Menachot 86a (פו.) — the Talmud in English

And if one brought it, it is unfit, because it is a burning substance

it is merely a liquid, and it is not oil; whereas in our Mishna we learned that anpaknin is among the unfit oils, implying that in any event it is oil!?

He said

he resolved

Rav Yosef: It is not difficult:

This—

our Mishna—

is the opinion of Rabbi Hiyya,

who does not consider it oil, but merely a liquid.

This—

the beraita—

is the opinion of Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi,

who considers it oil.

Rabbi Hiyya would discard it,

Rabbi Hiyya would customarily discard the anpaknin,

whereas

if

Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi would dip in it

he would dip bread in it, as one does in oil.

And your mnemonic

is a sign for you, in order to know who was the one who dipped in it:

The wealthy economize,

Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi, who was the son of a nasi and was wealthy, would economize by not discarding it, but would dip bread in it.

It is written concerning the young women who were prepared to come before King Ahasuerus [Esther 2:12]: “And when the turn of each young woman came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after she had undergone the prescribed preparations for women for twelve months, for so the days of their preparations were completed

six months with oil of myrrh

and six months with spices and women’s cosmetics”:

And we explain:

What is

“oil of myrrh”?

Rav Huna bar Hiyya said:

“Oil of myrrh” means

siktakha

balsam oil.

Rabbi Yirmeya bar Abba said:

“Oil of myrrh” means

oil

from

an olive that has not reached one-third

of its ripening.

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Yehuda says:

“Anpaknin,”

which is mentioned in our Mishna, means:

oil from an olive that has not reached one-third.

And

why is it applied,

because

it removes the hair and softens the flesh.

We learned in the Mishna:

One may not bring olives that have fallen into water,

nor olives that have been pickled or boiled; and if one brought them, the oil is unfit:

The Sages taught: Oil

from

an olive pickled

in vinegar and salt, or from a

boiled

olive, or from an olive

soaked—

and

oil

from sediment

oil that emerges from the sediment, as wine is extracted from wine sediment,

and oil with a bad odor,

that is, oil whose odor is bad—

From all of these,

one may not bring it, but if one brought it—

it is unfit.

Rava raised a dilemma

he was uncertain:

If one consecrated it,

one of these unfit oils,

what is the law: does he receive lashes for it as one who consecrates

an item

with a blemish

to the altar? The sides of the dilemma are:

Since it is unfit,

the oil

is comparable to an item with a blemish,

and he receives lashes if he consecrated it.

Or perhaps: Is an item with a blemish found only in an animal?

And we conclude:

teyku.

Mishna:

There are three olive harvests,

and

from each of them there are three types of oil,

that is, olives are harvested from the olive tree three times a year, because they do not ripen all at once, and from each harvest three types of oil are produced.

And the Mishna explains:

The first olive harvest,

that is, this is how three types of oil were produced from the tree’s first crop:

He gathers the olives from the top of the olive tree,

that is, he gathers from the tree the olives at its top, which ripen first because the sun beats down upon them,

and crushes

them in a mortar, rather than grinding them in a mill,

and places

them after crushing them

into the basket,

which was perforated, with a vessel beneath it to receive the oil that dripped from them.

Rabbi Yehuda says: Around the basket,

he would place them outside the basket after crushing them, and the oil would flow through the sides into the basket, and would then be filtered from it and emerge into a vessel.

This was

the

first

oil of the first crop.

He then loads

the olives

with a beam,

placing a beam upon them to press them—

Rabbi Yehuda says: With stones,

he would load them with stones, not with a beam, because the beam is heavy and also extracts the sediment.

This was

the

second

oil of the first crop.

He then grinds

the olives that had been beneath the beam

and

again

loads

the beam upon them.

This was

the

third

oil from the first crop.

The

first

oil is designated

for the Menora,

as it is stated concerning it [Exodus 27:20], “pure olive oil

and the remainder”—

the second and third oils—

for meal-offerings,

for which this requirement was not stated.

The second olive harvest

was harvested a second time in this manner, and three types of oil were produced from this harvest:

He gathers the olives from the top of the roof,

gathering the olives near the roof, which ripen during the second period,

and crushes them and places them into the basket; Rabbi Yehuda says: Around the basket—

this was

the

first

oil from the second crop.

He loads

those olives

with a beam, and Rabbi Yehuda says: With stones—

This was

the

second

oil from the second crop.

He then grinds

the olives that he had loaded with a beam

and loads

them again with a beam or with stones:

This was

the

third

oil from the second crop.

The first is for the Menora, and the remainder is for meal-offerings.

