Menachot 86a — the Talmud in English

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

[it is merely liquid and is not oil]; whereas in our Mishna we learned: anafkinon is among the unfit oils, and it implies that in any event it is oil!?

He said

he answered

Rav Yosef: It is not difficult:

This—

our Mishna—

is Rabbi Hiyya’s

view, for he does not consider it oil, but merely liquid.

This—

the beraita—

is Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi’s

view, for he considers it oil.

For Rabbi Hiyya discards it,

Rabbi Hiyya used to discard the anafkinon,

and

whereas

Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi dipped with it

[he would dip bread in it], as with oil.

And your sign

a sign for you, so that you will know who it was who dipped with it:

The wealthy economize,

Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi, for he was the son of a Nasi and was wealthy, and he economized by not discarding it, but rather dipping bread in it.

It is written concerning the maidens who were prepared to come before King Ahasuerus [Esther 2:12]: “And when the turn of each maiden came to come to King Ahasuerus, at the end of her being treated according to the law of the women for twelve months, for thus were completed the days of their treatments,

six months with oil of myrrh

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

And we explain:

What is “

oil of myrrh”?

Rav Huna bar Hiyya said: “Oil of myrrh” means

“Oil of myrrh” means

sithakta

[balsam oil].

Rabbi Yirmeya bar Abba said: “Oil of myrrh” means

“Oil of myrrh” means

oil

from

an olive that had not reached one-third

of its ripening.

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Judah says: “

Anafkinon,”

which is taught in our Mishna, means:

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

And

why does one anoint with it,

because

it removes the hair and softens the flesh.

We learned in the Mishna:

One may not bring [oil] from olives that were soaked in water,

nor from pickled olives nor from boiled olives, and if he brought it, it is unfit:

The Sages taught: Oil

of

an olive pickled

in vinegar and salt, or from a

boiled

olive, or from an

soaked

and

oil

from dregs

[oil that came out of the dregs, as wine is extracted from wine dregs],

and oil with a bad odor,

that is, oil whose odor is bad—

from all of these

he may not bring, and if he brought it—

it is unfit.

Rava raised a question

he was uncertain

if he consecrated it

one of these unfit oils

what is the ruling: does he receive lashes for it on account of

consecrating

a blemished animal

to the altar? And the sides of the uncertainty are:

Since it is unfit,

the oil

it is considered like a blemished animal,

and he receives lashes if he consecrated it.

Or perhaps: Is there a blemished animal only with regard to an animal?

And we conclude:

teiku.

Mishna:

There are three olive harvests

and

with each of them there are three types of oil,

that is, olives are picked 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 made.

And the Mishna explains:

The first olive harvest,

that is, this is how he made three oils from the tree’s first yield:

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

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

and he crushes

them in a mortar, but he does not grind them in a mill,

and he places

them after crushing them

into the basket,

which had holes, with a vessel beneath it to receive the oil flowing from them.

Rabbi Judah says: Around the basket,

he would place them on the outside after crushing them, and the oil would flow through the walls into the basket, and then it would be strained from it and come out into a vessel.

This was

the

first oil

of the first yield.

He again loads

the olives

with a beam,

placing a beam upon them to press them—

Rabbi Judah says: With stones,

he would load them with stones and not with a beam, because the beam is heavy and also brings out dregs.

This was

the

second oil

of the first yield.

He again grinds

the olives that had been under the beam

and

again

loads

the beam upon them.

This was

the

third oil

from the first yield.

The oil

first

is designated

for the Menora,

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

and the remainder—

the second and the third—

for the meal-offerings,

for this was not stated concerning them.

The second olive harvest

[this is how he would harvest a second time and make three oils from the harvest]:

He gathers the olives from the top of the roof,

he gathers the olives adjacent to the roof, which ripen second,

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

this was

the

first oil

from the second yield.

He loads

those olives

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

This was

the

second oil

from the second yield.

He again grinds

the olives that he had loaded with a beam or with stones

and loads

them again with a beam or with stones:

This was

the

third oil

from the second yield.

