Menachot 94a — the Talmud in English

while alive,

as with the guilt-offering of a leper and the sheep of Shavuot, and

after slaughter,

as with the breast and thigh of peace-offerings—

and with something that has the breath of life, and with something that does not have the breath of life,

as with the two loaves and the loaves of the thanksgiving-offering and the loaves of the nazirite-offering—

Which is not so with laying on of hands,

which is practiced only with something that has the breath of life and while it is still in it.

Gemara:

The Sages taught: “

his offering,”

which is stated concerning laying on of hands:

to include,

it comes to include

all the owners of

the

offering for laying on of hands,

to say that they should all lay on their hands; and for this reason the verse needed to teach us this—

Because

I might have thought

I would say not so, for:

is it not an inference

that they should not all wave, by a kal va-homer from waving:

And if waving, which was extended

to be practiced even

after slaughter,

nevertheless

was restricted with regard to partners,

so that one waves for all—

laying on of hands, which was not extended to after slaughter, should it not be inferred that it is restricted with regard to partners,

so that one lays his hands for all—

Therefore

the verse says “

his offering,”

to include all the owners of the offering for laying on of hands.

And we challenge:

then waving should be extended with regard to partners,

so that all wave,

by a kal va-homer

from laying on of hands:

And if laying on of hands, which was not extended to after slaughter, was extended with regard to partners,

as we include from “his offering”—

waving, which was extended to after slaughter, should it not be inferred that it was extended with regard to partners!?

And we answer:

because it is not possible,

for waving to be performed by all the owners of the offering, for:

how should they do it [how should they do it]:

[how should they perform it]?

let them all wave together [let them all wave at once, the hand of one beneath the hand of the other],

[let them all wave it at the same time, with one person’s hand beneath the other’s hand],

it would constitute an interposition.

Lest you say:

let him wave, and then let him wave again,

let them wave several times; this too is impossible:

For

“waving”

one

the Merciful One said [Leviticus 7:30: “His hands shall bring the breast, to wave it as a waving before the Lord”]

[Leviticus 7:30: “His hands shall bring the offerings of the breast, to wave it as a waving before the Lord”],

and not “

wavings”

many. And we challenge:

But

and

is laying on of hands not found with slaughtered animals [and have we not found laying on of hands with slaughtered animals]!?

[but do we not find laying on of hands after slaughter]?!

And did we not learn

in tractate Tamid 33b:

when the High Priest wishes to burn

the daily offering, for it is the law that the High Priest can offer at any time any offering that was brought to be offered:

the High Priest

was

ascending the ramp

of the altar

and his deputy

his

on his right; when he reached the midpoint of the ramp, the deputy held his right hand

of the High Priest

and brought him up [assisted him in ascending],

since he had already become tired from ascending half the ramp—

And the first handed him

from among the thirteen priests occupied with the daily offering the head and leg

head and the leg,

which are burned in the daily offering first,

and he lays his hands upon them

the High Priest

and throws them

onto the arrangement on the altar.

The second handed to the first,

the second priest among the thirteen priests handed the first priest the

two

the

forelegs

of the daily offering, and

he gave it

the first

to the High Priest,

and he

lays his hands upon them and throws them

onto the arrangement.

Once the second had handed over the two forelegs,

the second withdrew and went away.

And so they would hand him

the additional priests

all the rest of the limbs

of the daily offering; each one of them handed them to the first priest, who handed them to the High Priest, and he

laid his hands upon them and threw them

onto the altar.

And when he—

the High Priest—

wished, he laid his hands

upon the limbs,

and others

received them and

threw them

onto the altar.

It is thus explained that there is laying on of hands even with slaughtered animals!?

He said

he answered

Abaye: there,

the laying on of hands described there is not from the Torah, but

because of the honor of the High Priest [his importance],

so that his burning would be superior to other burnings.

We will return to you, chapter “Two Measures.”

