Menachos 46a

מנחות מ״ו ע״א

Menachot 46a

Learn Menachos 46a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

When do the loaves and their offering become bound (זיקה)? Does שחיטה or תנופה create the bond, and why a תודה stays valid when its bread is ruined.

Overview

This amud picks up in the middle of רבי יוחנן's teaching about the שתי הלחם and the sheep of שבועות. Once the loaves and the sheep are bound together, losing one makes the other unfit, and the bond is made by the שחיטה. עולא reports a question from ארץ ישראל: does the earlier תנופה also create the bond? A proof from רבי יוחנן's words is pushed aside, and the question ends with תיקו. רבי יהודה בר חנינא tries again from where the verse 'קדש יהיו לה׳ לכהן' is placed, but רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע shows that the verse describes the items from the start, so it proves nothing. Next, the גמרא challenges רבי יוחנן with a ברייתא about a תודה. That ברייתא says that when a loaf becomes broken, goes outside ירושלים, or becomes טמא after the שחיטה, the animal is still offered and eaten. The גמרא answers that a תודה is different: the Torah calls it שלמים, so it can be brought without bread. At the end, רבי ירמיה assumes that תנופה does create a bond and begins asking what happens if the loaves are lost; his question continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (16)

1. StatementOnce bound, the loaves and sheep hold each other back
2. StatementWhat creates the bond: the slaughter
3. QuestionDoes waving also create the bond?
4. ProofTrying to answer from רבי יוחנן's words
5. RejectionThe question was really about what רבי יוחנן meant
6. ConclusionThe question stays unresolved
7. ProofA proof that waving does not create the bond
8. RejectionThe same logic would mean slaughter does not bind either
9. ResolutionThe verse describes the beginning, before anything was done
10. ChallengeDoes slaughter really create the bond? A case of a broken loaf
11. ChallengeA broken loaf after the slaughter and after the sprinkling
12. ChallengeA loaf that left ירושלים before or after the slaughter
13. ChallengeThe ברייתא's last case: a loaf that became impure
14. ChallengeIf שחיטה bonds them, the animal should be invalid too
15. ResolutionA תודה is different because it is called שלמים
16. QuestionIf waving creates a link, what happens when the loaves are lost?