Menachot 78a (עח.) — the Talmud in English

He said:

Rabbi Yitzḥak bar Avdimi

explained:

“They shall be”

with two yuds]

is written; the extra yud comes to teach the number ten for the loaves of the thanksgiving offering, as hinted in the verse, “You shall bring.”

“You shall bring.”

And we challenge this:

Perhaps it means ten kapizei

smaller measures than an issaron]—

That is to say: Even when we asked, “Perhaps it means two issaron,” the question was: From where do we know that the loaves of the thanksgiving offering should be equated with the two loaves with regard to the size of each individual loaf, which is an issaron? We would then have found ten issaron for the leavened loaves of the thanksgiving offering. Perhaps Scripture equated all ten loaves of the thanksgiving offering with the two loaves, meaning: Just as the two loaves come from two issaron, so too all ten loaves of the thanksgiving offering come from two issaron; consequently, each loaf is less than an issaron. If so, what does the extra yud teach regarding the number ten? Ultimately, we still would not know whether there are ten issaron, or ten small loaves, each one less than an issaron, which altogether amount to two issaron!?

He said:

Rava

answered: The verse spoke of issaron measures.

The Master said in the beraita:

We learned ten

issaron]

for the leavened loaves.

Ten for the unleavened loaves—from where?

The verse states: “Along with the loaves of leavened bread,”

corresponding to the leavened loaves that come as unleavened loaves.

And we challenge this:

Does a matter learned through a hekesh

namely, the ten issaron for the leavened loaves, which were learned through the comparison of “you shall bring” to the two loaves]

then go back and teach through a hekesh, so that you compare the unleavened loaves to the leavened loaves and make them ten issaron like them!? And we answer:

“

It is derived from it and from another matter”

and therefore

the matter of the ten issaron in the leavened loaves is not learned entirely from the two loaves, since the two loaves themselves did not contain these two issaron. Rather, the teaching is derived from the two loaves together with what is written explicitly concerning the leavened loaves. For it is explicit in the leavened loaves themselves that there must be ten loaves, since this is learned through a gzera shava from the separation of the tithe, as though it were written explicitly concerning them. From the two loaves we learn through the hekesh of “you shall bring” that each loaf must contain an issaron. From both of them together we know that the leavened loaves contain ten issaron—

And every instance of “

it is derived from it and from another matter”

is not a hekesh,

and therefore it can go back and teach through a hekesh.

But we still challenge this:

This works according to the one who says: “

it is derived from it and from another matter”

is not a hekesh

and can go back and teach.

But according to the one who says that

even so it

is a hekesh

and cannot teach,

what is there to say!?

And we answer:

“You shall bring,”

which is stated concerning the two loaves,

is an expansion

and

is an expansion intended to include the loaves of the thanksgiving offering as analogous to the two loaves; this is not a hekesh.

a. It is written in the command concerning the practical rites of the seven days of the inauguration that Moses performed for Aaron and his sons when the Tabernacle was erected [Exodus 29:1]: “And this is the thing that you shall do for them [for Aaron and his sons], to sanctify them to serve as priests for Me: Take one bull, the son of cattle, and two unblemished rams [the first a burnt offering and the second a peace offering, called the ‘ram of the inauguration’]. And unleavened bread [boiled], and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil [these are three types]; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. You shall place them in one basket, and you shall present them in the basket, and the bull and the two rams. You shall take from the ram the fat and the tail, the fat covering the innards, the diaphragm over the liver, the two kidneys and the fat upon them, and the right thigh, for it is a ram of inauguration. And one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord. You shall place all of these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. You shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar upon the burnt offering, as a pleasing fragrance before the Lord; it is a fire offering to the Lord.”

b. It is written in the section concerning the nazirite [Numbers 6:13]: “And this is the law of the nazirite: On the day that the days of his naziriteship are completed, he shall bring himself to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. He shall present his offering to the Lord: one unblemished lamb in its first year as a burnt offering, one unblemished ewe in its first year as a sin offering, and one unblemished ram as a peace offering. And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour [unleavened] mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil [these are two types], with their meal offering and libations... And he shall prepare the ram as a peace offering to the Lord, along with the basket of unleavened bread, and the priest shall prepare its meal offering and its libation... The priest shall take the cooked foreleg from the ram, and one unleavened cake from the basket and one unleavened wafer, and place them on the palms of the nazirite after he shaves his nazirite locks. The priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord;

it is holy for the priest, in addition to the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the teruma; afterward the nazirite may drink wine.”

