Gemara Clarity

Menachos 22a

מנחות כ״ב ע״א

Menachot 22a

Learn Menachos 22a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Menachos 22a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Communal salt and wood for the מזבח, and mixtures of קמצים and of קרבן blood

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an explanation of why בית דין had to let כהנים use the communal salt: otherwise one might think only ישראלים, who pay into the לשכה, could use it. The גמרא then asks how we know the wood on the מזבח is communal. A ברייתא learns from a פסוק linking the wood and fire to the מזבח. רבי אלעזר בר רבי שמעון says they must be communal like the מזבח, while רבי אלעזר בן שמוע says they must never have been used by a הדיוט. The practical difference is whether the wood must be new. A פסוק about ארונה offering threshing tools as wood is answered by saying those tools were new, and the גמרא explains that מוריגים are toothed threshing boards. A new משנה rules that a קומץ mixed with other fully burned מנחות stays כשרה, but רבי יהודה disqualifies mixtures with different amounts of oil. The גמרא brings a משנה about mixed blood. רבי יוחנן shows that both sides learn from the פסוק about mixing the blood of the פר and שעיר on יום כיפור, and the explanation of רבנן's view continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

כִּי זַכִּי לְהוּ רַחֲמָנָא –

when the Merciful One granted it [the salt] to them,

לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, דְּאִית לְהוּ לִשְׁכָּה.

it was to Israelites, who have [a share in] the chamber.

לְכֹהֲנִים, דְּלֵית לְהוּ לִשְׁכָּה –

To priests, who do not have [a share in] the chamber,

לָא זַכִּי לְהוּ רַחֲמָנָא,

the Merciful One did not grant it to them;

The steps (18)

  1. ResolutionWhy the stipulation was needed for salt
  2. QuestionSource that the wood is communal
  3. ResponseThe wood and fire are communal like the altar
  4. StatementA second reading: never used by an ordinary person
  5. QuestionWhat is the practical difference?
  6. ResponseThe difference is whether the wood must be new
  7. Challengeארונה offered used equipment as wood
  8. ResolutionThat equipment was new too
  9. QuestionWhat does the word מוריגים mean?
  10. Responseעולא explains: a threshing board
  11. QuestionWhat is a מטה של טרבל?
  12. Responseרב יהודה: a jagged threshing board
  13. Proofרב יוסף brings a פסוק for the meaning
  14. Statementמשנה: a mixed-up קומץ is still fit
  15. Statementרבי יהודה: some mixtures are unfit
  16. StatementA related משנה about mixed blood
  17. StatementBoth sides learn from one verse
  18. StatementThe bull has more blood, and the view of רבנן begins