Menachot 95b — the Talmud in English

Could one infer that they pressed them

even

those with a flux and lepers [whose impurity was not permitted]

and entered the Temple courtyard on the following Passover in a state of impurity—could they be liable

for entering the Temple in a state of impurity—

The verse therefore says [Numbers 5]: “

They shall send out from the camp every leper, everyone with a flux, and everyone impure through contact with the dead,”

and we learn from the juxtaposition:

At the time when those impure through contact with the dead are sent out, those with a flux and lepers are sent out

outside their respective divisions; but at the time when

those impure through contact with the dead are not sent out, those with a flux and lepers are not sent out.

And the same law applies at the time of the dismantling of the journeys—for there is then no Camp of the Divine Presence, and those impure through contact with the dead were not prohibited from entering in a state of impurity: we have arrived at the dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and the Rabbis. According to Rabbi Eliezer, since those impure through contact with the dead are not sent out, for there is no Camp of the Divine Presence there, those with a flux and lepers likewise are not sent outside their respective divisions, even though their divisions—that is, the Camp of the Levites and the Camp of Israel—exist. And this is what we learned: When the curtains were rolled up, those with a flux and lepers were permitted to enter there.

Mishna:

Both the two loaves and the showbread:

Their kneading and their arranging are outside [outside the courtyard],

outside the Temple courtyard,

but

these

their baking is inside

the courtyard.

And they do not override [with regard to their kneading, arranging, and baking]

in their kneading, shaping, and baking]

the Shabbat,

because it is possible to make them on the eve of Shabbat; and his position will be explained in the Gemara.

Rabbi Yehuda says: All their procedures are inside,

and they override the Shabbat.

Rabbi Shimon says: Always be accustomed to say:

The two loaves and the showbread are fit

to make and bake them

in the courtyard, and are fit

also

at Beit Pagi,

a place that was adjacent to the wall of Jerusalem from within, that is, throughout Jerusalem.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: Both the two loaves and the showbread—their kneading and their arranging are outside, and their baking is inside:

And we object:

This itself is difficult:

For, on the one hand,

you said: Their kneading and arranging are outside; evidently,

necessarily,

the dry measure was not sanctified,

for if it had become sanctified, the flour would already have become sanctified when they measured it in it, and would become invalid through being taken outside, since a service vessel sanctifies what enters it so that it becomes invalid through being taken outside—

And, on the other hand, you said:

And their baking is inside; evidently,

necessarily the reason is that

the dry measure became sanctified,

and it is necessary to bake it inside?!

Rava said:

A difficult man was raised

in resolving this difficulty,

a man who is hard, who is as hard as iron [a sage, sharp in cutting through a halakhic ruling like iron],

a scholar, sharp enough to cut through halakhic analysis like iron],

and who is he? Rav Sheshet.

And we objected to this: Is it really

What difficulty is this?!

Perhaps

the tanna of our Mishna holds:

The issaron—

in which they measured the flour—

does not sanctify,

because the dry measure was not sanctified—

but

the oven sanctifies,

and therefore it is necessary to bake it inside, so that it will not become invalid through being taken outside once it becomes sanctified in the oven.

But if there is a difficulty, this is the difficulty:

On the one hand, you said:

And their baking is inside; evidently the oven sanctifies—

and on the other hand, you said:

And they do not override

the

Shabbat;

but if the oven sanctifies and he bakes them on the eve of Shabbat, then

they will become invalid through remaining overnight,

for all meal-offerings, once they have become sanctified in a service vessel, become invalid through remaining overnight?!

Rava said:

A difficult man was raised, a man who is hard, who is as hard as iron; and who is he? Rav Sheshet.

Rav Ashi said: What difficulty is this:

Perhaps

the tanna of our Mishna holds that the oven does not sanctify, and it will not become invalid through remaining overnight. And as for what is difficult for you—if so, why is their baking inside?—I can say to you:

What is the meaning of

“inside”?

In the place of the diligent,

that is, they should not actually bake them in the courtyard, but outside, where diligent priests would bake them so that they would not become leavened.

The Gemara rejects Rav Ashi’s answer:

But this statement of Rav Ashi is an external opinion

it is [it is an external view]; for

it is an external view]; for

either, if baking requires the diligent, kneading and arranging also require the diligent; and if kneading and arranging do not require the diligent, baking also does not require the diligent,

and what reason is there to distinguish between arranging and kneading on the one hand and baking on the other?