The chapter before us, in its first part, deals with two matters:

A. The Two Loaves brought on Shavuot:

This is what Scripture said [Leviticus 23]: “Until the day after the seventh week you shall count fifty days, and you shall bring a new meal-offering [the first meal-offering from the new grain of wheat] to the Lord. From your settlements you shall bring two loaves of waved offering, two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be fine flour [without oil], and they shall be baked leavened, firstfruits [the first of all the meal-offerings]... And you shall make... two yearling lambs as a peace-offering. And the koen shall wave them [the two lambs while alive] with the bread of the firstfruits as a waving before the Lord, over two lambs [and nothing at all is burned from them, rather:] they shall be holy [holy of holies] to the Lord, for the koen.”

B. The showbread, which they arrange on the Table every Shabbat, on its Shabbat:

This is what Scripture said [Leviticus 24:5]: “You shall take fine flour [without oil] and bake it into twelve loaves; two-tenths shall be the one loaf. And you shall place them in two rows [one beside the other along the length of the Table, and each loaf longer than the width of the Table, and bent upward] six in a row [six loaves, one upon the other] on the pure Table before the Lord. And you shall place pure frankincense on each row [in a bazakh—a ‘spoon’ in the language of Scripture—with a full handful of frankincense on each of the two rows, or beside them; and the tannaim dispute this in this chapter], and it shall be for the bread as a memorial [none of the bread is for the Most High except the frankincense, which they remove every Shabbat and burn; and it is for the bread as a remembrance, like a handful which is a memorial for a meal-offering], a fire-offering to the Lord. On every Shabbat, on every Shabbat, he shall arrange it before the Lord [they would remove the bread and arrange new bread], continually, from the children of Israel, an eternal covenant.”

Mishna:

Two

loaves

brought on Shavuot:

Are kneaded one by one

one-tenth for each loaf,

and baked

in the oven

one by one [

one after the other].

The showbread: are kneaded one by one

of the twelve loaves [two tenths for each loaf],

and baked

in the oven

two by two,

as we derive it in the Gemara from Scripture.

And in a mold—

a form corresponding to the shape of the loaf—

he would make them,

arranging the dough inside the mold; and he would put them into another mold inside the oven.

And

when he removed it

from the oven, he would

put it into

the inside of

a mold

another

so that it would not be spoiled,

for they were thin, and if he did not put them in a mold they would be spoiled.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: The Two Loaves are kneaded one by one and baked one by one; the showbread is kneaded one by one and baked two by two:

And we explain:

From where are these words?

For the Sages taught:

It is written concerning the showbread [Leviticus 24:5]:

“Two-tenths shall be the one loaf,”

teaches that they are kneaded one by one.

From where

that the Two Loaves are also so, that they are kneaded one by one?

The verse says

“shall be”,

which is superfluous, to teach about the Two Loaves.

And from where is their baking—

of the showbread—

two by two,

that is, from where do we know that he puts two loaves at once into the oven?

The verse says

“And you shall place them,”

so we have learned that the first placing shall be according to the smallest number implied by the expression “them”; and the minimum of a plural is two.

Could the Two Loaves also be so,

that they would be baked two by two?

The verse says

“them,”

to exclude: them, but not the Two Loaves.

And we object:

This

“them”

you have already used

[we have already expounded it to teach that there should be two in the baking]!?

And we answer:

If so,

that the verse came only to teach that he should bake two by two,

let the verse say

“and you shall place them”

which is like “and you shall place them,”

and what is

“and you shall place them”—

You learn from it—

from this word—

two things.

The Sages taught:

It is written

“and you shall place them”—

in a mold.

There are three molds:

A.

He puts it into a mold while it is still dough,

that is, he makes dough and puts it into a mold so that the bread will receive its form.

B.

And there was a kind of mold in the oven,

and he would take the dough of each loaf out of the first mold and put each loaf into the mold in the oven.

C.

And when he removes it

from the oven, he

puts it

each loaf

in a mold

third,

so that it will not be spoiled.

And we raise a difficulty: Why do I need the third mold

and let him return it to the first mold

[let him return each loaf to the first mold, into which he had put the dough]!?

And we answer:

Since he baked it

in the oven,

it expanded greatly

[each loaf expanded and increased during the baking], and it no longer entered the first mold; therefore a larger, third mold was needed.

It was stated:

How is the showbread made

[what form did they have]?