c. It was explained in the Mishna at the beginning of the chapter that the loaves of the thanksgiving offering consist of three types of unleavened bread: cakes, wafers, and boiled cakes. All of them were made from ten “desert” issaron—and according to the Jerusalem measure, fifteen kav—from which they made ten equal loaves of each type. Corresponding to these, he brought ten leavened loaves from ten issaron, which equal fifteen Jerusalem kav.

Mishna:

The inauguration loaves,

that is, the loaves of the inauguration,

came in the same manner as the

types of

unleavened bread of the thanksgiving offering,

namely:

cakes, wafers, and boiled cakes,

all unleavened. They came from fifteen Jerusalem kav, like the unleavened bread of the thanksgiving offering, which is ten “desert” issaron; and they were equal to them in number, namely, three types of ten loaves each.

The loaves of the nazirite offering,

that is, the loaves of the nazirite offering,

came as two parts

two portions

of the unleavened bread of the thanksgiving offering,

namely:

cakes and wafers,

all unleavened,

but it contained no boiled cakes,

as did the thanksgiving offering; and they came in the same proportion in number and in the measure of fine flour they contained.

It follows—

the quantity of fine flour in the loaves of the nazirite offering—

was ten Jerusalem kav,

which are two portions of the fifteen kav in the unleavened bread of the thanksgiving offering,

which are six issaron

of the “desert” measure

and an additional

two-thirds of an issaron; thus they equal two-thirds of the ten issaron in the unleavened bread of the thanksgiving offering.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: The inauguration loaves came in the same manner as the unleavened bread of the thanksgiving offering—cakes, wafers, and boiled cakes.

The Gemara asks:

From where are these matters

that in the inauguration they also brought boiled cakes? For Scripture says only “unleavened bread,” in addition to the cakes and wafers mentioned explicitly. From where do we know that this “unleavened bread” refers to boiled cakes?

He said:

Rabbi

Rav Ḥisda said that Rav Ḥama bar Gurya

explained:

Because

the verse says

in the days of the inauguration, as Moses performed it according to his command [Leviticus 8:26]: “From the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord

he took one unleavened cake, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer,”

he took one unleavened loaf, one loaf of oil bread, and one wafer.”

and

what is

the “cake of oiled bread”? Is it

not a boiled cake

which is called “oiled bread” because in a boiled cake one places twice as much oil as in the cakes?

Rav Avya challenged this: Perhaps it means an anta of oil,

perhaps “a cake of oiled bread” means a cake of congealed oil!?

Rather,

from here we learn that the third type in the inauguration was a boiled cake, and

as Rav Naḥman bar Rav Ḥisda taught in the name of Rabbi Tavla:

It is written [Leviticus 6:13–15]: “This is the offering of Aaron and his sons, which they shall offer to the Lord on the day that he is anointed: a tenth of an eifa of fine flour as a regular meal offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. On a griddle with oil you shall make it, boiled; you shall bring it, baked in pieces; you shall offer it as a meal offering, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. The priest who is anointed in his place from among his sons shall perform it; it is an eternal statute for the Lord; it shall be completely burned.”

The section as a whole teaches that the High Priest must bring a “pan-offering” every day, and that a priest must also bring this offering at the beginning of his service. It is called the “initiation offering,” as explained above, 51b.

As it is written: “

This is the offering of Aaron and his sons, which they shall offer to the Lord

on the day that he is anointed”—

What do we learn concerning his sons from “

the day that he is anointed”?

That is, since Scripture says “he,” referring to Aaron, why did Scripture initially mention “Aaron and his sons”?

