Menachot 94a (צד.) — the Talmud in English

With living animals,

such as the guilt-offering of a leper and the rams of the festival of Shavuot, and

with slaughtered animals,

such as the breast and thigh of peace-offerings—

And with something that possesses the breath of life, and with something that does not possess the breath of life,

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

This is not so with placing hands,

which applies only to something that possesses the breath of life, and only while it is still alive.

Gemara:

The Sages taught:

“His offering,”

which is stated in the context of placing hands,

comes to include

all

the owners of

the

offering for placing hands,

to say that they should all place their hands; and therefore the verse had to teach us this—

Because

one might have thought

that it is not so, for:

Is this not an a fortiori inference

that they should not all wave it, derived from waving:

And if waving, which was expanded

to apply even

to slaughtered animals,

nevertheless

was restricted with regard to partners,

so that one person waves on behalf of them all—

Then placing hands, which was not expanded to apply to slaughtered animals, should certainly be restricted with regard to partners,

so that one person places his hands on behalf of them all—

Therefore,

the verse states:

“His offering,”

to include all the owners of the offering for placing hands.

And we raise an objection:

Then waving should also be expanded with regard to partners,

so that they should all wave,

by means of an a fortiori inference

from placing hands:

And if placing hands, which was not expanded to apply to slaughtered animals, was expanded with regard to partners,

as we include them from “his offering”—

Then waving, which was expanded to apply to slaughtered animals, should certainly be expanded 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]:

Should they all wave together,

[should they all wave at once, with the hand of one beneath the hand of the other]?

That would constitute an interposition.

Lest you say:

Let one wave and then wave again,

they could wave several times; this too is impossible:

For

“one waving”

is what

the Merciful One said,

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

and not

“wavings”

in the plural. And we raise an objection:

And

if

there is no placing of hands with slaughtered animals

[do we not find placing of hands with slaughtered animals]!?

And did we not learn

in tractate Tamid 33b:

When the High Priest wishes to burn

the daily offering—for the law is that the High Priest may offer at any time any offering that was brought to be offered—

the High Priest was

High Priest

ascending the ramp,

of the altar,

and the deputy

of the High Priest

was at his right; when he reached the midpoint of the ramp, the deputy took hold of his right hand

of the High Priest

and lifted him up

[assisted him in ascending, since he had already become tired from ascending half the ramp]—

And the first one extended to him

of the thirteen priests engaged with the daily offering

head and leg,

which are the first parts of the daily offering to be burned,

and he places his hands on them

the High Priest

and throws them

onto the pyre on the altar.

The second extended to the first,

the second priest among the thirteen priests extended to the first priest

the two

the

legs

of the daily offering, and

he gave it

the first priest

to the High Priest,

and he

places his hands on them and throws them

onto the pyre.

Once the second had extended the two forelegs,

the second withdrew and left.

And so they would extend to him

the additional priests

all the remaining limbs

of the daily offering. Each of them would hand his portion to the first priest, who would hand it to the High Priest, and he

would place his hands on them and throw them

onto the altar.

And when he

—the High Priest—

wished, he would place his hands

on the limbs,

and others

would receive them and

throw them

onto the altar.

It is thus evident that there is also placing of hands with slaughtered animals!?

He said—

Abaye

answered:

There, the placing of hands mentioned is not from the Torah; rather, it is

because of the honor of the High Priest

[his distinction], so that his burning of the offering would be superior to that of the other burnings.

We have returned to you, chapter Two Measures

The first part of the chapter before us deals with two matters:

A. The Two Loaves brought on Shavuot:

This is what the verse states [Leviticus 23]: “Until the day after the seventh week you shall count fifty days, and you shall present a new meal-offering [the first meal-offering from the new wheat crop] to the Lord. From your dwelling places you shall bring two loaves of bread for a wave-offering; they shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour [without oil]; they shall be baked leavened, as first fruits [the first of all the meal-offerings]... And you shall make... two year-old lambs for a sacrifice of peace-offerings. And the priest shall wave them [the two living lambs] with the bread of the first fruits as a wave-offering before the Lord, together with the two lambs [and nothing of them is burned on the altar; rather, they] shall be holy [they are most holy offerings] to the Lord, for the priest.”

B. The showbread, which is arranged on the Table every Shabbat:

This is what the verse states [Leviticus 24:5]: “You shall take fine flour [without oil] and bake it into twelve loaves; two-tenths shall be in each loaf. You shall place them in two rows [one beside the other along the length of the Table, each loaf being longer than the width of the Table and bent upward]—six in each row [six loaves one above the other]—on the pure Table before the Lord. You shall place pure frankincense [in a vessel—called a ‘spoon’ in the verse—with a full handful of frankincense for each of the two rows, or adjacent to them; and the tanna’im dispute this in this chapter] on each row, and it shall be for the bread as a memorial [none of the bread is offered to the Most High; only the frankincense, which is removed every Shabbat and burned, is for the bread as a memorial, like the handful that serves as a memorial for a meal-offering], a fire-offering to the Lord. 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:

The two

loaves

brought on Shavuot:

are kneaded individually,

one-tenth for each loaf,

and are baked

in the oven

individually [

one after the other].

As for the showbread: it is kneaded individually

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

and is baked

in the oven

two at a time,

as we derive in the Gemara from the verse.

And in a mold—

a form corresponding to the shape of the loaf—

he would make them,

shaping the dough inside the mold; and he would place them into another mold in the oven.

And

when he removed it

from the oven, he

would place it in

the

mold

another

so that it would not be damaged,

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

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: The Two Loaves are kneaded individually and baked individually; the showbread is kneaded individually and baked two at a time:

And we explain:

From where are these matters?

For the Sages taught:

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

“Two-tenths shall be in each loaf,”

teaching that they are kneaded individually.

From where is it derived that the Two Loaves are likewise

to be kneaded individually?

The verse states

“shall be”,

which is superfluous and teaches this with regard to the Two Loaves.

And from where is it derived that their baking—

that of the showbread—

is two at a time,

that is, from where is it derived that he places two loaves into the oven together?

The verse states

“and you shall place them,”

so we have learned that the initial placing is to be in the smallest number implied by the word “them”; and the minimum of a plural is two.

One might have thought that the Two Loaves are also so,

that they are to be baked two at a time;

the verse states

“them”

to exclude them: “them,” but not the Two Loaves.

And we raise a difficulty:

This

“them”—

you have already used it [

you have already expounded it to teach that they are to be baked two at a time]!?

And we answer:

If so,

if the verse came only to teach that they are to be baked two at a time,

let the verse say

“and you shall place them”

which is equivalent to “and you shall place them,”

and what

is the significance of “and you shall place them”?

You may infer from it—

from this wording—

two [teachings].

The Sages taught:

It is written

“and you shall place them”—

in a mold.

There are three molds:

A.

He places it in a mold while it is still dough,

that is, he makes the dough and places it in a mold so that the bread will take its shape.

B.

And there was a sort of mold in the oven,

and he would remove the dough of each loaf from the first mold and place each loaf in the mold in the oven.

C.

And when he removes it

from the oven, he

places it

each loaf

in a mold

the third,

so that it will not be damaged.

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

let him return it to the first mold [

let him return each loaf to the first mold, in which he had placed the dough]!?

And we answer:

Once he bakes it

in the oven,

it expands greatly [

each loaf expands and increases during baking], and it can no longer fit into the first mold; therefore, a larger third mold is needed.

It was stated:

How is the showbread made

[what shape did it have]: