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Menachos 51b

מנחות נ״א ע״ב

Menachot 51b

Learn Menachos 51b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Menachos 51b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Who pays for the חביתין of a כהן גדול who died before a replacement is appointed, the verse sources for each view, and whether רבי שמעון's rule is Torah law or a court rule.

Overview

A new משנה asks who pays for the כהן גדול's daily חביתין after he dies, before a new כהן גדול is appointed. רבי שמעון says the community pays, and רבי יהודה says his heirs pay. Either way, the offering is brought as a full עשרון. The גמרא brings a ברייתא with each תנא's verse source. רבי יהודה uses 'מבניו' and 'אותה'. רבי שמעון uses 'חק עולם' and 'כליל תקטר'. The גמרא then checks that every word in the verses has a job in each view, which brings in a גזירה שוה on 'כליל'. Next it asks how רבי שמעון can call public funding a Torah law, when a משנה in שקלים quotes him calling it a rule of בית דין. רבי אבהו explains that there were two rules. The Torah law said public funds. The court briefly moved the cost to the heirs, and then returned to the Torah law. The גמרא then challenges the next rule on that list, that there is no מעילה for the ashes of the פרה אדומה, since this seems to be a Torah law already. The discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מִנְחָה הַבָּאָה עִשָּׂרוֹן וְכוּ׳.

A meal offering that comes as one tenth, etc.

מַתְנִי׳

MISHNAH:

לֹא מִינּוּ כֹּהֵן אַחֵר תַּחְתָּיו,

If they did not appoint another priest in his place,

מִשֶּׁל מִי הָיְתָה קְרֵיבָה?

from whose property was it offered?

The steps (28)

  1. ConclusionClosing words of the previous derivation
  2. StatementThe משנה: who pays when no new High Priest was appointed
  3. Proofברייתא: the verse shows that the heirs pay
  4. ProofThe heirs bring the whole amount, not half
  5. Proofרבי שמעון reads the verse: the community pays, and the whole offering is burned
  6. ChallengeChallenge: Is the 'anointed priest' verse really coming to teach this?
  7. ProofA ברייתא: אהרן and his sons each bring their own offering
  8. ProofThe 'anointed priest' verse is needed to show that 'his sons' means ordinary priests
  9. ResolutionThe extra letter in 'מבניו' shows the פסוק teaches two things
  10. QuestionWhat does רבי שמעון do with the word 'אותה'?
  11. Response'אותה' teaches the case of a כהן גדול who died mid-day
  12. ChallengeWhy not learn this from 'ומחציתה'?
  13. Resolutionרבי שמעון does not expound an extra ו
  14. QuestionWhat does רבי יהודה do with 'חק עולם'?
  15. Response'חק עולם' simply means the law is permanent
  16. QuestionWhat does רבי יהודה learn from 'it shall be wholly burned'?
  17. ResponseHe needs it for a ברייתא about two offerings
  18. QuestionHow do we apply each passage's rule to the other?
  19. ResponseThe word 'wholly' links the two offerings
  20. ChallengeDoes רבי שמעון hold community funding is Torah law?
  21. ProofThe source for the challenge: seven rules of בית דין, starting with a gentile's offering
  22. ProofAnother rule on the list: a convert who died and left offerings
  23. ChallengeThe key item: the כהן גדול's מנחה is paid from public funds by court rule
  24. Resolutionרבי אבהו: there were two separate rules
  25. ResolutionThe history of the rule: public funds, then heirs, then back to public funds
  26. StatementThe next court rule: no מעילה for the ashes of the פרה אדומה
  27. ChallengeBut this is already a Torah law
  28. ProofThe ברייתא on 'חטאת היא'