Rather, it compares his initiation

this is the initiation offering of an ordinary priest

to his anointment

this is the pan-offering that the High Priest brings every day; and it comes to teach:

Just as his anointment involves a boiled cake,

as the verse says, “On a griddle with oil you shall make it, boiled; you shall bring it,”

so too his initiation involves a boiled cake,

teaching that an ordinary priest must also bring a boiled cake, and likewise in the inauguration, which is a day of initiation, a boiled cake is brought.

Rav Ḥisda said: A High Priest who approaches the service,

who begins the service,

must

bring

two

issaron of an eifa:

One for his anointment,

that is, the “offering of an anointed priest” that the High Priest brings every day.

And one for his initiation,

into the service, since the section also includes the “initiation offering” of one entering the service for the first time.

Mar bar Ḥiyya said: Three

issaron; he brings them, as he proceeds to explain.

And they do not disagree,

Rav Ḥisda, who said that he brings two issaron, and Mar bar Ḥiyya, who said that he brings three issaron, because:

This

statement of Rav Ḥisda, that he brings only two issaron, applies when

he had already performed

service

as an ordinary priest,

and at that time had brought a tenth of an eifa for his initiation as an ordinary priest. He therefore need bring only one initiation offering for his initiation as a High Priest, bringing the pan-offering and the initiation offering.

This

statement of Mar bar Ḥiyya, that he brings three issaron, applies when

he had not performed service as an ordinary priest,

and must bring one issaron for his initiation as an ordinary priest and one for his initiation as a High Priest, making three issaron together with the pan-offering.

We learned in the Mishna:

“The nazirite offering consisted of two portions”

“like the matza of the todah offering”:

loaves and wafers, but it did not include rabukha.

The Sages taught:

It is stated in the passage concerning the loaves of the todah offering: “Upon loaves of leavened bread he shall bring his offering, together with the sacrifice of the todah of his peace offerings.” Therefore, the verse says

“his peace offerings”

in order

to include the peace offering of a nazirite

with regard to the loaves that he brings along with it:

ten Jerusalem kavs

of fine flour, which are two portions of the flour used for the matza of the todah offering,

and a quarter-log of oil

which is half of the amount that he brings for the matza of the todah offering—

That is, the verse comes to teach you that the measure of flour and the measure of oil in the loaves and wafers of the nazirite offering are equal to those in the loaves and wafers of the todah offering. This, then, is the measure of flour that was in the loaves and wafers of the todah offering, and this is the measure of oil that was in them, for he brought half a log of oil with the todah offering: half of it for the rabukha, and half of it for the loaves and wafers.

One might have thought

that the verse included “his peace offerings”

with regard to everything stated in the passage: Perhaps the verse comes to equate them also with regard to the rabukha, teaching us that in addition to the loaves and wafers explicitly mentioned concerning it, he must also bring matza rabukha—

Perhaps the verse intended to equate them even with regard to the boiled cakes, teaching us that in addition to the cakes and wafers explicitly mentioned there, he also brings unleavened boiled cakes—

The verse states

concerning the nazirite: “And a basket of

unleavened bread,”

as the Gemara proceeds to explain.

The Gemara asks:

What is the derivation—

how do we learn from the word “unleavened” that he does not bring rabukha?

Rav Pappa said:

The verse “a basket of unleavened bread” comes to teach that he brings only

something concerning which it is stated

“unleavened”;

this excludes rabukha,

for

even with regard to the todah offering,

it was not stated

“unleavened” in the verse, although it was matza, as the verse states: “And fine flour mixed into rabukha, loaves mixed with oil.”

in the verse [although it was unleavened bread], as the verse says: “and fine flour boiled into cakes mixed with oil.”

The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught

another source demonstrating that a nazirite does not bring rabukha:

For

“a basket of unleavened bread”

is

a general category;

whereas that which the verse specifies concerning the nazirite,

“loaves and wafers,”

is

a specific detail.

And we have an established principle:

“When a general category is followed by a specific detail, the general category includes only what is specified in the detail,”

so we have learned:

“Loaves and wafers, and no

indeed does the nazirite bring; but

nothing else, no

does the nazirite bring. The verse “his peace offerings” comes only to teach us the measure of flour and the measure of oil in the loaves and wafers of the nazirite, that they must be equal to those of the todah offering.