The third olive harvest

was produced as follows:

He gathers it in the olive press until it becomes blemished,

that is, he gathers the remaining olives, which will never fully ripen, into the gathering place for olives in the olive press, until their peels soften and their appearance changes.

And he raises it

from the gathering place

and wipes it,

removing the liquid that dripped from them because the olives were pressed together in the gathering place,

onto the top of the roof—

He crushes

them

and places them into the basket; Rabbi Yehuda says: Around the basket—

This was

the

first

oil from the third crop.

He loads them with a beam; Rabbi Yehuda says: With stones

he would load them—

this was

the

second

oil from the third crop.

He then grinds

them in a mill

and

again

loads

the beam upon them—

This was

the

third

oil from the third crop.

The first is for the Menora, and the remainder is for meal-offerings.

Gemara:

They raised a dilemma

in the house of study concerning the wording of the Mishna that we learned: “He gathers it from the top of the olive tree”:

Does

“he gathers it”

we learned,

meaning that he picks one olive here and one olive there,

or

perhaps

“he rolls it”

the expression used for a rolled egg

we learned,

meaning that he leaves them to ripen fully on the top of the olive tree?

Come and hear

that “he rolls it” is what we learned, from the following

as it was taught:

Olive oil—

from its olive,

that is, one who undertakes to provide olive oil must ensure that the oil is from olives that have fully ripened, so that the oil emerges from them without pressing; and this is derived from the verse “pure olive oil,” meaning oil that has ripened and emerged without pressing.

From here they said,

the Sages:

The first olive harvest: he rolls it

leaving it to ripen

on the top of the olive tree,

where the sun beats down upon them and ripens them,

and brings it into the olive press,

that is, to the place where oil is produced, but he does not use the beams of the olive press until the first oil has emerged in the baskets,

and grinds it in a mill

and places it in baskets.

The oil that emerges from it

in the baskets,

this was

the

first oil.

He loads it with a beam; the oil that emerges from it

through the pressing,

this was

the

second oil.

And he unloads

the olives from the olive press

and grinds them

in a mill,

and again loads

the beam in the olive press; the oil that emerges from it

this was the third.

The first is for the Menora, and the remainder is for meal-offerings.

And likewise the second olive harvest,

that is, this is likewise what he would do with the second crop, from the trees near the top of the roof.

The third olive harvest,

from those that never fully ripen:

he gathers it in the olive press until it becomes blemished, raises it to the top of the roof, and makes it

there

like a date,

a heap broad at the bottom and narrow at the top,

until its liquid flows out; then he brings it into the olive press, grinds it in a mill, and places it in baskets—

and the oil that emerges from it, this was the first.

He loads it with a beam; the oil that emerges from it was the second.

the oil that emerges from it

was the third.

The first is for the Menora, and the remainder is for meal-offerings.

Rabbi Yehuda says: He did not grind it in a mill

for the first oil of each of the three harvests,

but crushed it in a mortar.

And he did not load it with a beam, but with stones.

And he did not place it in baskets, but around the basket.

And we raise a difficulty against our Mishna: “

He crushes,”

which we learned in our Mishna [“and he crushes it and places it into the basket”],

whose opinion is this? It is Rabbi Yehuda’s,

as explained in the beraita—

But as for what we learned in our Mishna,

“

into the basket,”

this is the opinion of the Rabbis, because according to Rabbi Yehuda he places it not inside but around it!?

And we answer:

This tanna

of our Mishna

agrees with him

Rabbi Yehuda

in one matter,

that he crushed it,

but disagrees with him in one matter,

that he places it inside the basket rather than around it.

Mishna:

Our Mishna details the relative importance of all the oils mentioned in the preceding Mishna: the oil

the first of

the

first crop

is the finest of all, and

there is none superior to it.

The

second of

the

first crop, and

the oil

the first of

the

second crop—

they are equal

in their rank.

The

third of

the

first crop, and

the oil

the second of

the

second crop, and

the oil

the first of

the

third crop—

they are equal.

The

third of

the

second crop, and

the oil

the second of

the

third crop—

they are equal.

The

third of

the

third crop has none inferior to it.

The Mishna further explains:

The meal-offerings, too, would logically be required to use pure olive oil,

and only the first oil from each harvest would be fit for meal-offerings, for this follows by means of a kal va-chomer:

If the Menora, which is not for consumption,

nevertheless

requires pure olive oil—

The meal-offerings, which are for consumption,

of the altar,

should they not logically require pure olive oil?

Rather,

the verse states [Exodus 27:20]: “And they shall take for you pure olive oil,

crushed for lighting,”

pure crushed oil for lighting,”

to exclude:

and there is no

pure crushed oil

for meal-offerings.