder, who argued against him and said:

Moses our Teacher loved Israel, and he knew that Shavuot is only one day

alone

it is,

unlike the other Festivals, which last seven days.

Therefore Moses arose

Moses

and established it

for Shavuot

after

the

Shabbat, so that Israel would enjoy two consecutive days.

He cited

Rabbi Yohanan, concerning that elder,

this verse

[Deuteronomy 1:2]: “[The journey is]

eleven days

[alone]

from Horeb

[where they received the Torah]

by way of Mount Seir,

until Kadesh-barnea [near the Land of Israel]” —