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

The third olive harvest

how did he make it?

He stores it in the olive press until it becomes spoiled,

that is, he gathers the remaining olives, which will never ripen completely, into the storage place [the place where olives are gathered] of the olives in the olive press, until their skins soften and their appearance changes.

And he raises it

from the storage place

and wipes it—

from the liquid flowing from them because the olives were pressed in the storage place—

on the top of the roof—

He crushes

them

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

This was

the

first oil

from the third yield.

He loads it with a beam; Rabbi Judah says: With stones,

he would load them—

this was

the

second oil

from the third yield.

He again grinds

them in a mill

and

again

loads

a beam upon them—

This was

the

third oil

from the third yield.

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

Gemara:

They raised a question before them

The scholars of the study hall were uncertain concerning the wording of the Mishna that we learned: “He gathers the olives from the top of the olive tree”:

Does

“he gathers”

we learn,

meaning: he picks one fruit here and one fruit there,

or

perhaps

“he rolls it”

[the expression of a rolled egg]

we learn,

and this means: he leaves them to ripen fully at the top of the olive tree?

Come and hear

that “he rolls it” is what we learn, from this

as it was taught:

Olive oil—

from its olive,

that is, one who undertakes [to provide] olive oil, the oil must be from olives fully ripened, such that the oil comes out of them without loading; and this is learned from the verse’s statement, “pure olive oil,” that is, [oil from an olive] ripened so that it came out of it without loading.

From here they said

the Sages:

The first olive harvest: he rolls it

[he leaves it to ripen]

at the top of the olive tree,

where the sun beats upon them and ripens them,

and he brings it into the olive press,

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

and he grinds it in mills

and places it in baskets.

The oil that comes out of it

in the baskets,

this was

oil

first.

He loads it with a beam; the oil that comes out of it

through the loading

this was

oil

second.

And he removes

the olives from the olive press

and grinds

in mills

and loads again

the beam in the olive press; the oil that comes out of it

this was third.

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

And likewise the second olive harvest,

that is, this is how he would make [oil] from the second yield, from the trees adjacent to the top of the roof.

The third olive harvest,

from those that never ripen fully:

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

there

like a date-palm

[wide heap below and narrow above]

until its liquids flow out, and he brings it into the olive press, grinds it in mills, and places it in baskets—

and the oil that comes out of it, this was the first.

He loads it with a beam; the oil that comes out of it, this was the second.

the oil that comes out of it

this was the third.

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

Rabbi Judah says: He did not grind it in mills

for the first oil of each of the three yields,

but rather he crushed it in a mortar.

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

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

And we raise an objection against our Mishna: “

He crushes,”

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

whose view is it? It is Rabbi Judah’s,

as explained in the beraita—

whereas that which we learned in our Mishna,

“

inside the basket,”

we come to the Rabbis, for according to Rabbi Judah he places it not inside it, but around it!?

And we answer:

This tanna

of our Mishna

agrees with him

Rabbi Judah

in one matter,

that he crushes,

but differs with him in one matter,

that he places it inside the basket and not around it.

Mishna:

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

first of

the

first yield,

is the choicest, and

there is none above it.

The oil

second of

the

first, and

the oil

first of

the

second yield—

they are equal

in their level.

The oil

third of

the

first, and

the oil

second of

the

second, and

the oil

first of

the

third yield—

they are equal.

The oil

third of

the

second, and

the oil

second of

the

third yield—

they are equal.

The oil

third of

the

third has none below it.

The Mishna further explains:

The meal-offerings, too, would properly be subject to the requirement that they use pure olive oil,

and only the first oil of each of the yields would be fit for the meal-offerings, for it follows by

kal va-chomer:

just as it

requires pure olive oil—

the meal-offerings, which are for eating,

of the altar,

is it not logical that they should require pure olive oil—

rather,

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

crushed for lighting,”

crushed for the light,”

to exclude:

and there is no “

crushed pure oil”

for the meal-offerings.