Rather, Rav Ashi’s statement is an external opinion.

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Yehuda says: All

their procedures are inside—

Rabbi Shimon says: Always be accustomed to say: The two loaves and the showbread are fit in the courtyard and are fit at Beit Pagi:

Rabbi Abbahu bar Kahana said: And both of them—

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon, who disputed whether the oven sanctifies, for according to Rabbi Yehuda the oven sanctifies and its baking is inside, whereas according to Rabbi Shimon it does not sanctify, and therefore its baking is outside—

expounded one verse:

as it is written [I Samuel 21]: “And David came [when he was fleeing before Saul] to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest, and David said to Ahimelech the priest: ‘And now, what is under your hand? Five loaves of bread, give into my hand, or whatever is found [or however much you have].’ And the priest answered David and said: ‘There is no ordinary bread under my hand, but there is sacred bread [the showbread], if the young men are guarded [so that they may eat the bread], but only from a woman [that they are pure]]

and it is an ordinary manner, although today it will be sanctified in a vessel”?

Rabbi Judah held: On an ordinary day he found them, that they were baking it [on an ordinary day it was, and David found the priests baking the showbread], and thus

[It was a weekday, and David found the kohanim baking the Bread of the Presence], and so

he said to them

in a language of astonishment:

Are you baking it in an ordinary manner [how are you baking the showbread on an ordinary day]!?

[How can you bake the Bread of the Presence on a weekday]?!

Although today it will be sanctified in a vessel [for the bread is sanctified in the oven], and

[for the bread becomes sacred in the oven], and

it will become disqualified through overnight stay,

it will become disqualified through overnight stay until tomorrow; rather, you have to bake it on Shabbat.

And from here Rabbi Judah learned that the oven sanctifies it, and that it overrides Shabbat.

Rabbi Shimon held: On Shabbat he found them, that they were baking it [it was Shabbat, and he found them baking the showbread on that very day], and thus

[It was Shabbat, and he found them baking the Bread of the Presence that very day], and so

he said to them

David, in a language of astonishment:

No! You need to make it in an ordinary manner [on an ordinary day you have to bake the showbread], lest you say: How can it be baked on an ordinary day, since the bread will be sanctified in the oven and will become disqualified through overnight stay? This is not so,

[You should bake the Bread of the Presence on a weekday]. You might say: How can it be baked on a weekday, when the bread will become sacred in the oven and become invalid by remaining overnight? That is not so:

at all,

and is an

oven

in which it was baked on an ordinary day

sanctifying

it, so that it will become disqualified through overnight stay!? But

it is the Table that sanctifies,

and until it is arranged upon the Table it does not become disqualified through overnight stay.

And therefore Rabbi Shimon holds that if he wishes, he makes it inside, and if he wishes, he makes it outside, for the dry measure does not sanctify, and the oven does not sanctify.

And

we challenge this:

Can you say that he found them at the time of baking [can you interpret that David found the priests at the time of baking]!?

[Can you explain that David found the kohanim while they were baking]?!

But it is written

there:

“And the priest gave him sacred bread, for there was no bread there, but the showbread that was removed from before Hashem”,

for it follows that the bread had already been removed from the Table, and it was not at the time of baking.

And by force of this difficulty the Gemara retracts its words, that Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Shimon learned their rulings from here, and the verses are not dealing with this matter at all—

Rather, what is

“and it is

an ordinary manner

although today it will be sanctified in a vessel”

that David said to them

to the priests?

This is what they said to him

the priests to David:

There is no bread, but the showbread that was removed from before

Hashem, but they are forbidden to non-priests.

He said to them

David:

It is not necessary to say this one, since once it has left the prohibition of me'ila, it is ordinary with regard to you, [not only am I permitted to eat from this bread, for the bread has already left the prohibition of me'ila through the burning of the frankincense spoons, which removes it from the prohibition of me'ila, since it has already become permitted to the priests, and if so, it is like ordinary food with regard to you]—

[Not only am I permitted to eat from this bread, since the bread has already left the category of misuse of sacred property through the burning of the frankincense bowls, which removes it from that category, because it has already become permitted to the kohanim; therefore, for you it is like ordinary bread]

but even this one as well—

that

only

today it will be sanctified in a vessel—

give it to him so that he may eat,

even if you have only bread that was arranged on the Table and sanctified upon it only today, you may give it to me to eat; for: